What is brat summer? Your starter pack to decoding the Charli XCX-inspired gen Z trend taking the internet storm

Charli XCX has the internet in a chokehold strong enough to be dictating how the self-ordained it girlies will be living out their summer days (and nights!). Gen Z is all about living their best life and the latest slime green-coded manifestation of this is of course brat summer. Party hard, never stop and look like an absolute baddie while doing it. These are like the 3 key rules you need to live the summer . Why and how should you own this energy? Read on. Brat summer is here: Do you know how to get started on your own?(Photos: Instagram/charli_xcx, X/ThePopTingz) Charli XCX with the brat summer template(Photo: Instagram/charli_xcx) Ditch the emotions, embrace the aestheticBefore we break down the exentialism brat summer may in essence be signaling, let’s focus our attention on how to look every inch like you’re having a brat summer. First stop here is lime green. Nails, eyeshadow, clothes, shoes — at least one (or more) of the items on your being need to be a dead ringer for the colour of the summer. If you truly want to understand how seminal the colour is to the whole brat summer routine, just know that lime green is to summer of 2024 what pink was to the summer of 2023 (Hi Barbie?). The inspiration behind this is the seemingly low-effort but doubly iconic album cover which reads ‘brat’ in low-resolution Aerial font against a screaming lime green. The aesthetic inspirations for brat summer are earlier social media trends like feral girl summer and rat girl summer, all of which are ultimately spin-offs of the OG hot girl summer, which let’s be honest, is forever. Speaking of forever, Y2K in its comeback era feels like it’s here to stay. Brat summer is ensuring an elongation of its reign on wardrobes. Stringy tops and dresses, round-the-clock chunky shades, pouty gloss-dunked lips, lots of (faux) leather (remember, it’s all about going green, pun intended), messy smoky makeup and even messier hair is the brief. And oh, extra points if you want to pull out your boots and tie-up heels from their summer retirement. Let’s be honest, this sounds like a party right away even if you don’t find yourself heading to the club. Side note: Don’t for a second be scared of looking trashy or too ‘out there’, because that’s the vibe. In a previous interview with The News Movement, brat summer mother Charli XCX asserted, “It can be like, so trashy. Just like a pack of cigs and and a Bic lighter. And like, a strappy white top with no bra. That’s like, kind of all you need”. Brat summer is deeper than you’d thinkIs brat summer just another theme-veiled excuse to party? Probably. That being said, the pulse of the internet-breaking phenomenon runs slightly deeper than hitting the dance floor in a trance. Many critics have pointed out that while the vibe of Charli XCX’s ‘brat’ album is unbridled chaos, it carries strong waves of anxiety and a sense of being lost in the moment as an aftertaste. Irrespective of if you’re a regular at the club or not, numbing your worries with a good time is an approach that you must have dabbled with occasionally at the very least if not turning to it as your OG coping mechanism. On the appreciable side, brat summer then, encourages you to let lose and let go. The relatability of the vibe is what explains its unanimous hold over not just Gen Z but a sizeable section of millennials as well. Politics is having its brat summer momentBrat summer is serious business and Kamala Harris agrees. Earlier last month, Joe Biden abruptly stepped down as the Democrat nominee, endorsing his vice-president as the running candidate for POTUS instead. With her nomination being accepted, Kamala’s campaign team has gone into overdrive as they try to allure Gen Z with their brat-coded campaign. This is no joke and Charli XCX started it. “kamala IS brat”, affirmed Charli in an X post, following which social media platforms were flooded with cringe but well-meaning edits of Kamala with the leading brat album songs. Her team quickly jumped on the brief, turning Kamala’s campaign, brat-coded. For instance, the background for the official Kamala HQ X handle reads, ‘kamala hq’ in a low-resolution Aerial font, against, you guessed it, lime green. Kamala and her team aren’t alone in their brat quest. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, recently lauded the success of the Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion in a post which mimicked the brat album font and aesthetic. Full marks to them for cashing in on the relatability. What are you waiting for? Tap into your inner brat and live out your best brat summer, no holds bar!