fast fashion has ruined media consumption 

why aren’t we allowed to just enjoy things anymore. why does everything have to become a brand and an aesthetic? i’m honestly so fed up with constantly being advertised to

the best anti capitalist action you can take is to completely delete tik tok and instagram. stop allowing yourself to be marketed to. get an ad blocker and read a book.

I saw a clip of Charli saying all you really need for a Brat Summer is a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top without a bra. Real Brat is more of a vibe than an aesthetic.

Once you develop a personality, these trends are easy to not buy into.

brat girl summer is just two day old eyeliner, tank top without a bra, and loving life as rawly as possible, ups and downs included

The only way I’ll really engage with “brat girl summer” is by blasting brat and Charli and painting my nails brat green lols. Like why do I need to make an album or artists or place my whole identity? I’m multifaceted and have loads of interests and hobbies. I do engage with some trends, but I mostly have found the brands and styles I like the most and stick with those

“It feels like we’ve gotten to the point as a society where we can’t decouple our interests from purchasing and that feels very dangerous […] and disingenuous” summarises it perfectly! I couldn’t agree more with you! Such a great video xx Thank you! ✨

I've said it before and i'll say it again: aesthetics are so bad for personal style and self! When I was first introduced to them, I was so worried about which interests I'd have to give up and what stuff I should buy to be "one aesthetic." (ex: i LOVE rock but was so into cottagecore). it's just advertising. We are all too cool and multifaceted to be put in one box and that's a good thing-- don't let aesthetics tell you otherwise.

love this whole video, "it feels like we're being sold personalities" is insanely true with so many microtrends being marketed as something unique when a lot of them just a rebrand of past trends

I like the brat graphic generator but buying a whole new wardrobe is not brat summer behavior and I’m starting to get annoyed at brands co-opting artists creativity and fame instead of hiring smart marketers that develop their own voice.

‘barbie summer’ was ALL ABOUT a brand, Mattel, and its related merchandise. brat is an album about charli’s personal experiences, not an over generalized message about what womanhood is supposed to be. brat is not aspirational, it’s not clear-cut, it’s not safe for work. it comes from an artist who has made a living on basement DJ sets and selling songs to other, bigger stars. charli didn’t build her career by constantly collaborating with brands because she isn’t marketable like other pop stars are. she’s unfiltered, she associates with many queer and alternative artists, and she doesn’t dress in up-front brands. ‘brat summer’ rejects the idea that you need a new outfit for the club, that you should throw out tights when they tear a bit, that you’re not well dressed enough for public spaces. it’s new and trendy to wear the stuff in the back of your closet, which is a little funny.

I’m not the target audience for any of this and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m slightly older (30) and have been inundated with this type of marketing since the late 90s/ early 2010s, but as a casual observer it’s been really jarring to see what passes for marketing nowadays in comparison to when I was younger. In the past at least companies would try keep a lower profile and/or capitalize on preexisting cultural movements that were created organically/over a long period of time. Now, companies are trying desperately to create and manufacture cultural movements overnight that fade just as quickly. In so many words: they keep trying to make fetch happen and it’s so blatantly inauthentic that it’s giving me secondhand embarrassment 😂

honestly the brat look is exactly what gen Z is wearing currently in Europe (or at least in Scandic countries). Second hand 2000s tops and low waist jeans, sneakers, hand bags, mix n match of styles and lots of 'vibes'. I call it the 'techno' look cuz I usually see them in techno clubs.

Brands may have a difficult time selling this one because "Brat" doesn't seem to have a succinct enough visual language. Barbie was easy: Pink and/or Barbie logo. A huge part of fashion is instantaneous non verbal communication of who you are (or are trying to be). I predict this trend will be over before people are able to understand or recognise it.

