The numbers are astounding. Within the first 24 hours of launching her presidential campaign, Kamala Harris, veep, raised over $84 million. The campaign said it was the largest single-day total in US history. Commentators from both aisles concur that to stand up a presidential campaign in such a short time is no easy feat. It could still turn to chaos, although the campaign seems to have found steady ground to tread on. Within 72 hours Harris had stepped in with assertive ease and a newfound elegance.
By 36 hours the campaign had raised $100 million, said Kamala HQ on Instagram. The transformation from campaign to campaign fell to two motifs: Brat Girl Summer and Memes. Since Sunday afternoon, “roughly 900,000 campaign donors were contributing for the first time in the 2024 election cycle”, reported the New York Times. It showed a reboot of the Democratic ticket.
To top off a whirlwind 72 hours, Charli XCX, endorsed Harris on X, saying “kamala IS brat”. The pop star and orchestrator of Brat Girl Summer describes being Brat as, “holding a pack of cigarettes, a Bic lighter, and wearing a strappy white top with no bra”. It was the meme shared ‘round the world.
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
The rebranding happened overnight. On Sunday, campaign artist teams were texted on Slack calling for all those who were available to log in to change the messaging (NYT). Flipping the narrative would have to occur fast.
reported on her Substack, After School by Casey Lewis:“Kamala does such a good job at embodying what people call ‘Brat summer.’ The way she presents herself, she’s happy, laughing, she’ll dance. She is like a walking content farm.” According to Google Trends data analyzed with Glimpse, searches for “Charli XCX” are up 89%.
The Harris Campaign is Born
Brat was the marketing vehicle that ultimately delivered the Democratic Party their nominee. Lucy Maguire, writer for Vogue Business, says Brat Summer is about “celebrating women’s insecurities as well as their confidence.”
The lime green color of defiance became the color of a fresh awakening. Vogue’s Daniel Rodgers declared Brat Green “The new Bottega green” earlier this month. Now we are likely to see it play out in September during New York Fashion Week; it’s already been heralded as the cool girl manicure tone of this summer. I’ve also spotted Brat green around my office in the 8th arrondissement in Paris, a neighborhood inhabited by politicians, retail workers, shopkeepers and bankers.
As the season was heating up, a subversive sense of preppiness stood at the front line of a brewing culture shift (I wrote about it here): think Miu Miu’s swimsuits and boat shoes, The Row’s seaside vibes best interpreted this season with Jelly shoes (see, Jess Graves’ The Love List), or consider this summer’s Cybertruck culture war. As these editor picks grew into the limelight, so did the conviction for change that set Brat front and center of the political discourse.
For every Yin, there is a Yang. Brat Summer will not last forever. So what can we learn from it?
Its’ embrace by the Harris campaign is likely to cement its blurred sans serif lime green aesthetic into the walls of our consciousness. And like a bad hangover, this moment will pass with time. After all, once a cultural phenomenon reaches politics, it begins to lose its cool factor.
What will stay is perhaps the anti-aesthetic driving force that got us here. A larger conversation about who we want to be and how we want to dress. After all, Lime green and black are not color matches you wear every day.
Brat Summer offers a party girl escape from the present. It inadvertently takes us to a new place.
Support my work by subscribing, or following. If you have a tip or are curious about a story, email me at fashionarticlespace@gmail.com.
Follow me on Instagram: @fashionarticlespace