What is an “It-Girl”?

In September 2022, Nylon Magazine had Vanessa Hudgens as the September cover girl of their It Girl issue. The piece centered around the idea that she has been an It Girl consistently for over a decade, whether it be from her High School Musical fame, enviable Coachella looks, or theatre geek endeavors. All month, Nylon has been dedicated to analyzing the endless intrigue of being an It-girl. It girls have mystique. There is something mythic and intriguing to them. She commands the room by just being in it, not by necessarily doing or saying anything. They show us what we should be wearing, what we should be watching on Netflix, what we should be listening to on Spotify, where we should visit in New York or LA, and what should be included in our self-care routine. It is the mark of the true and ultimate Cool Girl. However, it seems ever since Amy Dunne’s iconic Cool Girl monologue, which bluntly discussed the redundancy of the “cool girl” compliment in the 2014 film Gone Girl, it looks like another compliment has taken its superfluous place: the It Girl. 

In a world where anyone with a social media account can become rich and famous with the click of a button, the line between celebrity and influencer has become blurred. Celebrities like singers, actors, and models have always been considered influential, but nowadays being an influencer is its own separate thing completely. You don’t need talent, knowledge, or connections, you simply need an online presence, hashtags, and a consistent posting schedule. Because of this, any woman with an iota of clout can be an “It” girl. This issue of the term may not have the same weight as world peace or politics, but it does have an impact on pop culture and online culture, which are two of the greatest influences on young people. With the internet and the girlbossification of stan culture, calling any young female celebrity an “it girl” as a compliment has become as redundant of an Instagram comment as “queen” or “icon. Although, “queen” and “icon” doesn’t deserve to be redundant. After all, very few people are actual queens, whether it’s of England or pop music, and you do have to earn the idea of being an “icon” of anything, whether it be of fashion or of sports. But I will say its redundancy isn’t as annoying as it is for It Girl, because anyone can be the unofficial queen or icon of something. Like the “Queen of Pop” is just an idea, it’s not an official title, even though in this case it is earned. When you call a friend “a queen” they probably did do something cool or interesting to unofficially earn that title too, even though it’s probably unimportant in the grand scheme of things. The same goes for “icon,” especially because there are so many icons or so many things out there, like the fashion icon, pop culture icon, sports icon, music icon, film icon, etc. However, not everyone has the It-factor, and therefore the prerequisite for being called an It girl. That is a fact. Therefore the It girl should never be redundant, and that’s the point of this article. 

Youtuber and Video Essayist Tessa Domzalski from ModernGurlz recently created a video, uploaded exactly 24 hours after I wrote this article, agreeing with how redundant the term “It girl” has become in the digital age. A true It girl should be anything but redundant. They should be IT. Aspirational. Unique. Enviable. And effortlessly so. In the past, this term has been given with a sense of extraordinary specificity. It wasn’t a term thrown out to a girl who just had one hit movie or a hit single on the radio. It came from a steady growth in popularity, mixed with mystique and striking a chord with audiences at the right time. It shouldn’t be a title that is just thrown around when a celebrity is relevant or looking fierce on a red carpet. The term “It girl” is something to be earned, not handed out like a sample at Costco. After all, Jennifer Anniston said in a recent interview with Allure that social media is killing the movie star. It begs the question: can an “It girl” even exist in the Instagram era?

Personally, I don’t think this term should be thrown around. Even if they are the daughters of It girls like Kaia Gerber and Lila Moss (even Lily Rose-Depp due to her father Johnny Depp once being an It-Boy), they still need to earn this title. While it is a compliment, the term has so much status and history, and it deserves to be treated as such. While terms like “queen” and “icon,” which also have a sense of status and history, are also thrown around, they are still broad enough terms to be used in a somewhat redundant way and have it not get annoying or infuriating (even though they have become a little annoying in some ways). However, a term as specific as It girl shouldn’t be used in the same way.

Now, it’s worth noting that being an It Girl isn’t definitive. There are archetypes and categories within the term, which the Instagram account @StarterPacksOfNYC has illustrated. There are It Brits like Kate Moss and Alexa Chung who have a unique and edgy sense fo style and date rockstars, the pop princesses like Olivia Rodrigo who wears mini skirts and listens to 2000s dance music, the Downtown Darling like Julia Fox, known for their risque fashion and unhinged candidness, the model-off-duty like Haley Bieber and Kendall Jenner who make basics look super chic and love eye patches, the Gallery Girl who wear midi skirts and always has a book in her purse, the Y2K-esque socialite who loves nights out to Socialista (a club in New York which was heavily referenced on the It girl-centric teen soap Gossip Girl) and loves Marc Jacobs Kiki boots, the Nepo Baby like Gracie Abrams and Maude Apatow who love Miu Miu and Jennifer Behr hair pins and The Frenchie who wears skinny jeans, ballet flats and unfortunately always have a box of Marlboros. It Girls even come in pairs and multiples like the Olsen twins, the Hadid sisters, the Kardashian-Jenner sisters, the Hilton Sisters, Devon Lee and Sydney Carlson, and Dakota and Elle Fanning. You get the point… However, are these truly “It girls,” or are they just culturally relevant right now, and the media is tricking us into thinking they have the “It-factor” (personally, I don’t consider the majority of women in this paragraph to be true It girls)?

