That is so brat,’ said the young woman washing her hands next to me in the restaurant bathroom.
She was drunk, and pointing at my shoes, which I had hoped nobody would notice, given that they were black, rubber, orthopaedic clogs, which I have been wearing for the last week because I am now of the age where I am more concerned about plantar fasciitis than fashion.
‘So brat, this whole combo,’ continued the girl, who could not have been more than 25. She motioned to my leopard print trousers, which I had hoped would hide the offending clogs, and the white vest, which seemed sensible given it was 35 degrees (we are on holiday in Greece).
‘So brat, this whole combo,’ continued the girl, who could not have been more than 25. She motioned to my leopard print trousers, which I had hoped would hide my clogs, and the white vest
Charli XCX, who this summer released album Brat, said that brat summer essentials are ‘a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, a strappy white top with no bra’
A year ago, I might have been offended to be described as ‘so brat’. But now it’s entered the younger generation’s vernacular as a byword for cool, I was delighted. I returned to my husband and daughter and excitedly told them what had happened.
‘You see that really young woman over there,’ I enthused, nodding to the table she sat at with her friends. ‘She said I was so brat!’
‘She was probably being ironic, Mum,’ sighed my 11-year-old, rolling her eyes.
‘I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about,’ stated my husband, who has escaped the notion of the ‘brat summer’, being a 44-year-old man who spends most of his free time imagining he is best friends with the presenters of The Rest Is History podcast.
If, like my husband, you are more interested in Roman numerals than the pop star and cultural icon Charli XCX, then let me explain the concept of the ‘brat summer’ to you. Apologies if I get it a bit wrong — I’m only repeating what I have been told by my younger colleagues who have, patiently, tried to explain it to me. About 5,000 times.
So, brat is Charli XCX’s sixth album, 15 tracks of sweaty dance pop released in June to much fanfare, its lime green cover taking social media by storm and becoming the ‘aesthetic’ of the summer.
A year ago, I might have been offended to be described as ‘so brat’. But now it’s entered the younger generation’s vernacular as a byword for cool, I was delighted
The singer has described the Brat album ethos as ‘me, my flaws, my f***ups, my ego all rolled into one’
The songs are a rejection of the ‘clean girl’ trend popularised on TikTok. ‘It’s so confusing sometimes to be a girl,’ sings Charli XCX, who is British and has described the ‘brat’ album ethos as ‘me, my flaws, my f***ups, my ego all rolled into one’.
I hope that clears that up for you. If not, Charli added that brat summer essentials were ‘a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, a strappy white top with no bra’, which sounds much like the essentials of all my summers between 1998 and 2002, and actually, now I come to think about it, 2024.
Brat summer might have never been anything more than another tedious TikTok trend were it not for the fact that Kamala Harris celebrated her ascension to Democratic presidential nominee by overhauling her online campaign and turning it brat lime green, using the same low-res Arial font as Charli XCX’s album cover.
M oments later, the pop star set the internet alight when she tweeted ‘Kamala IS brat’, thus securing the Gen Z vote for the Vice-President. Not to be outdone, Barack Obama this week revealed to his 36 million Instagram followers that he had been listening to the brat album on his summer playlist.
Kamala Harris celebrated her ascension to Democratic presidential nominee by overhauling her online campaign and turning it brat lime green, using the same low-res Arial font as Charli XCX’s album cover
So now brat summer is everywhere, with even Deutsche Bank advertising for a ‘brat in finance’. This is surely the easiest way to kill a trend dead — that and me writing about it.
Here in Greece, meanwhile, the young women wear lime green nail varnish and tell me that ‘brat’ is all about being a bit messy, a bit undone, a bit feral, frankly, and not caring that you are a mass of contradictions. Hence the ‘admiration’ for the chaos of my clogs and leopard print trousers. In short, being described as ‘brat’ is a compliment, but in a sort of back-handed, ironic way, which essentially tells a truth that hasn’t changed since I was a young woman: that it is still somehow revolutionary to be a female who refuses to be neat and put-together, who leaves the house wearing last night’s mascara, smoking a Marlboro Light, having forgotten to brush her hair.
As much as today’s twentysomethings tell us that ‘brat’ is a concept they invented and that us geriatrics could never properly understand, I’ve realised that this trend is a tale as old as time.
The one that sees society struggle to deal with women who don’t conform, women who won’t put up and shut up and look presentable while they’re doing it.
The ‘brats’ of my generation were the ‘ladettes’ of the late Nineties, so-called because they drank whisky and went to bed after midnight. But I suspect they weren’t particularly radical to the women of the Sixties and Seventies, who burnt their bras, smoked ‘exotic cheroots’ (as my mother likes to describe them) and let it all hang out.
This was neatly summed up in a recent National Geographic feature, where the magazine announced that the ‘brat’ persona has ‘deep historical roots’, and the original ‘brat’ girls include Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire; Wu Zetian, the only empress of Imperial China; and Cleopatra.
‘I tell you who’s really having a brat summer,’ said my daughter, when I had finished explaining the concept to my bemused-looking husband, who is unused to being put into boxes because of his gender. ‘That girl over there.’
She pointed at a four-year-old, who was pummelling the floor with her fists over a dropped ice cream, and I looked down at my orthopaedic clogs and thought: ‘Enjoy the freedom to be unapologetically brat while it lasts, kiddo. Enjoy it while it lasts.’
Enough of the holiday oneupmanship, Katy
Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry who have taken the holiday one-upmanship to peak levels of ludicrous – posting from a helicopter in Sardinia
‘Tis the season for endless pictures of the super rich on holiday on huge yachts. But it is Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry who have taken the holiday one-upmanship to peak levels of ludicrous.
The Hollywood couple were filmed jumping out of a helicopter into the Sardinian sea, in an over-the-top activity that looked expensive, exhausting and dangerous. If that’s what A-listers call a holiday, I think I’ll stick with battling it out for a sun lounger.
The Hollywood couple were filmed jumping out of a helicopter into the Sardinian sea
Rose gets my gold for Olympic grit
Not all heroes wear capes, or Olympic medals, even. Rose Harvey is the 31-year-old Brit who decided to pursue her love of long-distance running after she was made redundant from her corporate job during the pandemic.
Her talent was so impressive that she qualified for Paris 2024, and last weekend she competed in the Olympic Marathon.
Rose Harvey is the 31-year-old Brit who decided to pursue her love of long-distance running after she was made redundant from her corporate job during the pandemic
Rose didn’t win a medal and came 78th — but that’s because in the second kilometre of the epic 42km race, she suffered a stress fracture. Unaware, Rose carried on through the pain until the end, completing the course even though 11 of her competitors failed to make it to the finish line. She did it in an impressive two hours, 51 minutes and three seconds — a time that most people without an injured leg would kill for.
Rose will get married in two weeks’ time on crutches. I hope her friends and family will lavish her with love, and let her know that she definitely gets the gold medal for Olympic resilience.
According to studies, eating a Mediterranean diet doesn’t just make you live longer, it also alleviates stress. Having tried to keep up a diet rich in seafood, olive oil and vegetables after returning to grey Britain from a holiday, I think the researchers might have missed the key factor in the stress relief — actually being in the Med!
The Mediterranean diet is rich in seafood, olive oil and vegetables – and studies show it doesn’t just make you live longer, it also alleviates stress
Confidence clinic
If you’re lucky, you will get an average of 80 summers on this planet. Many will have already passed, while some may have been stolen from you by body insecurities. But nobody is going to remember you for what you looked like in a bikini. They’re going to remember you for your sense of humour and your kindness — so get out there and enjoy it while you can.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk