‘Brat’ summer takes China

What happened “Brat” green has taken the crown as a world-dominating color trend in 2024. Trumping Millennial pink and outpacing Gen Z yellow by miles, the garishly bright lime-green shade has become a protagonist across industry marketing this summer, in China and all over the world. It all stems from English popstar Charli XCX’s Brat album, released on June 7. Social media videos by the star’s army of fans coined the term “Brat summer,” a dedicated green wall in New York City’s Brooklyn set it all in motion, and soon enough, Brat became the buzziest album of the year before it even launched. With songs referencing all-year-long, party girl lifestyles, Brat has become the official antidote to the trending “clean girl aesthetic.” It’s about being nonchalantly scruffy yet chic, living life to the full, and crucially, sporting some form of lime-green to honor Charli XCX. The distinctive color shade has somehow out-marketed the singer herself. To grasp its scale, Instagram has over 2.6 million posts referencing the hashtag #bratsummer, among millions more untagged posts jumping on the lime-green wave. On China’s Gen Z-dominated platform Xiaohongshu, #brat is at 18.3 million reads. The Jing Take From luxury retailer Harrods captioning a Longchamp bag with “#brat green,” to Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, marketing his controversial Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion with a Brat reference, the lime tone has come to define marketing tactics for summer 2024.Embracing the movement offers brands a potent shortcut to connect with Gen Z, demonstrating an approachable playfulness while simultaneously supporting LGBTQ culture (Charli XCX is an established icon in the queer community). This opportunity has stretched to China, too. “Brat green” has become such a phenomenon in the mainland, that Shanghai’s Jiangwan Stadium metro station on Line 10 has turned into a social media hotspot because of its lime-toned pillars. Across Xiaohongshu and Douyin, users are posting beauty looks sporting the shade, featuring bold eyeshadows, vibrant hair-dos, and fluorescent nail art. Its widespread adoption represents a significant fashion and beauty trend among internet-savvy consumers, one that brands can leverage to showcase tongue-in-cheek cultural savvy and relevance. Given the bubble gum-esque tone of Millennial pink lasted the better part of a decade — starting with Acne’s 2007 shopping bags, gaining momentum in 2015 with Drake’s Hotline Bling, and then flooding catwalks in 2017 — there is definite longevity predicted for this trend, too. The official “Brat Summer” of 2024 might have less than a month left, but the striking lime-green tone will expectantly outlive it well beyond the season. It’s time for brands to play around with their marketing campaigns, utilizing the opportunity to party with Gen Z. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

‘Brat’ summer takes China

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Published August 14, 2024

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‘Brat’ summer takes China