Charli XCX tells LIDO Festival crowds Brat Summer is ‘forever'
She worked her way through her hit album Brat, turning the stage into a club with strobe flashing lights, heavy techno beats and a waterfall.
The crowd, a sea of lime green, sunglasses and mobile phones, roared hysterically as ragged green curtains emblazoned with Brat rolled down to the opening song 365 remix, featuring Shygirl.
Dressed in a cropped top resembling cellophane, yellow bra, studded black leather hotpants with XCX in diamantes on the bottom and thigh-high boots, the 32-year-old strutted across the stage and down the runway, twerking to fans and the rolling cameras.
'Where the f*** you at?' she yelled to the crowd, who shouted the lyrics back at her.
She tore down the Brat curtains and walked into the aisle, touching outstretched hands as Von Dutch started playing.
The singer needed no background more than the alternating flashing white, black, blue and red lights as she filled the stage with her presence, club dancing and attitude.
Fog surrounded her as she danced and scowled at the camera, dropping to the floor, headbanging and shaking her body.
As the sun set, she asked: 'You ready?' and yelled with autotune: 'Put your hands up' as Club Classics began, jumping up and down with her hands in the air.
A sudden cameo showed YouTuber and presenter Amelia Dimoldenberg performing a viral TikTok dance to the song Apple, while Charli XCX sipped an Aperol spritz on stage.
She asked: 'Are you getting f***** up tonight?' To which the crowd roared.
She introduced Girl, So Confusing in autotune by saying: 'If you came with your best friend, then this one is for you.
'Especially when sometimes you had a fight and you make up with them and you're in a way better place than before.'
Speed Drive, a song she wrote for the Barbie movie, was introduced as a song 'for my girls who want to drive really really, really fast'.
Charli told fans: 'this was a real pleasure to come here with basically all my favourite artists. I hope you had as much fun as I did. This is not the end though, I promise'.
She teased the audience, asking: 'Is this like a Brat Summer again or should I put a bullet in it?'
During a techno version of Sympathy Is A Knife, she furiously stabbed at her chest and tossing her hair around while crawling on the floor.
After another remix of 365, Bladee and AG Cook came on to help Charli sing.
There was a technical error when she realised they were singing the wrong rendition and she laughed as she went off stage to correct the song, running back on and awkwardly hugging her friends, telling the crowd, 'My bad'.
The trio danced around the stage together, and Charli joyfully told them 'love you'.
She said: 'F*** them other cities' to thunderous cheers from the crowd as Party on U began.
The crowd was delighted to hear Charli sing an older song, Vroom Vroom.
The stage went black and a creaking noise was made before a waterfall started cascading from the sky.
Charli stood under it and raised her arms to sing Blame It On Your Love. She flicked her hair back and dropped to the floor as the camera spun around her.
The final song was Icona Pop's I Don't Care (I Love It).
'This is it', she said, leaving the stage while the screens in her iconic Brat font asked the crowd whether Brat Summer was truly over.
It read: 'But actually I don't think it is.
'So tell me the truth. Will you hate me if I stick around?
'Because I don't know who I am if it's over.
'And so I have decided. I want this to last forever.'
Followed by fireworks, the message signed off: 'It wasn't just a summer thing. It's a forever thing. Please don't let it be over.' .
The singer curated the line-up for the day, inviting her friends and co-creators The Dare, FiFi, Rose Gray, 070 Shake and Gesaffelstein among others for a dance, club-like atmosphere.
The star-studded event saw the likes of actor Harris Dickinson, Lily Allen, Paul Mescal, singer Shygirl, Will Poulter and Lewis Capaldi walking around enjoying the music and beating sun.
Named after Victoria Park's historic Lido Field, the music series was announced last autumn in East London.
Jamie xx, Massive Attack and London Grammar have also headlined across the festival which has been attended by celebrities including Harry Styles and Naomi Campbell.