Idk what brat summer is but the comparison to Barbie made it seem we were going to get a Bratz movie next 😅

This is completely off topic from the topic, but is anyone else uncomfortable with the romanticization of smoking? I personally know a lot of people who have started smoking cigarettes recently (smoking never fully went away ofc, but i’ve noticed a sharp increase). Smoking is NOT a healthy alternative to vaping. In addition, I’ve noticed a lot more cigarette butts thrown on the ground, which does tie into sustainability, not to mention how harmful the tobacco industry is to the environment. On top of that, every criticism you can make of dishonest and harmful advertising from the fashion industry, you can make doubly so for the tobacco industry (if you think fast fashion exploits asian countries, then look into how Phillip Morris International and other companies have treated African companies, including calling cigarettes outside of children’s schools… as recently as the late 2010s). I don’t want to come off as a youth pastor here, but smoking is not good for you. And don’t get me wrong, I think Charlie XCX saying you don’t need to buy new clothes for brat summer is great. But promoting cigarette use is still promoting you going out and regularly buying a very expensive product. Not to mention that cigarettes are incredibly addictive, so someone saying “instead of buying new clothes, go out and buy a habit it will take you an average of seven times to quit and will cost an incredible amount of money” isn’t exactly comforting to me. You are still being advertised to when someone tells you that you need to smoke to fit into a certain aesthetic. I personally don’t see this is any better than the Marlboro Man or Joe Camel, which we now rightly call out as extremely manipulative advertising. I know that no one cares about this and smoking has always been promoted in certain music scenes (Lana Del Ray comes to mind) but… it just seems wrong to me to not point that out on a video on how harmful trends can be, when the creator of the trend is literally telling you that you need to have a lighter and cigarette to fit into it.

New York Times cooking sent out a Brat inspired recipe inspired newsletter to their subscribers and I kind of loved it!! It was all pea green recipes. It was more of a creative take which on Brat summer hehe

all of this aesthetics it's just marketing list of "what to buy", not even "what i might like", simply: buy it or you are out of league

Personally, the "brat girl summer" is so appealing because of the pure, unadulterated confidence that surrounds charli. this especially appeals to her younger audience i think. to me, a 16 year old girl, charli xcx is the epitome of "cool" and I'm going to have to watch what I buy this summer because I have to stay aware that what I buy will not transform me into the highly confident, unapologetic person that i aspire to become. brat girl summer is a lifestyle, a vibe, a mindset. Companies cannot sell you personalities, only the idea of one. DO NOT LET THESE COMPANIES SELL YOU A CONCEPT. brat girl summer is about being confident and unapologetic when you take up room or when you make your voice heard. brat girl summer is about rekindling and strengthening your female friendships. you can buy as much stuff as you like, but unfortunately the confidence that brat exudes will not arrive in the mail along with your lime green tank top. don't let companies profit off insecurities and the fact that we do not know ourselves - stay vigilant out there. 💚💚💚

I didn't even know this was a thing. It sounds so dumb. I've listened to the album and I've enjoyed it, why would it be necessary to also dress like Charlie xcx and smoke cigarettes for me to enjoy it more? It feels so phony.

So over trends. I'm just sticking with what has always worked for me. In a few years I'll be right in style again.

brat summer for me- is simply listening to brat 😊

Everything online is such an ad now that it feels like it all gets filtered out. I don’t buy into trends. I’ve never bought from SHEIN or Cider or Temu, and it was easy to just… not give them my money. I think the demographic most impacted by this is teenaged girls. The ads don’t do the brainwashing as much as social pressure to fit in and be cool does. I think that, the more confident we can be in ourselves, the more discerning we become in purchases. But I think younger women have a lack of role models for what that looks like.

This was such an interesting video! Zara changing their logos color to green actually made me laugh out loud because you’re so right the most random brands will do absolutely anything to be relevant even if they can’t actively sell things to participate in the trend. I’m also curious if fast fashion will create looks based on clothes Charli wears or clothing typically seen in clubs or if they will continue to lean in to the clean/luxery style that has been popular. I guess we’ll find out in a month or so when the new items hit the stores 🙄

Social media and different apps has ruined the world in many ways 😢

Clothing, fashion and style can be super fun and I love how people get inspired by pop culture. But this… this is just stupid. When people have the time to put effort in emulating a new aesthetic every couple of months, it feels very frivalous and icky to be honest.

Please do one about Taylor Swift next! The amount of vinyls she puts out should be criminal! Also the tour specific outfits, pins, stickers fans buy etc.

