Charli XCX Becomes a Fashion Icon, Wants to Duet With Die Antwoord

You can find electro-pop artist Charli XCX in as many fashion spreads as music magazines. The 20-year-old up-and-comer, who's
known for her goth-meets-Robyn style of black velvet ensembles and thick, sky-high platforms, knows how to dress herself and she
takes her roles as both musician and fashion maven very seriously.
"I think fashion, especially in these times with the internet, is really important," Charli tells Spinner. "Fashion magazines push
new music out there just as much as music magazines, I feel."
Even high-end designers have taken a liking to artists, from Lana Del Rey and Azealia Banks performing private fashion parties, to
Karl Lagerfeld taking in Florence Welch as a muse, and as much as Charli is a fan of all of this, she also admits to not caring
too much whether or not people actually get her sense of style.
"I guess I like all this stuff, but at the same time, I don't really care if I'm fashionable, if I'm considered 'on-trend' or and
'it-girl'," says Charli. "Even if the whole world hates it, I'd still wear it and some people do hate it and that's fine because
they're just not on my level. But if you like it then I'm like, 'That's cool. You're cool.'"
The singer's motto, at the end of the day, is to essentially wear what you want to wear, an idea she's also taken and applied to
her music, crafting her unique blend of goth-infused electro-pop. Both visually and musically, she just wants to please herself
and project what's going on in her head.
"When I have enough money, I'm just going to blow it all on visuals and shit like that, which is probably terrible because I'm a
musician, but I just want my stage to look like what my music looks like in my head," she says. In Charli XCX's ideal world, her
stage would be littered with roses and VHS tapes -- a "tornado of roses and love and blackness onstage," as she described. "I just
think of myself as an artist and I want to have a really strong visual."
Part of her image, of course, is the dark edginess and the label of "goth" constantly slapped on her. She doesn't mind that one
either.
"I don't always wear black and I don't wear white makeup, in the stereotypical sense of being a goth," admits Charli. "But I'm
fine if people want to call me one. They always label me 'goth-pop' so I'm not just goth, I'm just some ethereal gangsta shit."
After learning all this Charli's fantasy rap collaboration (Charli grew up wanting to be a rapper) makes a lot of sense both
musically and fashionably.
"My dream collaboration would be Die Antwoord," says Charli. "Because that would just be some serious, freaky shit. Can you just
imagine what I'm like onstage and what they're like onstage? The fucking outfits would be so cool!"