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‘Perfect match': Charli xcx in Vivienne Westwood becomes gen Z's bridal muse
Charli xcx is a British pop star known for pioneering trends. Last summer she turned the word 'Brat' into a cultural phenomenon complete with a uniform featuring 'a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.' So it came as somewhat of a surprise to fans when, last weekend, she opted for a more classic bridal look to marry George Daniel, the drummer in the band the 1975. Arriving at Hackney town hall in east London, the bride wore a white sculpted corseted minidress from Vivienne Westwood. Even her accessories veered towards the traditional: a bouquet of locally grown white cosmos and dahlias, a short white veil, and slingback heels. Despite the look being more conventional than defiant, Alexandra Macon, the weddings editor of and founder of the e-commerce site Over The Moon, describes the pop star's choice of designer as a 'perfect match'. 'Vivienne Westwood has forged a legacy as a true 'anti-bride' icon in the world of bridal fashion,' Macon said. In 2008, Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw was jilted at the altar by Mr Big while wearing a floor-sweeping corseted gown from the British designer. Yet even without the couple's eventual happy ending, a Westwood wedding dress has been desired by millennial brides ever since. Seventeen years later, gen Z have welcomed their own bridal muse. This time the hemline may be shorter but the brand remains the same. Charli xcx's dress was inspired by the Cocotte, a style of dress Westwood first unveiled in her autumn/winter 1995 collection. Featuring a swooping neckline, a waist-cinching corset and draping detail on the hip, the original paid homage to the dresses worn by the 17th-century French author and courtesan Ninon de l'Enclos. Westwood was one of the first to subvert the historical flat corset. Instead of lacing there are zip fastenings, and while the corset still moulds the body there are stretch panels for comfort. Since then, the brand has launched numerous iterations of the silhouette. Off-the-peg versions start from £3,200. The style is as popular among celebrities as it is with non-famous brides. In 2005, Dita Von Teese wore a billowing purple version. Hailey Bieber wore a mini take on it for her nuptials, while Demi Lovato chose a longer length and added a cathedral-style veil. In June, the Hot Milk star Vicky Krieps wore a rose-patterned version for her Greek island wedding, while the model Daisy Lowe customised hers with a bustle and side slit. Sign up to Fashion Statement Style, with substance: what's really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved after newsletter promotion Such is its ubiquity that last year Vogue declared it 'the wedding dress of the decade'. Macon describes the silhouette as 'instantly recognisable and beloved, which is why we see it again and again on brides'. A finale bridal look has been the brand's show signature since the 1990s when the model Sara Stockbridge was an unconventional bride, carrying her baby down the catwalk in a dress depicting Jean-Honoré Fragonard's 1797 painting The Swarm of Cupids. Bridal is now a core part of the business with a dedicated atelier. In April, Vivienne Westwood staged its first standalone bridal show. After trying on 120 dresses in her search for her perfect dress, the writer and influencer Katherine Ormerod was surprised to find herself choosing a Cocotte. 'No one wants to be a basic bitch and feel like what they're wearing is ubiquitous, but also after all my years working in fashion, I've seen the distinction between something that is trend-led and 'everywhere' and design which is iconic, timeless and popular for a reason,' she says. The Cocotte dress is also a hot ticket item on resale and rental platforms. Ormerod says that 'in contrast to a sea of algorithmically fine-tuned brands and designs', it 'feels like a bit of a FU to the lace and full train'. Six months after her wedding, Ormerod sold hers. 'I can't think of anything sadder than that beautiful dress hanging, Miss Havisham-like, in a dust bag for ever. It wasn't a hard sell: within a fortnight it had found its new bride.'
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2 days ago
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Charli xcx is the British pop star known for pioneering trends. Last summer she turned the word 'Brat' into a cultural phenomenon complete with a uniform featuring 'a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.' So it came as somewhat of a surprise to fans when, last weekend, she opted for a more classic bridal look to marry George Daniel, the drummer in the band the 1975. Arriving at Hackney town hall in east London, the bride wore a white sculpted corseted minidress from Vivienne Westwood. Even her accessories veered towards the traditional: a bouquet of locally-grown white cosmos and dahlias, a short white veil, and slingback heels. Despite the look being more conventional than defiant, Alexandra Macon, the weddings editor of and founder of the e-commerce site Over The Moon, describes the pop star's choice of designer as a 'perfect match'. 'Vivienne Westwood has forged a legacy as a true 'anti-bride' icon in the world of bridal fashion,' Macon said. In 2008, Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw was jilted at the altar by Mr Big while wearing a floor-sweeping corseted gown from the British designer. Yet even without that happy ending, a Westwood wedding dress has been desired by millennial brides ever since. Now 17 years later, gen Z have welcomed their own bridal muse. This time around the hemline may be shorter, but the brand remains the same. Charli xcx's dress was inspired by the Cocotte, a style of dress Westwood first unveiled in her autumn/winter 1995 collection. Featuring a swooping neckline, a waist-cinching corset and draping detail on the hip, the original paid homage to the dresses worn by the 17th century French author and courtesan Ninon de l'Enclos. Westwood was one of the first to subvert the historical flat corset. Instead of lacing there are zip fastenings, and while the corset still moulds the body there are stretch panels for comfort. Since then, the brand has launched numerous iterations of the silhouette. Off-the-peg versions start from £3,200. The style is as popular among celebrities as it is with non-famous brides. In 2005, Dita Von Teese wore a billowing purple version. Hailey Bieber wore a mini take on it for her nuptials, while Demi Lovato chose a longer length and added a cathedral-style veil. In June, the Hot Milk star Vicky Krieps wore a rose patterned version for her Greek island wedding, while the model Daisy Lowe customised hers with a bustle and side slit. Sign up to Fashion Statement Style, with substance: what's really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved after newsletter promotion Such is its ubiquity last year Vogue declared it 'the wedding dress of the decade'. Macon describes the silhouette as 'instantly recognisable and beloved, which is why we see it again and again on brides'. A finale bridal look has been the brand's show signature since the 1990s when the model Sara Stockbridge was an unconventional bride, carrying her baby down the catwalk in a dress depicting Jean-Honoré Fragonard's 1797 painting The Swarm of Cupids. Bridal is now a core part of the business with a dedicated atelier. In April, Vivienne Westwood staged its first standalone bridal show. After trying on 120 dresses in her search for her perfect dress, the writer and influencer Katherine Ormerod was surprised to find herself choosing a Cocotte. 'No one wants to be a basic bitch and feel like what they're wearing is ubiquitous, but also after all my years working in fashion, I've seen the distinction between something that is trend-led and 'everywhere' and design which is iconic, timeless and popular for a reason,' she says. The Cocotte dress is also a hot ticket item on resale and rental platforms. Ormerod says that 'in contrast to a sea of algorithmically fine-tuned brands and designs', it 'feels like a bit of a FU to the lace and full train'. Six months after her wedding, Ormerod sold hers. 'I can't think of anything sadder than that beautiful dress hanging, Miss Havisham-like, in a dust bag for ever. It wasn't a hard sell: within a fortnight it had found its new bride.'
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