field notes: issue one
brat summer is not coming back. on recessioncore and the rebirth of chalantness.
field notes is my cultural diary. not a trend report. not a deck. just what i’m noticing, feeling, and filing away in the archive.
a running observation of brand behavior, digital rituals, and how we’re all shaping culture in real time.
because brands don’t just market to people—they mirror us. and sometimes they expose us.
this first entry is about brat summer—but also everything it cracked open.
brat summer wasn’t just hot girl rage.
it was a refusal. of restraint. of minimalism. of “quiet luxury.”
it was the sound of glittered gum under your boot and the pounding reminder that we’re not okay—but we still want to dance.
born from Charli XCX’s industrial pop chaos and carried into a sweaty, unhinged season of festival fits, text overlays, and revivalist club culture—brat summer felt like a middle finger to “refined taste.” and in a lot of ways, to pretending we were fine.
but it was also eerily familiar.
"ever wonder how we went from brat summer to hitler winter?”
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yes, the TikTok is intentionally provocative—but it’s not wrong.
because brat summer isn’t happening in a vacuum.
recessioncore. it’s the new roaring twenties. it’s escapism with a 3am panic attack behind it.
like the flapper era before the crash, we’re in this messy push-pull moment:
economic anxiety meets maximalist energy
identity exhaustion meets reinvention
political burnout meets creative overcompensation
and it’s loud.
“chalantness is making a comeback.”
– Mahika Singhal
at Coachella 2025, Pinterest didn’t just document festival culture—they engineered it.
interactive brand installations, curated collages, on-site stylists—it wasn’t subtle, and that was the point.
because softness doesn’t feel safe anymore. and looking effortless? not the goal. we want to feel everything and show everything.
cringe, curated, contradictory—we’re doing all of it on purpose.
what does this mean for us?
if you’re a strategist, comms girlie, or storyteller—this is not a moment to miss.
brat summer is more than an aesthetic. it’s a strategy. a blueprint for how we’re responding to instability with identity. for how our audience is crafting personas in real time—not to sell, but to survive.
and if we’re listening close, we can hear it:
the cry under the club beat. the chaos underneath the content.
the creative girlies trying to stay seen, stay heard, and stay sane in an endless scroll.
this moment invites us to document with depth.
to name the feeling before it becomes a trend.
to make space for work that isn’t clean, isn’t quiet, and doesn’t always have an arc.
the world is burning and we’re still wearing baby tees and rhinestones. and maybe that’s the best metaphor we’ve got.
🩷 field notes playlist: brat-coded, broke-core bangers
a sonic dump for the girls who cry glitter and write pitches on no sleep.
title: “broke, hot, & overwhelmed”
featuring:
Charli XCX – "365"
Rico Nasty – "OHFR?"
Coco & Clair Clair – "Pop Star"
070 Shake – "Guilty Conscience"
Chappell Roan – "HOT TO GO!"
Arca – "Desafío"
Missy Elliott – "She's a Bitch"
Shygirl – "Cleo"
FKA twigs – "which way"
Lana Del Rey – "A&W" (because even the brats get sad)
Leikeli47 – "Girl Blunt"
SOPHIE – "Immaterial"
next up?
i'm thinking about the rise of coquette-core + weaponized softness.
but until then—
this is me, off mute.
on the record.
archiving the moment before it disappears.
stay chaotic,
nichi