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Brat summer: is the long era of clean living finally over?
Charli xcx’s new album, Brat, highlights how many young women currently aspire to live – dirty, hedonistic, happy and bra-less. Well, it beats journalling after a long day of pilates ...
Marketing experts have praised the “ authenticity of the DIY vibe ”, omitting to mention its wellspring, which is that you couldn’t create the look, sound or atmosphere of brat with merch: individuality isn’t a thing you can buy. Photograph: Matt Kent/WireImageIt’s not a feminine ideal, brat, because it rejects the social surveillance that requires all young women to be the same way: but if it were, it would be a backlash against “ clean girl ” (this is crowdsourced from a number of 14- to 16-year-olds, most of whom wish to remain nameless). The paradox of the highly groomed ideal is that, while all its language is about the self, and so much of its Instagram practice is interior (“staying home, growing food”, as Patel has it), it’s very focused on men, perfecting an intensely traditional, almost helpmeet version of womanhood.
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