I want charli to release official brat merch so bad, it's (a little bit) more ethic and it's supporting her

This video is so interesting! I feel like capitalising off of brat summer almost goes against the whole point of being a brat? Like Charli seems to be rejecting the industry & being uniquely herself, so buying into it would almost ruin it idk

the one brat summer (winter here xx) purchase i allowed myself was a pencil eyeliner bc it’s the only thing u need and i didn’t have one. it should be a mindset, not a shopping list. loved the video

it’s also interesting bc the whole philosophy/mentality of that album was about unapologetically owning yourself and who you are, and now the trend of being a brat girl doesn’t really translate anymore if we’re all buying and being sold the brat girl uniform, it juxtaposes the original point of brat in the first place

Growing up extremely poor taught me how little trends matter especially when one cannot afford to participate in any

Fashion in general has ruined consumption and production in some levels, nature for sure

Luxury brands used to if they were not “timeless luxury” BE the trendsetters. But I think they have lost their relevancy when it comes to trendsetting and that’s why miu miu is turning into luxury fast fashion I think.

“brat girl aesthetic” so indie sleaze?, “brat vomit lime green” so neon green? you guys are rotting your brains trying to come up with new names for things you think/wish were new just to feel like you’re creating something. nothing’s new anymore. be real and move on.

I’m a fan of Charli and honestly one thing I appreciate about her music production and projects is the versatility and variety of sounds she put in them. I don’t need to become every music album I am currently listening to!

Watching this video while wearing a neon vomit orange vintage Kate Spade bag… hahah. I actually love this colour of green a lot. The over consumption riding off artistry is tired, but I fucking love the slimey neon green. I acquired many slimey neon green bags ten years ago when this colour was last peaking and I wore through them all. I miss the green. I hope to seen more green everywhere. I hope people save their money and don’t buy into fake hype. If you like Charli you already listen to her music and dress however you like. Hooray thanks for the video :)

lol I got a SHEIN commercial before this video.

to me a brat summer is a mindset; being empowered and wearing what you want but not over consuming.

Me watching these "internet lore" videos cause I basically live under a rock due to my lack of social media cause I find it weird to be in the personal business of everyday people: 👁👄👁☕️

I think one thing that’s nice about the grunge aesthetic is that it’s based on using what you already have. I think you can put together an outfit that falls under this pretty easily and cheaply because of what grunge came from. I do think (and hope) this will be more of a flop than Barbie because of that. Like… you could easily repurpose your cowboy boots into this aesthetic. A big part of it is looking haphazard and customized to yourself.

Completely agree with your points. I deleted Tiktok a year or two ago and it's been one of the best things for me mentally and financially. Continuously working on just liking what I like and trying to disengage from all the social media chatter. Finished the video and quickly subscribed, loved the way your organized the various chapters of it (and of course the green titlecards!)

Came across a beautiful green skirt which I had saved 3 days ago, because I wanted to buy on a pay date. Then suddenly out of nowhere it had sold out on all sizes. Now I know why!

I think the biggest issue is that companies hear about a trend like "brat summer" and they also are taking it at face value. Like no thoughts, just what can we do before someone else. Good marketing is thoughtful, creative, and if your brand isn't in the place to provide commentary or products around a new trend - don't! Like just "green and grunge" isn't brat, and you actually risk muddying up your brand identity by chasing trends.

i think with brands completely centering around one aesthetic, it also lessens the scope and versatility of their clothes which just makes it difficult for the people not giving in to the trend. I mean obviously one can definitely thrift them but i dont want to be walking into malls finding only lime green coded clothes when i genuinely dont like it 😭 it just makes things so much monotonous and people who are not even aware of these trends, get sucked into it against their will because honestly they just deplete us of the choice

as a person who genuinely loved the album, i can proudly state: i the trend.

I don't know, these t-shirt and grungy look in general were already popular

Haven’t fashion and music been walking hand in hand for 70 years now. Like how I know metal fans from their aesthetics more often than not. The brat look is already at saturation in Europe - Charlie has captured rather than created a look You’re right about the danger of aligning your sense of self (interests) with purchasing

Hiii👋🏻 Fan from Spain here, hope you have a great time while you're here!

