If you think Charli XCX has only recently started summoning ‘it’ girls you are sorely wrong. There’s a long-standing, shimmering history that began in November of 2019 with Charli and the Netflix special, I’m With the Band: Nasty Cherry. In the documentary, Charli puts together an all-girl rock band to highlight the ins and outs of pop stardom. When I was in the prison of my depression, the show was a stunning distraction. The hand-picked members include Chloe Chaidez, Debbie Knox-Hewson, Georgia Somary, and the so inspired Gabbriette Bechtel. All members are fucking fab, but Betchels journey to fame has been particularly iconic— from cooking videos, to dominating the modelling industry, to now being engaged to “hot rodent” Matty Healy. She is a true visionary, the epitome of today’s it-girldom, and a heaven-sent woman that I could stare at forever. From the early days with her butchy short haircut, to the contemporary succubus look she dawns, her style has people worldwide often taking desperate measures to achieve her look. As a long time fan of Ms. G, I’m excited to be lamenting about her success. 

Nasty Cherry was a freaky pop-punk ice cream sundae (pistachio probably), with Gabbriette being the fierce sour cherry on top. 70’s rock band The Runaways directly inspired Charli’s vision for the girls. At the birth of the band, Gabbriette actually had zero singing experience, but trusted Charli enough to try it out– talk about MOTHER. Her sexy alto voice was showcased in the groups first EP, Music With Your Dad, which had me by the neck and frankly still does. It’s not necessarily earth-shatteringly original, but I had it on repeat in 2019, thirsty for more. If you’re craving some perfect femme pop-punk bangers, I highly recommend giving their albums a listen. 

Nasty Cherry saw a decent amount of success in their short life, but unfortunately began their downward spiral after guitarist, Chloe Chaidez, was ousted by fellow members and shunned by fans after she was photographed doing nazi salutes, and collaborating with pro-Trump goblin Ariel Pink. Zoinks! Bassist Georgia Somary publicly called out Chaidez via Instagram story, prompting fans to question the future of the band. Chaidez has always been absolutely off her rocker—she’s known for jumping off balconies into crowds at her shows, skateboarding around Los Angeles, scowling, growling, and other things you might see a feral opossum do. As the frontrunner of pop-rock group Kitten, Chaidez was truly made to be a hardcore rockstar in every sense of the word, but was ultimately the demise of Nasty Cherry. 

After the band life crumbled, Gabbriette rose from the ashes, grew raven feathers, and soared off to TikTok where she went viral for her cooking videos. What made these videos so enthralling was not the food, but the host herself. I know I personally wouldn’t pay attention to whatever random grain free cookie she’s making, but rather be mesmerized by her sanpaku stare and cheeky smirk. During COVID, her cooking content took off, probably because it’s “wholesome” and “relatable”, and made people feel that “celebs, they’re just like us!” That ol’ razzle dazzle. The thing is she really is not like me—when I cook, 95% of the time it’s braless in a snotty old t-shirt and pajama shorts I got for Christmas when I was 15. That said, her earnest love of food and the way she savors whatever she orders at restaurants is truly admirable. Beyond being a run-of-the-mill foodie, she really appears to appreciate quality ingredients and creative dishes. What makes her cooking content truly unique is the contrast between her gothic aura and the very notion of cooking, which is most often associated with preppy, domesticated, caucasian trad-wifery. Seeing a confident, bewitchingly gorgeous woman wearing leather pants rather than a floral linen sundress in the kitchen is new and exciting.

The now trademark Gabbriette look can be most commonly recognized by thin penciled on eyebrows, nudey-brown lined lips, and a white eyelid contrasted by thick black kohl on the water line. Obviously she didn’t invent this, but seeing her nod to classic dark 90’s looks is a breath of fresh air after the sickly pink Y2K trend of the last 5 years. As the Nymphet Alumni girls pointed out in a recent extraordinary episode, Gabbriette also canonically represents elements of the chola style—she is of Mexican descent after all (and loves to incorporate that into her recipes.) Her patent style and phantasmic presence was enough to pull her out of the pits of Tiktok and launch her to the heights of the fashion industry. 

After dipping her toe in music and food-fluencing, Gabbriette firmly cemented her place as one of fashion’s hottest models. Since signing with top agency IMG, she’s been the face of campaigns for brands like Mugler, Marc Jacobs, Dolce Gabbana, Agent Provocateur, Diesel, Betsey Johnson, and Dsquared2 to name a few. She rewrote the script for what a ‘model’ can be, standing at 5 ‘4”, at least 6 inches shorter than the average runway walker. She invaded the modeling industry despite her height—so PSA to short girls, if you’re incredibly hot and sexy, and already a bit famous, you may have a shot! 

There is no complicated analysis to be had regarding Gabbriette’s modelling success—she is the beauty standard and rightfully so. In a stroke of marketing genius, MAC cosmetics has recently put out a Gabbriette Lip Kit, including a lip pencil, lipstick, and plumping gloss. Countless people, from 11 year old Sephora customers to influencers and models, have been striving to achieve the Gabbriette look. Most notably, Amelia Gray (daughter of housewife extraordinaire Lisa Rinna) has been relentlessly accused of altering her own appearance to resemble Gabbriette. My take on that is, who fucking cares? Are you telling me you wouldn’t pay to look like Gabbriette if you could? I certainly would, I mean it would probably take loads of plastic surgery and possibly a gastric bypass, but I would. Despite Amelia Gray clearly still struggling with an eating disorder, she looks incredible and I don’t think we should be pitting two women against each other. It’s possible to still celebrate our unique individual traits while taking inspiration from other women! 

As previously mentioned, Gabbriette’s recent feat is locking down peter pan-playboy Matty Healy. For people who were active soft grunge tumblr teens such as myself, the pairing of Gabbriette with Healy is like watching your widowed, bony old grandfather find a beautiful young succubus to court. This is the Princess Diana and Prince Charles of our generation. However, these love birds have faced their fair share of controversy due to Healy’s degenerate public behavior. She’s happy, that’s all that matters. Personally I think they’re a match made in heaven! I have whiplash from the whirlwind of takes, ranging from “they are my bisexual awakening, hunty!” to “girlllll, you’re lowkey dating a fascist!” Comment down below where on the spectrum you fall. Gab is no stranger to dating alt nepo babies– she used to go out with Bob Dylan’s grandson, Levi Dylan–she’s the ultimate rockstar girlfriend.

I’m looking forward to what Gabbriette does next—since she’s been hanging out with Charli again recently, I am hoping for new music. Put her on a track instead of Billie Eilish. At Charli’s recent celeb-packed birthday bash, Gabbriette was photographed with Somary, her longtime friend and former bandmate, so maybe a Nasty Cherry resurgence is in the making. I also think a cookbook would be a great idea for her, those would surely fly off the shelves. Or, maybe she will go into full wife mode and duck out of the limelight, listening to the 1975’s shitty love songs and letting Matty spiritually lobotomize her.