In the Dior show, Charli XCX embodies the message of inclusivity

Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior Spring-Summer 2025 collection set to the beats of FKA twigs’s “Eusexua” and Charli XCX and Billie Eilish’s “Guess,” the show took place under a tent in the gardens of Musée Rodin on September 24

Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior Spring-Summer 2025

Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior Spring-Summer 2025 collection set to the beats of FKA twigs’s “Eusexua” and Charli XCX and Billie Eilish’s “Guess,” the show took place under a tent in the gardens of Musée Rodin on September 24. Chiuri made a clear departure from the prim, A-line ’60s silhouettes of fall, embracing curve-hugging performance fabrics and bold cutouts.

Drawing inspiration from archival pieces, such as the Amazone dress from Dior’s autumn-winter 1951-1952 line, Chiuri invokes the spirit of the Amazons—symbols of power and autonomy—redefining modern femininity with boldness and confidence. This season’s looks embrace graphic silhouettes and daring contrasts. Patterns like checks and stripes dominate, with an elongated Miss Dior logo woven into the designs. The interplay of classic white shirts with black skirts, pants, and dresses explores the theme of duality. Embroidery brings shimmering metallic accents, while jersey fabric pairs with both simple and embellished sports shirts. Presented within an immersive art installation created by SAGG Napoli, the collection radiates empowerment, channeling the assertive strength of women while offering a fresh interpretation of Dior’s iconic legacy.

The choice of music subtly referenced Chiuri’s iconic see-through tulle dresses, which famously reveal the colors of the lingerie beneath. For this collection, Chiuri re-examines the essence of fashion, allowing each piece to narrate its own story of craftsmanship and creativity.

Charli XCX: this world belongs to women

This world belongs to women, and they are tired of pretending it doesn’t. In Charli’s recent music video, 360, for her latest album Brat, she has brought together a range of the hottest women on the internet and in pop culture to harmoniously and destructively display their collective feminine power to the world with a united front wrapped up in a #8ACE00 colored bow.

The Brat branding has gone so far as to take over political campaigns such as that of United States Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Charli xcx has even personally endorsed Vice President Harris on X with a tweet stating, “kamala IS brat.” Since opening the Brat-gate, the tactics of the Vice President’s campaign team have leaned into the playful green spotlight and are currently sending waves through TikTok and other social media with Brat-themed memes and marketing. The Bratification of Harris has reached the point where political commenters on CNN have had to address and attempt to explain Brat and the significance of falling out of a coconut tree to the masses.

Charli embodies all the fears that come with womanhood in her album. Still, she also represents all the fears that others have about the power of womanhood

Although encompassed by a graphically simple album cover, the complexities of the lyrics accompanied by her hyperpop beats to make self-proclaimed “club classics” are somehow compatible. Her lyrical style has now taken a more serious tone compared to previous discographies in a way that is often too daring for mainstream musical artists because of the juxtaposition with the hyperpop music genre sounds. Since its release, avoiding the Brat-toned memes has become impossible on the internet as a language of its own is formed to communicate political and world views while at the same time reviving classic memes in an accessible Archivo Narrow font.

Topics of generational trauma, competition among women in the industry, observing motherhood, and all the uncertainties of balancing traditional life and a fulfilling artistic career. Charli embodies all the fears that come with womanhood in her album. Still, she also represents all the fears that others have about the power of womanhood, which can be summed up in a line from her viewing party in LA in which she says, “This is gonna sound really cunty, but I genuinely I’m just saying it’s hard being ahead, you know, and we’re all ahead because everybody in here gets it.” Charli is not afraid to acknowledge herself when others fail to do so. Rightfully so, she has earned her bragging rights and takes what she’s worked for in an industry where being humble does not get women very far.

Charly xcx – in the video are women with different body types, ethnic backgrounds, and careers coming together in a naturally seamless way that doesn’t feel like forced diversity

Fashionably late to dinner, as every hot girl is, Charli arrives to fellow it-girls like Gabriette, Julia Fox, Rachel Sennot, and Salem Mitchell, who have come together to scribe the word of God, also known as choosing the next internet it-girl. The music resumes, and we are taken through a journey of hot girls doing ridiculous things amplified in a way that pokes fun at the perceived competencies of women. This includes but is not limited to Emma Chamberlain parallel parking her car atop another, Julia Fox forcing a man to run on a treadmill to failure, and Alexandra Consani ripping an IV out of somebody’s grandfather. Charli has always had a very playful tongue-in-cheek approach to the way she presents herself and her art, so visuals of feminine-led anarchy would, of course, go to this extreme to poke fun at those who believe women should not have the space to manage through the world on their own unsupervised by men.

The women in this video, granted they are all established and recognized hotties on the internet, are women with different body types, ethnic backgrounds, and careers coming together in a naturally seamless way that doesn’t feel like forced diversity but instead, women who dominate the spheres they occupy all the while making space for each other because real hot girl behavior is recognizing that another woman’s success and hard work does not take away from your own.

