Before Gabbriette Bechtel became the mononymous icon “Gabbriette,” she was simply known to my boyfriend as my muse. Anytime my thumb hesitated over her posts on Instagram, he’d sigh, “There you go, looking at that girl again,” prompting me to launch into a passionate defense of my right to obsess over a woman from Orange County whom I’d never met. To me, Gabbriette wasn’t just another model — she occupied an entirely different stratosphere of cool.

I, personally, discovered the model during her days as lead singer of Nasty Cherry, the Charli XCX–assembled band. I noticed myself slowly shift my hair to the side after years of a centered part. Eyeliner was now smudged onto my upper and lower waterline, and I began to gravitate toward leather and lace. When Charli dropped the model's name in her Brat smash hit “360” (“Call me Gabbriette, you’re so inspired”), I felt both personally attacked and strangely validated. If Charli was obsessed, too, then at least I wasn’t alone. 

So why, exactly, does Gabbriette's singular aesthetic of skinny brows, pale grey eyelids, and rotation of black, have us in this tight of a chokehold? 

Far removed Sabrina Carpenter sparkle or Hailey Bieber and Sofia Richie's 'clean girl' ideal, Gabbriette's “gothy Parisian meets Orange County style," was kind of nostalgia ultra with a 21st-century edge. In 2024, when Gabbriette really hit it big, everything about her felt vaguely familiar, and yet, different from everything we were then ingesting. Inspired by rockstars Joan Jett and Suzie Quatro, the Gabbriette that broke through was, and continues to be, as much young Angelina Jolie (the Billy Bob Thornton blood vials, kissing-her-brother-at-the-Oscars days) as Nicolas Ghesquière's Balenciaga. With that, she taught us that Hot and Scary were not mutually exclusive — basically, the digital 'it' girl is kind of grungy. 

Naturally, Gabbriette is now one of the most-sought after models on the planet. Named “Breakout Star” by Models.com as well as 2024's “International Sensation” at the GQ Man of the Year awards, she has been featured in CR Fashion Book, British Vogue, Elle, V Magazine, and fronted campaigns for H&M, Bottega Veneta and Marc Jacobs. Fascinatingly, everyone who works with her wants Gabbriette to be Gabbriette — buying into her brand rather than transforming the model to fit their own.

And instead of resenting copycats, Gabriette embraces them. Case in point, the model's MAC collaboration – a lip kit featuring a 'stone'-hued pencil, pinky nude shimmer shade lipstick and cool brown plumping gloss, identical to Gabbriette's own everyday combo – sold out in 48 hours. Her Depop is regularly updated with cross emblazoned bags, sheer black staples and pointed toe shoes (you're gonna have to get in quick, she sells OUT). 

Which means, there's no shame in giving a little Gabriette. Sweep that hair to the side (dye it black, or platinum while you're at it), pull on a pair of sharp-toed leather boots and shimmy your skirt low enough to expose your hip tattoo. And, oh yeah, top it all of with her new case for Wildflower.