After inspiring “Brat Summer”, enthroning neon green as the color of the year 2024, pop singer and songwriter Charlie XCX is the new face of Valentino’s Beauty division. She’ll be wearing her new lipstick during her fall tour, Sweat.
Green is rarely associated with a radiant complexion…
Yet Valentino Beauty has just appointed Charli XCX, the British singer-songwriter behind the famous “Brat” trend that was all the rage this summer, as its new ambassador in the United States.
Brat Summer”was associated with neon green, the hue of Charli XCX’s album ‘Brat’, released last June and named Color of the Year 2024, after the must-have Barbie pink of 2023.
But the “Brat” trend was also linked to a “rebellious and festive state of mind ” and an aesthetic combining the rather grunge and destroy clothing style of the 2000s, a white top with no bra, dark glasses to hide her runny make-up, all enhanced by a touch of sophistication, a pair of black heeled shoes…
A new vision of beauty
Adopted by a host of fashion, beauty and home decor brands and celebrities, including actress Julia Fox and model Amelia Gray, but also (for the color green) by U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris, for her campaign visuals, the phenomenon has put Charli XCX in the spotlight… and not just musically.
After beauty collaborations with Korean skincare brand Laneige and American hair care specialist K18, Charli XCX has now signed with Valentino Beauty.
Launched in 2021, the Valentino Beauty division, the make-up offering of the fashion house founded in 1960, said it wanted to “offer”, via this partnership with the “dynamic, bold, expressive and uncompromising” young woman, “a new vision of beauty where everyone can celebrate their own individuality ”.
Before signing with the “brat”, Valentino Beauty had already chosen actress Florence Pugh as its muse since April 2023 and actor-singer Tan Jianci last summer , the latter to embody her in the Middle Kingdom.
A new lipstick
Valentino Beauty’s new ambassadress, 32, will help the brand create a buzz around its brand-new Spike Valentino Buttery Matte Lip Color. This matte lipstick is available in 12 shades in refillable packaging with an edgy design. According to Allure magazine, Charli XCX has already adopted the “berry red” version, as well as the house eyeliner (Colorgraph Eyeliner in Rockstud Noir) for her fall “Sweat” tour.
Promotion of the new lipstick range kicked off with a masterclass with Yadim Carranza. Better known as Yadim, this renowned Californian make-up artist has previously collaborated with the Maybelline brand.
3D pop-ups of Spike Valentino Buttery Matte packaging were also installed at New York’s Flatiron Public Plaza.
A gifted brat
But Valentino Beauty also counts on Charli XCX to create buzz around its products.
Charlotte Emma Aitchison may have been born on August 2, 1992, in Cambridge, home to one of England’s most prestigious universities. But she was quick to prefer music to her studies…
Her Scottish father and her Indian mother, who had come from Uganda, supported their “brat” in her projects. After writing her first songs at the age of 14 and almost going to live with a boy she met on Myspace, a promoter of illegal rave parties, she recorded her first album in 2008 with their full support. Her stage name Charli XCX is in fact her MSN Messenger screen name when she was younger.
Rightly so, it seems, since the young woman, now 32, already has a fine career behind her.
Distributed at Colette
Not counting a handful of mixtapes and EPs, she recorded eight studio albums between 2008 and 2024. The one released on June 7, 2024, with a cover featuring the single word “brat” in black on a neon green background, won over both the public and the critics. And to top it all off, it gave birth to the trend already described.
Charli XCX’s eclectic musical style began in dark wave or witch house before evolving through electropop, pop punk, gothic pop, synthpop, alternative pop and dance-pop.
Among her many sources of inspiration are bands like The Cure or the Spice Girls, or singers like Britney Spears, Marylin Manson, Kate Bush and, above all, Rihanna, whom she refers to as her favorite “pop girl”.
Evolving outside the very mainstream circuits, the woman who chose her artist’s name at a very young age when she first performed at rave parties, has long-standing links with the fashion world. Her album True Romance, released in 2023, was distributed by Colette, the famous Parisian fashion and lifestyle concept store, which has since disappeared.
Valentino Beauty launched a gender-neutral Haute Parfumerie collection this summer, and the Valentino division is pulling out all the stops to boost its profile.
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Read also > Valentino unveils its first Haute Couture fragrances
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