Music and fashion has always crossed over. In the 80s little girls wore rubber bracelets like Madonna. In the 90s people wore plaid shirts like Kurt Cobain. I think there is nothing more "brat girl summer" than dressing in your own iconic style. Great video

charli xcx is playing with normies i dont even like her but this is all so funny

Getting rid of clothes because they dont fit your current aesthetic is a skill issue 👎 true fashionistas can style ANYTHING and make it work how they want

Wear what you have as long as you want till it falls apart? Turns out I'm a brat girl 😮

I loved this video, subscribed! I think you got the essence of brat perfectly

u r so smart. i love that u have hit the brat girl summer trend with this video without endorsing it. shows us all that we can follow a narrative and be business and marketing smart without telling people to buy things or buying things ourself. u deserve every view for this video, such a smart girl I love it xxxxxx

such a great video, i think the cover of brat being so easy to recreate helps both the consumers in which they can basically make their own merch if they want and the fashion industry in that all you need is a nasty lime green color (and maybe the words brat but idk if that go into some copyright issues)

brat girl summer just seems like a rebranded version of indie sleaze to me. and when that aesthetic was popular you didn't see brands capitalizing off of it

I thought brat was a meme all my friends were participating in 😅 i don’t listen to charli xcx and i didn’t even know she released an album, maybe i’ll try to listen to it today

THIS VID IS FIRE 🔥🔥🔥

Great video, Katie!

I feel like overall being sold an aesthetic is making people become almost the same person, prime example being that one neon puke yellow Brazil tank tee. People are loosing personality and personal taste and brands and mass corporations are selling everyone the same personality. I feel like brands are loosing their branding and clothes are becoming very wasted and aren’t being worn more than for a month at a time. Everything has to be an “aesthetic” and a “core” it’s so draining. I feel so disconnected overall from this generation because of the way everyone mass consumes and are slowly becoming devoid of personality or personal preference. Such an important and relevant point. This has been a rising issue for years and TikTok has honestly changed the way everyone has mass consumed. Thank you for making this !

love this video, just made me subscribe💕💕

Getting an ad for brat on this video is so

Well said, thanks for a great video!

hiii i just found your channel and this video was so well made and insightful i subbed immediately!! I can't wait to take a look through your channel to see all the other great vids :))

this video was great, it’s a perfect comment on how frustrating this is. I still love the album though, wish we could just enjoy that. fast fashion and consumerism sucks.

I’ve definitely seen the brands try to capitalise off of the brat girl summer but I feel like they are legit sucking the life out of it …it was just sopposed to be us having fun, being free ,acting out and listening to Charlis new album….trying to literally make it into something it’s not and profiting off of it it’s like there’s no fun in that ….no one knew her album was going to be this big so can we like just ride the wave …I’m so tired man of everything being an ad or promotion like there’s legit no escaping

A couple of months ago, I realized that everytime an aesthetic became trendy I would go shopping. Then I saw it wasn't just me, it's everyone. This feels like wer'e in the plot of a mind control dystopia and thinking about all the waste and child labor fast fashion is responsible of makes me really anxious.

On the fan fashion note -- I live close to Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh, and last year our whole neighbourhood was flooded with pink plastic feathers that were falling off from Harry Styles fans feather boas after the show. I bet the show was good and the fans had a really good time and I was happy for them, but I was genuinely so sad and a bit furious that one just couldn't go to a show without buying some microplastic stuff that will end up on a dump... I could see those feathers lying on the streets for a month, because it was too hard to clean up all this mess!

Charli has always had a not giving a fuck vibe and to me, brat is the record where that is really well represented. Brat summer is simply not giving a fuck what people think and just doing what feels good to you - which is really the opposite of trying to fit into some brand's idea of what brat really is, so if people are trying to buy into this trend they are already not being a brat lol

I’ve been a fan of Charli since 2016 and I’m just still not understanding what people are trying to make of this “Brat Summer” trend. Happy for my girl Charli as she’s been through a lot to get to this point career wise… But literally what does it even mean. What does it all mean