Although ending in what seems like a destructive scene, this video is an accumulation of power and anger that women rightfully hold in a world that thrives off of women competing with each other and their selves. Moreover, the industry most of these women fall under benefits from this competition even more, and women are significantly reduced to what they look like instead of what they can do and what they have to say. While it does not fall on sore eyes that these women are all attractive, they are also extensively known for their distinct varying personalities and fields of interest, from acting to writing to cooking to running businesses.

Who is Charli xcx?

Born Charlotte Emma Aitchison, the artist thrives under the stage name Charli xcx as a British singer, songwriter, music producer, and Boiler Room queen. Her musical style blends pop, electro-pop, and experimental sounds like the screams of TikTok star Addison Rae or the revving of a lavender Lamborghini. She gained widespread prominence with her 2013 hit single I Love It, which she co-wrote and featured with the Swedish duo Icona Pop.

In her career, Charli is extensively recognized for her collaborations with artists such as SOPHIE, A.G. Cook, Troye Sivan, and,  most recently, Lorde. She continues to be a significant figure in the music industry. She is known for her energetic performances, boundary-pushing music, and contributions to the pop genre, blending mainstream appeal with avant-garde elements.

For the girls and gays, Charli xcx

Charli xcx has provided the album of the summer for the girls and gays, according to online buzz. This summer was in need of a hyperpop album that offered a thoughtful maximalist

blend of the traditional exaggerated, glossy production, autotuned vocals, and a futuristic aesthetic that addresses the daily deliberations of not only girlhood but queerness, too. Hyperpop is not only a dense, layered, chaotic, yet cohesive auditory experience but the intersection on the Venn diagram of shared troubles between women and the LGBTQIA+ community.

Hyperpop is a relatable music genre that embraces experimentation and pushes the boundaries of traditional pop music by incorporating unconventional song structures, unexpected shifts in tempo and dynamics, and overall inclusivity and representation of LGBTQIA+ artists and themes. The genre’s embrace of digital culture and internet aesthetics has also made it highly relevant in the age of social media, as is seen in the dialogue between the hot girls of the internet to “fulfill the prophecy of finding a new hot internet girl” in the 360 music video. However, it seems Charli may have accidentally self-fulfilled this prophecy; nevertheless, she has also opened the door for everyone to be in her shoes with her highly relatable verses.

Charli has moved through the industry with a flippant energy that predates nearly 10 years before Brat

In an infamous video from October 2014, the hyperpop star is confused by an interviewer for Lorde, a New Zealand singer, songwriter, and record producer who gained international fame with her debut single “Royals” in 2013, for which she earned several prestigious awards. In said interview, Charli pokes fun at the situation and improvises her answers as if she were Lorde in an unserious manner while tossing an avocado in one hand and sucking on a lollipop with the other. The interchangeability of women in the arts is an issue that Charli alludes to in her recent album and even directly addresses with Lorde in a follow-up remix to her song Girl, so confusing.

The original song addresses how confusing it can be to be a girl and how confusing it can be to understand other girls when the default women are taught is that other girls either hate you or want to be you. While Charli does not name-drop Lorde, lines alluding to having the same hair but pointing out their lifestyle differences led fans and Lorde herself to speculate on the song’s main subject.

A few texts later, the girls came together to work it out on the remix, The girl, so confusing version with lorde. In the remix, the artists open a dialogue that many women are familiar with in which they address this competition that has been built up in their heads and created a resentment rooted in non-personal matters that were instead imposed on them by the industry they are in in which they felt they had to compete to succeed. Their verses allow them to see each other and break down the wall of misunderstanding between them, allowing them to see each other for who they are, which is just another girl. 

Charli shows the power and destruction women could and should cause by coming together

This motif is seen time and time again in artistic industries amongst women who are fed the narrative that there are only a few seats at the table designated for women, so they are forced to tear one another down for a seat next to sweaty rich men. We saw this with Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez, or Lady Gaga and Madonna. These artists are not to blame for the pettiness that passed between them because it is their managers and record labels that lead them to believe they are constantly fighting to keep their position instead of granting them the grace to simply take up their own space without enforcing the concept that this space is limited and at constant threat of being taken.

Circling back to the cinematographic experience of 360, instead of pitting these hot women against each other, Charli shows the power and destruction they could and should cause by coming together. Her message of dismantling the exhausting structure that pits them against each other is evident, and it paints a picture of women’s strength in unifying a world already built against them.

Xheni Balliu

Credits

TALENT Belén Mar Leroux

PHOTOGRAPHY Debora Brune @DILLER Global

STYLING Sandra Solé

BODYPAINT AND MAKE UP Megumi Matsuno @Agency of Substance

HAIR Batiseol Gomis @Saint Luke Artists

PRODUCTION Debora Brune, Lea Bütefisch

BODYPAINT AND MAKE UP ASSISTANCE Saphron Morgan

STYLING ASSISTANCE Rafaella Giraldo