Charli XCX‘s latest look may not be brat green but that doesn’t make it any less brat, you know?
For the uninitiated, pretty much any green shade of the neon or lime variety became known as “brat green” ever since the 32-year-old musician released her club rat manifesto earlier this summer. Based on the album art, which simply featured “brat” in lower-case typeface over a flat green square, dressing in brat green became the quickest way for the fashion-forward to signal they’re so Julia.
Before that point, however, the colour went largely untouched by street-style connoisseurs—which was exactly why the singer chose it. “I wanted to go with an offensive, off-trend shade of green to trigger the idea of something being wrong,” Charli XCX told Vogue Singapore in April. “I’d like for us to question our expectations of pop culture—why are some things considered good and acceptable, and some things deemed bad? I’m interested in the narratives behind that and I want to provoke people. I’m not doing things to be nice.”
Charli XCX may not have worn the “offensive” shade of green for Variety‘s 2024 Hitmaker’s Brunch on December 7, but her tan (or possibly olive-toned) dress will surely provoke a reaction. The icon accepted her award for Hitmaker of the Year in a gorgeous Saint Laurent halter gown featuring a sheer skirt and bust.
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The look is very reminiscent of the stunning Saint Laurent midi dress Bella Hadid wore to Cannes back in May. At the time, Hadid’s sheer brown dress sparked outrage reminiscent of the misogynistic attacks levelled against Florence Pugh for wearing a hot pink see-through gown to a Valentino fashion show in July 2022—or the backlash any female celebrity faces for daring to free the nipple while male celebrities like Harry Styles and Timothée Chalamet get a free pass.
We certainly can’t speak for Charli XCX, but it’s almost as if she kept the rest of her look uncharacteristically understated—from the gown’s muted colour and classic silhouette to her minimalist makeup look and burgundy manicure—to make you question why semi-visible nipples spark any sort of discourse at all. How very brat.
This article originally appeared on GLAMOUR US.
