This term refers to a person video conferencing over Zoom who wears business attire on top and casual attire on the bottom which cannot be seen. This trend seems to have started during the pandemic when most office workers were working remotely. It’s sheer laziness to wear a jacket and tie for a Zoom business meeting and tracksuit bottoms below the waist which are not visible to the camera.
An article entitled “Lexicon for a Pandemic” published on July 20, 2020 describes a body mullet as “what most people wear on Zoom calls: a nice top and, below the waist, underwear or less” (Martel).
The Urban Dictionary defines “body mullet” as “Business on top, party on the bottom. When working from home from waist up you appear professional but from the waist down you are wearing, pajama bottoms, shorts, underwear, nothing, etc” (Bolow399).
Check out this funny “Body Mullet” music video by Mike Begra.
Social Media Trends as of June 3, 2022
Facebook #bodymullet: people are posting about this
Instagram #bodymullet: 49 posts
TikTok #bodymullet: 3,899 views
Google Trends: “Body mullet” peaked during the week of July 26, 2020. At this time many office workers were working remotely.
Sources:
Begra, Mike. “Body Mullet.” YouTube. May 21, 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1C3PqbdMY4.
Bolow399. “Body mullet.” Urban Dictionary. June 15, 2021. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Body%20Mullet.
Martel, Jay. “Lexicon For a Pandemic.” The New Yorker. July 20, 2020. URL: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/lexicon-for-a-pandem.
Martel, Jay. “Lexicon For a Pandemic.” Twitter (The New Yorker). July 16, 2020. URL: https://twitter.com/newyorker/status/1283960319270944773?lang=en.