Women Hype Each Other Up With ‘Boots and a Slicked-Back Bun’ Meme

Maisie Sellwood, Amelia Gregorian and Eloise Lord were having a typical girls’ night out when they unwittingly created a viral hit that has since been viewed over six million times and inspired celebrities to make their own renditions.

The trio, who live in London and have been friends since they met studying musical theater at The BRIT School, had taken a last-minute weekend trip to the English seaside town of Margate and were getting ready to head out for the evening.

“I was sat on the bed while Ellie was starting to get ready, and I said, ‘Ellie, what are you wearing tonight?’” said Ms. Sellwood, a 26-year-old actor and nightclub manager. “‘Oh, you know, the usual. Boots and slicked-back bun,’” she remembered Ms. Lord, also 26 and an actor, replying.

Ms. Sellwood found herself repeating the lilting phrase, entertained by its lyrical quality. Boots and slicked-back bun. Boots and slicked-back bun.

“We were doing a bit of a bar crawl of Margate, and after a few cocktails we were just chanting ‘boots and a slicked back bun,’” Ms. Sellwood said.

Later in the night, Ms. Sellwood pulled out her phone on the street, asked the question again and recorded each of her friends’ answers, which, in addition to the boots and the bun, included “cowboy boots and a blowy” and “Sambas and a little red bag.” (A blowy is shorthand for blow-dried hair, Ms. Gregorian, who is 26 and a content creator, explained.)

Since Ms. Sellwood posted the video in late June, it has inspired restaurant workers in Boston, residents at a senior living center in Colorado, and staff at an animal rescue organization in Arizona, who used the meme to model shelter pets. (“Cute face with a curly tail, cute face with a curly tail,” went that rendition.)

The actor Amy Poehler even posted a riff featuring Rashida Jones, Rachel Dratch and a cameo appearance by Seth Meyers. As Ms. Jones whips her hair and shows off a lime green polo, she and the other women chant “pony and a cashmere shirt.”

For Ms. Sellwood and her friends, the spontaneous moment felt like an extension of last year’s summer of “Barbie,” they said, in which women greeted each other with “Hi, Barbie!” Like that call out, the “boots and a slicked-back bun” meme is intended as a wholesome celebration of female camaraderie.

“We are inherently and organically each other’s hype women,” Ms. Sellwood said.

The reaction had so far been overwhelmingly positive: “99.9 percent of the response has been women uplifting women,” she said.