All hail the rise of Brat Summer and the death of Clean Girl. Brat summer isn’t over yet! Charlie XCX just announced a remix album via an Instagram post captioned –‘brat, and it’s completely different but also still brat.’
Make way for an extended summer of hedonistic, sultry, and bratty behaviour – where the outfits give off ‘Effy from Skins” and Madonna in the 90s. Brat is Gen Z’s messy awakening, a rejection of the clean girl aesthetic, a contradiction to conservativeness – day-old smudged mascara, mini dresses with tons of necklaces and bracelets.
Brat Summer is about mischief, taking a second away from the feeling of impending doom and worries about whether or not the stock market will crash and just putting on a corset top and mini skirt combo and ordering a dirty martini on a Wednesday night out with the girls. The trend’s aesthetic revolves around Y2K nostalgia –baby tees, white tank tops, crop tops, chunky boots, and lots of accessories. It’s for the unapologetic party girls that own who they are and stand for what they believe in.
Recently, the cult pop icon explained the Brat mindset in a TikTok video, saying, “You’re just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of like parties through it; is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s Brat. You’re Brat. That’s Brat.”
The fashion goes hand in hand with the themes of the album – harsh colours like lime green, stark silhouettes with texture and heavily shaded sunglasses at night. The Brat aesthetic draws heavily from Y2K fashion and indie sleaze, characterised by elements like:
Colourful Accessories
Chunky Sunglasses
Slogan Tees
Brat Summer is a state of mind, and its legacy is etched in all our hearts and plastered all over Instagram and TikTok, where it will remain like a time capsule that holds memories of celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Glen Powell dancing to the pop icon’s hit, Apple. So, don’t pack up all your baby tees just yet, Brat Autumn is just around the corner.