With ‘Brat,’ Charli XCX Becomes Fashion’s Summer Muse
In addition to providing the songs of the summer, Charli XCX’s already-iconic lime green album cover has ignited a fashion revolution.
The 31-year-old British avant-pop and electronic superstar released her sixth studio album, “Brat,” a follow-up to her 2022 album “Crash,” last month. The 15-track album features her hit Y2K-inspired single “Von Dutch” with influencer Addison Rae, along with “Brb,” “Sympathy is a Knife,” “Club Classics,” and “360,” which features It Girl and Rivet 50 honoree Julia Fox in its music video.
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With its release, “Brat” made an immediate impact, debuting with 77,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending June 13, according to Luminate. This achievement marks the biggest week of Charli’s career by units and secures her highest rank (No. 3) on the all-genre Billboard 200.
And beyond her success on the charts, Charli has also made a significant impact on fashion. With her minimalist lime green album cover, she’s revived the Indie Sleaze aesthetic and club culture while toppling Clean Girl’s dominance, according to new data from retail intelligence firm EDITED.
“Lime green apparel arrivals were low within retailers’ Spring 2024 collections. However, we saw a 171-percent spike in June 2024 vs. 2023 when the album launched, and fans used the slime hue to signal their Brat girl status,” Heather Ibberson, retail analyst at EDITED, told Sourcing Journal.
“We no doubt expect the color to influence the upcoming womenswear Spring 2025 shows in September, as the recent menswear collections indicate that the shade is already on the radar of major designers like Gucci and Prada,” she added.
Brat Summer isn’t just about color, though; it’s about encompassing futuristic outfits by blending streetwear, rave culture and 2000s nostalgia, drawing from the Cyberpop movement, EDITED said. Key elements for achieving this edgy style include wrap-around/shield sunglasses (a staple for Charli), baby tees, micro shorts, mini skirts and leather apparel.
“Leather apparel is really a key component of this trend,” EDITED noted in its report. “In fact, for S/S24, jackets accounted for 38 percent of leather majority SKU sellouts as biker trends continue to flourish, moving away from bold racing graphics to distressed and lived-in finishes.”
While all generations are immersing themselves in Charli’s new album and Brat Summer, young millennials are the primary driving force behind the trend.
“Millennials reminisce on the 2010s club culture that Charli XCX is reviving in this Hyperpop album and reclaiming their youth, which many had taken away during the pandemic years as nightlife shut down,” Ibberson noted. “In contrast, the album speaks to Gen Z’s new experiences of partying and discovering nostalgic styles, such as Indie Sleaze, for the first time.”
Since the trend emerged, celebrities like Ashley Tisdale and Lorde have also endorsed it, posting videos of themselves dancing to Charli’s song “Apple.” During a recent concert at London’s OVO Arena Wembley, Australian singer-songwriter and actor Troye Sivan even surprised fans by bringing Charli XCX onstage, with vibrant green lighting flashing behind them to announce her arrival.
“Charli XCX…is [currently] leading the Hyperpop music wave and is an icon for Y3K style (a derivative of Y2K), both of which have influenced the music and style of fellow pop stars like Camila Cabello and Katy Perry,” Ibberson said.
Charli has become this summer’s fashion muse, but celebrities influencing fashion is not uncommon.
A recent example is Beyoncé’s highly anticipated country album “Cowboy Carter,” which sparked immediate fashion trends earlier this year. Following Beyoncé’s Instagram post promoting the album release, searches for “flared jeans” surged to an all-time high worldwide in March, according to Dalston Mill Fabrics, a U.K. fabric retailer. The company reported a 372-percent increase in searches for these jeans. Additionally, searches for “denim vest” globally spiked by 105 percent compared to the last five years following the social media buzz surrounding Beyoncé’s double denim look.
And in 2022, the release of the movie “Barbie” ignited a pink trend that swept through fashion, accessories and beauty.
According to a report by product intelligence company Trendalytics, pink blazers—a versatile choice for both work and leisure—saw over 21,000 online searches on average in 2022, marking a 53 percent increase compared to 2021. Interest in pink footwear also surged, with searches for pink heels up by 59 percent from the previous year. In the realm of beauty, hot pink lipstick, along with pink lip gloss, mascara and eyeshadow, emerged as top trends that resonated with the Barbiecore aesthetic observed by Trendalytics.
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