Watching this video is making me really happy because i didnt even know brat girl summer was a thing, which means ive succesfully reduced my social media use to a minimum. Im also comparing this new trend (and the clean girl trend as well) to what ive been buying and wearing lately and realising there isnt much correlation at all which means i havent been tricked by stores in my area, or what people wear, into following this trend, and that makes me really proud of myself. Not to say the trend itself is ugly/bad, not at all! Ive been actually inspired by "tumblr grunge" since 2015 and the brat girl summer seems to have similar aspects so i do like some of the things im seeing here, but ive been already owning for a while now most of the things i see and like, which once again makes me feel proud of myself for not being influenced by the clean girl aesthetic (that i was aware of). And it seems like fashion trends online seem to cycle back to "grungy" every year and a half anyways lol. Im really happy with my clothes and what i wear now, it has made so many aspects of fashion really easy. Shopping is done more quickly as i know what i like, putting outfits together too, finding pieces too since they tend to be "out of style" at times but also the mental load as been taken off. Im no longer in my head thinking about if im giving the correct vibes off, if people are percieving me as this or that aesthetic, how i feel when i see myself, comparing myself to the other people wearing it... etc, now my biggest problem is trying to find a way to make this hawaiian shirt i bought at the thrift fit my shoulder as i didnt try it on first 😂 and figuring out if i like the colors of my outfit together or not, its overall a lot easier and now im so happy with my wardrobe :) Ive spent the past few months building it back up with pieces i now cherish and now i no longer feel the urge to buy buy buy like i used to, cause now i finally feel satisfied!

My generation just cant have one personality. 🤷‍♀️They wanted be barbie last summer now brat. (My friends already fooled) They have different types of clothing and accessories and if there is nothing going on (aesthetics) they just can’t decide what to wear or can’t match the clothes and accessories. And me, I have one type of clothes, I have my own taste. I don’t chase trends. You just need to find yourself 💙

Love the t-shirt 😍

I just hate that I have always and know I will like the “cottage core” which tbh has had other names too but I like floral patterns and skirts and dresses and I am only allowed to buy it when it’s a trend. I would def buy expensive clothes I like! But I have to save for it!!! I can not and do not have enough money to buy clothes when they’re trendy 😢 why can’t retailers see people want all kinds of stuff not what’s trendy to teenagers on tik tok 😫

i saw someone have like 5 copies of the same brat vinyl (like not even the different versions of it, they all had that neon green cover) and i still wonder why?? would you need that???

omg i had a brat advert before this, mental

the brat girl summer is adore delano after season 6 of rupauls drag race.

i love women ! « *makes completely cohesive, clear, stunning arguments and commentary on fashion, policy, and capitalism* “thanks for listening to my ramblings!! 🥰☺️🤭” »

I think also one reason why media is trying to capitalize on other ways is because we don’t consume or buy media like we did in previous years. Instead of buying a CD album or going to movie theaters, we stream everything which is way less profitable for artists or cinema production. Just a thought l

I mean, brands will try to capitalise on, but it’s us who allow it in the end. If people would have their own personality and style, maybe they wouldn’t need to jump on those microtrends all the time. Like even Charli said it, you already have it in your closet and that is the point. Your own style that makes you feel confident and bad bish is the brat aesthetic. I wish all of us loved ourselves more and were more confident so we don’t feel like we need all this crap.

