The Unrelenting Magnetism of Julia Fox
In a recent video posted to her TikTok page, Julia Fox posits that the reason so many men don’t wash their asses properly is because “they’re afraid of getting their little hands down there… and maybe liking it a little too much, and God forbid, because then their fragile masculinity goes right out the window.”
The top comment under the video (with 93k likes!) reads, “julia might tell you a joke but she’ll never tell you a lie.”
Right now, we are undeniably living in Julia Fox’s world — and she knows it. After gaining momentum for her role as Julia De Fiore in Josh Safdie’s Uncut Gems, and then skyrocketing into public view during her relationship with a certain notorious rapper, Fox has harnessed her captivating effect on younger audiences with seeming effortlessness. She speaks openly and comfortably of her newfound social authority:
“Have you not seen the runways recently? There’s a lot of Julia Fox-inspired looks, and I’m not gonna pretend that I don’t see them. I’m not gonna call it out but… I know the influence, I know the impact, and I know the vibes,” she told Emily Ratajkowski in the High Low with EmRata podcast.
What Julia Fox-inspired looks does she speak of, you ask? Well, she could mean the “dominatrix couture” matching set complete with a hair-braid whip, or the 100% denim outfit with a top fashioned out of the slashed waistband of her jeans. If not those, then definitely the black leather Oscars after-party dress that literally had her (and us!) in a chokehold.
Fox’s bold fashion statements make nods to various facets of her early life and are supplemented by the entrancing, effortlessly cool composure with which she carries herself. For example, she has spoken extensively about her work as a teenage dominatrix in Brooklyn, which presents noticeably in her style and which she credits as being more beneficial than college in setting her up for the real world.
This elfin, radical candor is what makes Julia Fox so bewitching. She possesses a decided star-power, with signature graphic eye makeup and vocal fry to the gods, but she’s also a refreshing break from the aloof cyborg act that plagues so much of Hollywood (especially in online spaces). Instead of shying away from personal and political complexities, as do most of the beautiful and powerful, she approaches cultural critiques with perceptiveness and sharp curiosity.
One of the topics that Fox dives into regularly — on her own platforms and otherwise — is the sociocultural power dynamic between men and women.
“Yeah I say I hate men, but that’s not actually true,” she states. “I don’t actually hate men. I hate the patriarchy, and I hate what it’s done to men.”
She often exemplifies herself when discussing power and the commodification of the female form. She has shared that, early on, she was forced to learn how to leverage her beauty to attach herself to powerful men because she didn’t have access to wealth or a great education in her youth. Gaining notoriety and resources through men came with its rewards — as she’s now able to move toward a largely female following — but not without its costs, either.
“But it’s still through [men], though… It’s them giving me the power, it’s not my own power, you know?… It’s a humiliating position to be in. It fucked with me.”
I wouldn’t say I agree with Fox on that last bit. Not about the way that being in such a position affected her, but about the power not belonging to her. From where I’m sitting, she has taken the necessary steps to successfully re-brand herself for her ideas, style, and art, showing up authentically (or at least as authentically as possible these days) on a scene where that almost never happens.
So what if she used male desire to access that power? At the end of the day, no man can take ownership of what The Fox has become — especially when they can’t even wash their asses right.
