Gabbriette Bechtel: Dark hair, thin brows, and an absolutely killer face card. The 90s gothic ‘it’ girl created her first Wildflower case last year, and her hot and iconic creativity really shone through. It’s sweet and sexy, just like our latest Wildflower girl. Imagine lingerie for your phone, with a hint of Gabbriette laced in between.

Wildflower Family

The development for this case was a steady process, but the actual design came together remarkably fast—four days fast to be exact. During Milan Fashion Week, Gabbriette and Devon caught up with each other and talked about the case’s design. Recalling the moment with a slight smile on her face, Gabbriette explained, “I was thinking of a vintage silver cigarette case and then I asked Devon when the due date for the design was and she said in four days. Then I thought underwear is cute and I love scanning things. So, I went and bought some undies in Milan and scanned them in.” The black, lacy set she chose gave the look she had envisioned, though she still wanted to add a personal touch to make the case distinctively hers. 

Her star tattoos made their way to the design to add a touch of her. The tattoos on the case are in the exact placement she has them on her body. The pale blue background was meant to replicate the blue hue that happens in the background of scanned images, something Gabbriette calls ‘a techy blue.’ The blue makes it sweet, and different from just being black and white.

“My mom got it and asked ‘where’s your face’,” Gabbriette said, laughing as she thought of her mom’s shock. “It’s chic, mom.” Although she initially wanted to go in the direction of putting her face or tattoos on the case, she loves the way it came out and is eagerly wanting to design more in the future. 

Gabbriette thoroughly enjoyed working with Devon, Sydney and the whole WF team, finding it both fun and professional. Seeing her friends go into “business mode” by taking control of the project, and scheduling meetings made her feel extremely proud of them. “It was so cool to see them take initiative. Sometimes you forget your friends own a business and they’re really good at it,” Gabbriette said. The collaboration was a lovely process because they were able to talk like the friends that they are, give opinions, and make sure they created the cutest Gabbriette-inspired case. They still have the group chat where they talked about the case. 

Gabbriette was impressed by the team, describing them as "so young and cute." The team provided her with full support, assisting with every need and ensuring her phone case design was always available for whoever she wanted to gift it to. From the design process to launch day, the team was there for her. 

Her Journey to Becoming the Icon She is Today

“It chose me, babe,” Gabbriette said when asked about how she chose her iconic aesthetic. It stemmed from her love of the 90s makeup look. Actors like Drew Barrymore and Angelina Jolie were some of her inspirations. The looks felt timeless to her, noting that these makeup looks had inspiration from the 30s and 40s, specifically the thin brows. 

Gabbriette loves the look she's known for, but she doesn’t consider it ‘hers.’ Sometimes she wants to do a blue smokey eye or wear a blond wig for fun. “It’s never that serious, have fun with it,” is her advice. 

“It still blows my mind sometimes,” Gabbriette said as she thought about the tutorials her makeup has inspired. She finds it sweet and surprising seeing people go out and try looks she’s inspired or buy her MAC lip kit which is completely sold out. Her humbleness is obvious, even through the virtual interview. She’s such an inspiration to people, it’s no surprise that her name helped spark the iconic Brat Summer. 

We all know it – Charli XCX and the song line that mentions our latest WF girl, Gabbriette. In her award winning song ‘360,’ Charli sings “call me Gabriette, you’re so inspired.” Which is so true, and had been in the works for a year or two before its release. Charli, a fellow WF girl, reached out to Gabbriette to get her approval before releasing the song. 

“I just thought it was really fun and cute,” Gabbriette said. “You just never really know what things are until they become something.” Sharing a song that says her name and Julia’s [Fox] was fun. She felt “honored either way,” even if Charli decided to not use the song for her Brat album. However, the song did make it on the album and blew up. With the song going viral, her name was being sung by millions of people around the world. She noted one video she saw of a man singing karaoke and heard him say her name “I don’t really know what’s going on but I love it,” she smiled. 

WF Girl

Everyone remembers their first Wildflower case, even Gabbriette. The Meow case and an older studded case were the first WF cases that made it to her. She used to switch them out daily, but now is sticking to her favorite one (can you guess which one it is?). 

Being a WF Girl to Gabbriette means a sweet community that’s been around for a long time. “She’s fun, she’s Sex and the City, she’s friend group, she’s a good cocktail.” Wildflower being represented by Devon and Sydney is exactly what their business is. "A really fun night out, a good friend and a good chat.”

From Tumblr to the Runway

Gabbriette started on Tumblr, posting pictures that were inspired by her love of french noir. When Instagram came out, she created an account and reposted some of her Tumblr posts. Through Instagram, people would DM her and ask if she would model for them. “Without Instagram, I wouldn’t have modeling,” Gabbriette met a girl who was modeling for Ford Models through that platform. She was invited to come to Ford Models but being 5’5, she didn’t think she would have the height for it. 

“From there, people just believed in me,” Gabbriette took the introduction with Ford Models and the rest is history. 

The modeling industry has begun to evolve since Gabbriette first entered, and she couldn’t be happier. In the beginning of her modeling career, she felt “more upset about the lack of representation of trans women, short gals, bigger gals, and [people of] color.” Not booking jobs she felt qualified for, made her feel a bit on edge. Though as she grew in the industry, she realized that the brands choose specific looks for what they want their brands to represent.

Now, Gabbriette feels like loud voices in the industry are being listened to and celebrated. There’s personality within the industry with “girls like Paloma [Elsesser] and Alex Consani” who have opened up the space for conversation. They have taught her to “not be shy, to be loud and have an opinion.”

Gabbriette’s look at modeling is to have fun, “live laugh love, that’s the goal.” 

With so much love for the industry and a love for working hard, she urges creative people to believe in themselves, they can do everything that they want. She’s a big advocate of “let your freak flags fly.”

She finds excitement everyday and is living by “keep on keeping on, babe.” What’s next for our latest WF girl? Well, she hopes to design another case…