Slang dictionary

scumbro

[skuhm-broh]

What does scumbro mean?

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Scumbro is the name of a men’s fashion style and the men who dress in it. Scumbro style involves wearing expensive, designer clothing sloppily or cultivating an unfashionable, poorly put together look.

Related words

dudebro, too much sauce, skater boy, sleazecore, fuckboy

Where does scumbro come from?

Mr Porter / Getty Images

The word scumbro was coined by Vanity Fair writer Kenzie Bryant in a June 2018 article about a fashion trend among various male celebrities.

Bryant described the scumbro style (and the men that dress in it) as a combination of a “skate bro and a Deadhead bro.” The driving force of scrumbro style, Bryant maintained, is to give off the impression that they are at once aloof to fashion but are still savvy, rich, or famous enough to wear high-end, designer clothing. Bryant named actor Jonah Hill as “the king of the scumbros.”

Fashion Beans

While Bryant doesn’t explicitly state in the article why she used scumbro for the trend, her choice is clear: scrumbros are guys (bros) who are wearing expensive clothing in a sloppy, uncoordinated, or deliberately schlubby (scummy) way. It’s akin to and coincides with another summer 2018 fashion trend: sleazecore.

Examples of scumbro

I’ve decided to fully commit to becoming a scumbro
@MountainDrew72, October 2018
The final rung of the scumbro climb must be to design one’s own sneaker with one of the big streetwear brands. Welcome home, Hill.
Kenzie Bryant, Vanity Fair, October 2018
FashionBeans  
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Who uses scumbro?

After Vanity Fair broke this story of the century, other magazines and newspapers have tried to make sense of the baffling fashion trend of the scumbro. Some of the more famous scumbros include Justin Bieber and Shia LeBeouf.

SNL actor and former Mr. Ariana Grande, Pete Davidson, is also a noted trendsetter in the scumbro scene.

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Note

This is not meant to be a formal definition of scumbro like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of scumbro that will help our users expand their word mastery.

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