Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ image added to the National Portrait Gallery
Brat may have conquered the world, but now Charli XCX has reached new heights with her image being added to the National Portrait Gallery.
Although the singer has just released her first new album since the Brat phenomenon in the form of Music, Fashion, Film, it is an image associated with the 2024 viral album that now adorns the walls of the world-famous London gallery.
The photo, originally taken by Harley Weir in 2023, shows the singer wearing a cropped T-shirt with wildly curly hair and heavy eyeliner, and became one of the most iconic images to be associated with the Brat era.
As part of the National Portrait Gallery’s History Makes Now exhibition, they acquired the photo through funding from a gift from the Bukhman Foundation.
According to The Guardian, Brandei Estes, the gallery’s senior curator of photographs, said they were “delighted” to have acquired the image and that Charli is “one of the defining cultural figures of her generation”.
Additionally, in terms of Weir’s unique artistic flair, Estes noted that the photographer “has developed a distinctive photographic language that combines intimacy with a powerful sense of presence”.
The ‘Rock Music’ singer herself has not yet commented on the news, but it follows a trend of iconic images being associated with her album artwork.
The cover for Music, Fashion, Film, shot by her long-term filmic collaborator Aidan Zamiri, features a head-turning ensemble portrait to represent each of the three artistic mediums, with John Cale, Marc Jacobs, and Martin Scorsese.
Charli has widened the landscape beyond just the remit of the album, however, releasing a self-directed film about how the record was made on YouTube over the weekend.
Despite the streak of success behind her, Music, Fashion, Film has received a mixed response, with Far Out writing in a two-star review, “Instead of pushing pop forwards, the album rummages through yesterday’s dressing-up box. But while there are moments of catchiness and the odd thrill, like all fancy dress parties on a Monday morning, without due conviction and too many winks, the whole thing becomes boorishly tedious.”
