How Julia Fox, one-movie actress, dominatrix, and internet 'masterpiece' became a meme (and icon) for the TikTok generation

Julia Fox (Milan, 32 years old) uploads a video to TikTok in which she dances sensually to the rhythm of Madonna's

, dressed in a dominatrix style, while eating a piece of pizza: 1.8 million views.

Julia Fox, in lingerie, with a leather jacket and smoking, walks through the streets of New York: 1.4 million visits.

The image of Julia Fox shopping in underwear, with an

denim jacket on her shoulders, goes viral.

Also the photograph of Julia Fox with very low-rise pants and a very high-rise

manages to grab headlines.

Who the hell is Julia Fox?

Single Movie Actress, Occasional Model, Self-Declared Artist,

, former partner of rapper Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) but, above all, meme.

This is the classic story that makes little sense outside the internet, like those anecdotes told to people who didn't experience them that end with the necessary tagline of “this would be more fun if you had been there”.

The facts are as follows: In 2019, Julia Fox starred in her first movie.

(in English,

) is a thriller film directed by the Safdie brothers and starring Adam Sandler, which was praised for both its performances and its plot, and was chosen as one of the best 10 films of the year by the critics association National Board of Review.

In February 2022, Julia Fox and the film became popular on TikTok when users on the platform began sharing a snippet of an interview of hers on the

podcast .

To the question "What is a muse?", Julia Fox responded: "I mean... I was Josh Safdie's muse when he wrote

."

The problem is that she didn't exactly pronounce

, but something that phonetically sounded similar to 'Unca Yaaams'.

And since the paths of the internet are inscrutable, Fox's pronunciation went viral, generating a whole series of imitations, parodies, explanatory videos about the virality of the fragment and theory videos about why he had pronounced the title of the film that way ( according to Fox herself, it was because she was high).

The model Cara Delevingne or the actress Shay Mitchell were some of the celebrities who joined the parody, in which brands such as the production company Lionsgate or Spotify also participated.

For a short time, on Julia Fox's Wikipedia page it was written that she had participated in the movie 'Unca Yaaams'.

This would be funnier if they had been there.

Fox's stardom has been meteoric since he made headlines in early 2022 when his relationship with rapper Ye, Kim Kardashian's ex-husband, was revealed.

Together they attended Paris Fashion Week, where they managed to outshine the entrance of every show and event they attended due to their dramatic and mixed outfits.

For the Kenzo parade they chose to go with a total

jeans reminiscent of the one worn by Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake in the 2000s. For Schiaparelli's fashion show, both combined a leather look, dominatrix and submissive style, she with her already characteristic eye makeup (aggressive black eyeliner taken to its maximum expression), he with a panty that covered his face.

Back in New York, the couple of the moment continued to make headlines for their extravagances: For Fox's birthday, Ye presented her and her friends with a series of Birkin bags, one of the most exclusive and hard-to-find brands in the world. world.

The relationship only lasted six weeks, but it seemed longer due to the amount of content generated around it, including their breakup.

in a profile on

after their breakup, Fox declared: "Believe it or not, Kanye West has not been the most interesting thing that has happened to me in my life", and acknowledged that the relationship with him was "incredible" because "the exposure priceless".

This seems to be precisely her

of hers: exposure is priceless.

Julia Fox and Ye together on January 23, 2022, at Paris Fashion Week. Victor Boyko (Getty Images For Kenzo)

Before debuting in the world of cinema and dating Ye, she was already a well-known personality in New York: an

or fashionable girl with no specific job, but present in the New York nightlife and in the vibrant art scene.

According to her statement to

, she had worked as a dominatrix in high school.

She launched her own clothing brand, Franziska Fox, along with her best friend from her teenage years, Briana Andalore,

with 23 years.

She posed nude for

magazine at the age of 25.

She published two photography books,

and

, with images that featured nudity, sexual content, and violent imagery.

magazine

of the year 2014 declared Fox "the sexiest muse in New York".

In 2017, aged 27, she opened an exhibition titled

, a

of her own funeral through a series of works painted in her own blood.

Julia Fox told the truth in that interview: she was Josh Safdie's muse, who contacted her to directly offer her her character in

, which the director had written inspired by her and, specifically, by the image of herself that she portrayed. The actress projected on the now defunct short-form video social network Vine

the most TikTok platform before TikTok existed.

Vine is perhaps the key to understanding the secret of Fox and its relationship with the network: the actress is caring and kind on each red carpet, where she gives away short and striking phrases that soon become headlines or viralizable cuts.

Some recent examples: On the red carpet at this year's

Oscars after-party, she appeared in a

signed by Han Kjøbenhavn, which included a black latex hand holding his neck, and stated that he did not remember the designer's name, because "he has a German surname" and was unable to pronounce it.

The brand is Danish.

At the same event, he revealed that he was writing a book.

When the journalist asked her if she could give more details, she replied, “At the moment I don't want to say much more because I'm a superstitious person and I don't like to talk about projects that aren't finished, but for now... it's a masterpiece. ”.

Soon the internet was full of people using the phrase “for now... it's a masterpiece” in humorous videos in different contexts, for example, in which a boss asks an employee how he was doing with a project that has not been put in yet. on going.

Julia Fox not only goes viral when she makes a statement, she also manages to do it through her

.

If during her brief relationship with Ye some of the media pointed out that he was the architect of her peculiar style, the truth is that she was already collaborating with her childhood friend, Briana Andalore, in the selection and elaboration of the sets of it.

As Andalore stated in an interview on

, Ye participated in the selection of several outfits and gave them access to big firms like Balenciaga, but since her breakup, Fox has followed her own path.

One of her most memorable outfits was her when she decided to go shopping in her underwear and sure enough, her outfit went viral.

In part, because the actress herself shared it through her social networks.

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A post shared by 𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐅𝐎𝐗 (@juliafox)

With Julia Fox it is impossible to determine where the person begins and the character ends, perhaps because she has dedicated her whole life to

, although it was in 2022 when she managed to capture the spotlight for her constant performance.

Whether it is the result of chance or his extensive knowledge of social networks and the conviction that the exposure is priceless, he has already won the favor of the TikTok generation, first becoming a meme and, later, that icon that, by still less is it capable of control.

To paraphrase a well-known internet meme: For now...Julia Fox is a masterpiece.