It’s literally just bisexual girl with boyfriend core

I'm still obsessed with Barbiecore a year later lol

i got an ad for 360 mv on this video hahaha

The ad on this being SHEIN 😭😭

I have a few like, unrelated to each other thoughts I wanna jot down, so here's my epic bullet pointed list: - I find the association with cigarettes to be quite interesting, it shows that the aesthetic is far more rooted in a state of mind/personality than a fashion statement. You don't wanna dress like brat girl, you wanna BE brat girl, you wanna smoke her cigarettes, you wanna go to her charity shops and buy clothes, you want her as a person, which matches a lot of trends. It comes from a desire to not only look like you fit in, but to fit in, this is just peer pressure and it has it's negative effects the very same way. Becoming somebody else isn't healthy, and shock of the century, nor is tobacco, so maybe not the most awesomesauce amazeballs of trend cycles. This is also why the capitalistic nature of fast fashion clothing brands latching on is so jarring. You're not brat girl, you're a middle aged man that has to skim through TikTok every day in search of the latest trends and attempt to market them because it's your job, why are you trying to sell me a chartreuse tank? But as it stands, anything that can be enjoyed people can be capitalised off, so people are gonna do that, it takes one soulless billionaire to ruin the market so whatever. - Interestingly also is the way it appeals to young girls. I myself, am a young teen girl, and I totally get it. You're trying to figure out your style so you throw yourself at anything that passes by and looks pretty. Maybe it's not totally you, but you're trying to figure out what you is anyways, so that's not gonna happen is the kinda mindset. I myself am very guilty of this. Perhaps not trends per se, but subcultures that bubble beneath the surface catch my attention every few months, sometimes overlapping, as well as miscellaneous colours and patterns I like, none of them ever matching up. One moment I've applied enough eyeliner to cause a National shortage and I'm wearing big boots and T-shirts that are honestly far too big, and the next I'm in dainty little pastel dresses, so young people can understandably love to latch onto one marketable style with a look and an image because it's like having your identity handed to you, which sounds awfully useful and fun, better than staring in a mirror with clothes strewn across your room because you don't know if you love yourself or loathe yourself. Why scramble in the dark to figure out who you are when the latest aesthetic has it all tied up in a neat little package? - Finally, the desire to express your interest and who you are through style has me torn. On the one hand, it really sucks that megacorps are boxing people and pigeonholing them into a personality so that they can be forced to buy such and such, enforcing a culture so reliant on purchasing and consumerism to just be you, when "you" isn't really you deep down. What makes it worse is the price tag and high entry level to supposedly be assimilated into a fan base when that just isn't accessible for so many people, are people not allowed to just enjoy their media without having to spend money they might not have the means to? And it kills the planet. However there is another side to it. Being identifiable via your interests is fun, I can tell you right off the bat what my favourite band is, where I've been on holiday, and my favourite video game just through my t-shirt on any given day and I adore that. I personally struggle with expressing my interests when I'm so deeply enamoured with something but nobody else really is, and in making an identifiable part of me tied to that, I can show people, and it lets me air out that part if me I have to repress so much, and that just makes me so happy. I remember being eleven, and going up for a sort of trial day at my high school, and wearing my Animal Crossing T-shirt (I love dress down days) and making my first friend via that one stupid T-shirt, and if it makes one little weird kid who was too wrapped up in her own passions to really be respected properly feel less rejected, maybe that's a good thing. Anyways I should probably actually listen to brat instead of listening to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge AGAIN, and/or go to sleep.

It’s not ‘brat green,’ ‘lime green,’ or ‘slime green’ it’s Weezer green. Weezer used the color first, methinks

The green still very much reminds me of Billie Eilish’s green roots phase. I don’t think the color will quite catch on bc it’s a fairly recent phenomenon that was established by Billie not that long ago.

I truly believe brat was initially so appealing as it directly countered this idea that you need to encapsulate a given aesthetic that capitalizes off material desire - like it preached the idea that messy, already owned, and personal was what emulated 'brat'. before brands began to ruin this, it was the integral feeling of letting yourself be free and messy. and even tho it is sorta linked to a given vibe, it's one that can accommodate ppl's genuine personalities and doesn't require over-consumption.

Reuse the same clothes in my wardrobe lol that's a true brat 😂 sustainability forever!

Why is Lana Del Rey so ubiquitous in those aesthetics?? 😭 That's enough

I'm listening while making myself an iced coffee and can't stop giggling. What about this is bratty? Lol

i have never heard of brat summer… thank god i don’t use tiktok

It’s just grunge rebranded. I’m old so already did this back in the early 90’s. It’s all cyclical, what has been will be again. Don’t throw your stuff out young ladies. You’ll use it again later.

We have the same kind of bangs🙂

the amount of hate I got when saying that uou dont need to buy a whole new asos outfit for the eras tour...

people just have no personality anymore

I’m nervous this “brat summer” trend is going to reflect poorly on charli long-term and cause burnout for an otherwise phenomenal album

it also makes me very frustrated to see people screaming "run dont walk!" about multiple different things, then them selling out and people reselling said items for hundreds of dollars, same with concert tickets, like w sabrina carpenter, barley anybody who was truly a fan got tickets, it was worse than taylor swift eras, i enjoy people enjoying things but hyper trends lead to people who are just doing it for the trend buying up things that they will throw away and forget about to move to the next while individuals getting genuine joy and who would appreciate said thing for a while don't get to enjoy it, it happens w places, music, clothing, ect and it drives me wild, i want people to enjoy things, but consciously and because they like it, not because they're told they should

I really hate that green colour, especially for clothes. It always reminds me of green screens, as if people haven't finished making their shirt or whatever yet.