“Call me Gabbriette, you’re so inspired,” sings Charli XCX on “360,” the intro track to her new album “Brat,” which has become such an instant hit that it has taken over an entire season. The line is a reference to Gabbriette Bechtel, a model and singer known as Gabbriette, whose goth-light aesthetic, defiant gaze and “brat” attitude have made her an “it” girl, particularly in the era of indie-sleaze revival.
Having spent much of her career in the cool-girl fringes, Gabbriette recently rocketed to mainstream popularity with an engagement, a booming modeling career and several famous friendships.
Here’s more about Gabbriette.
What’s her background?
Gabriella Leigh Bechtel, 26, was born in Orange County, Calif., to a Mexican mother and a German father. “The majority of students at my high school were beautiful, strictly white blond girls, and my sister and I were Hispanic,” she told British Vogue in 2023. “I was called some pretty awful things. But then I just learned to laugh at it.”
Initially intent on pursuing ballet, Gabbriette moved to Los Angeles after high school, where she started appearing in small modeling gigs and music videos. She is currently signed to IMG Models and has starred in campaigns for Marc Jacobs, Nike and Savage X Fenty.
But she also does music?
Yes. In 2018, Charli XCX tapped Gabbriette to be the lead singer in the all-female punk band Nasty Cherry. The band was the subject of a Netflix documentary, “I’m With the Band: Nasty Cherry,” which followed its inception and subsequent success. Nasty Cherry hasn’t released new music since its 2021 EP, “The Movie.”
Gabbriette still remains close with Charli XCX, as per the “360” reference. She also appeared in the “360” music video, alongside Julia Fox, Chloë Sevigny, Rachel Sennott, Chloe Cherry and Richie Shazam.
Who is her fiancé?
In June, Gabbriette announced that she was engaged to Matty Healy, the lead singer of The 1975. (Charli XCX is also engaged to a member of The 1975: the drummer George Daniel.) Much to his chagrin, Mr. Healy is probably best known across the internet as Taylor Swift’s ex. He and Gabbriette began dating publicly in September 2023, not long after the fervor over Mr. Healy and Ms. Swift’s short-lived situationship began to die down, and before it spun back up in the spring with the release of Ms. Swift’s album “The Tortured Poets Department.” Gabbriette announced her engagement on Instagram in June 2024 with a photo of her showing off a custom black-diamond engagement ring. Very brat.
What’s next?
In addition to singing, modeling and being an artistic muse, Gabbriette also creates recipes and cooking videos for her social media accounts.
“Growing up, my family was always cooking,” she told British Vogue in 2023. “They were really experimental and would always have copies of Bon Appétit laid out.” She said her mother “would always be putting a twist on a recipe and my dad would be grilling something or making sauerkraut. Family meals were a big part of our life, we’d sit down together after school without our phones and talk about our day, and the cooking process was always a big part of that.”
Gabbriette hopes to parlay her talent in the kitchen into a future book deal. When Numéro Netherlands recently asked what was next for her, she replied enthusiastically, “A cookbook, 100 percent.”
And of course, she has her wedding to Mr. Healy to look forward to.
The post Who Is Gabbriette? Meet the Model ‘Brat.’ appeared first on New York Times.