The American definition has to do with a glamorous, beautiful, vivacious, and sexually attractive young woman who is usually an actress or model. The British definition is a rich woman who has achieved celebrity and lives a socialite-type lifestyle. The term is universally referred to fame and beauty, however, it also refers to women who are sexually attractive and confident when expressing their sexuality, helping other women become more confident. It girls are often confused with party girls, but that’s not true at all. Many It girls are self-proclaimed homebodies like media-proclaimed It girls Sydney Sweeney and Kendall Jenner (I don’t actually consider either of these women true It girls). The It girl is also often associated with being a muse, like Andy Warhol’s muse Edie Sedgwick was dubbed an It girl by many, and one of Karl Lagerfeld’s many muses Blake Lively was considered an It girl both on-screen in Gossip Girl and off-screen. Wikipedia considers modern It girls to be Asian women listing Olivia Rodrigo, who was dubbed as such by The Hollywood Reporter, Squid Games actor HoYeon Jung, and various Blackpink members including Jisso, Jennie, and Rose, and other South Korean stars like Aespa, La Sserafim, IVE, and Irene Kim.

Now, let’s take a look at the history of the “It girl” phenomenon. The term “It” first became slang among upper-crust British society at the turn of the 20th century. One of the earliest uses of “It” in this “It-factor” context was in Rudyard Kipling’s 1904 short story Mrs. Bathurst. In it, he writes “Tisn’t beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily, It’s just “It.” Some women will stay in a man’s memory if they once walk down the street.” This idea of the It-factor being a woman who is memorable merely by walking down the street has remained true of It girls through pop culture history. It also captures the essence of what it means to have the It-factor: you either have It, or you don’t. It’s just that simple, and for that reason, it’s incredibly rare. 

In the early 1900s, the term “It” was associated with women like Evelyn Nesbit and Brenda Dean Paul. Nesbit was an American fashion and pin-up model, chorus girl, and silent film star. Her modeling work with Charles Dana Gibson gave her the title of a Gibson Girl, which epitomized the beauty standard at the time. She is considered the person who caused “the birth of the It girl.” Paul was a British silent film actress who was considered the “Bright, Young Thing” during the 1920s. However, her It Girl status went downhill after she was imprisoned for illegal drug use.

The term became mainstream when Paramount Studios released their 1927 film It starring Clara Bow, who is often referred to as the first It Girl. This film is credited with introducing “It” into the cultural lexicon by using it to describe the It-factor. The silent film opens with a quote describing the concept of “It.” It says, “It is that quality possessed by some which draws all others with magnetic force. With It, you win all men if you are a woman and all men if you are a man. “It” can be a quality of the mind as well as a physical attraction.” As the quote says, “It” doesn’t belong to any one gender, also spawning “It” boys (Timothee Chalamet, Jacob Elordi, and Harry Styles have been called the current “It” boys repeatedly to give you a modern example, but examples of the past include Elvis Presley, James Dean, Marlon Brando, Rick Springfield, Rob Lowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Justin Bieber. Some of these I personally consider more true than others). However, it’s the movie itself and Clara Bow’s alluring performance that made the term associated with women, a positive celebration of being a woman, which was rare in the 1920s, and unfortunately still is. In the film, Bow’s character the combination of the archetypes of the ingenue, defined as an innocent young woman, and femme fatale, described as an attractive, seductive woman who is likely to cause disaster to a man, with a touch of Madonna‘s latter idea of the “Material Girl,” which personified the 80s idea of “greed is good” (a quote from the movie Wall Street from Michael Douglas’ character Gordon Gekko) mentality and emphasizes the It girl’s association with having great fashion sense (even though that isn’t necessarily a requirement to be an It girl, it is a common package deal as seen with women like Audrey Hepburn, Princess Diana and Chloe Sevigny). By contrast, Bow’s rival in the script is equally young and comely (and rich and well-bred to boot), yet she doesn’t have “It,” (proving how being beautiful isn’t the only prerequisite for It). The film was based on a book by British female author Elinor Glyn, who appeared in the film. She further defined “It” saying, “self-confidence and indifference as to whether you are pleasing or not — and something in you that gives the impression that you are not at all cold. That’s It.” This is a crucial aspect of what it means to be “It”: not caring what people think. Being unapologetic, nonchalant, and confident, without being seen as arrogant or rude. This aspect of “It” is often forgotten about today due to the addictiveness of social media and the insatiable need for validation online. This kind of nonchalance is alluring and makes people intrigued by you. This implies that those who have “It” don’t think they do and/or they don’t care how the public perceives them. It’s that unimportance they put on their own popularity that adds charm to “It” (often making their It-factor only more apparent), and makes it more difficult to come by with so many people aspiring for fame and fortune, especially in the digital age. In Bow’s era, they valued individuality. They dressed and did as they pleased. Now, people are too sensible and business-savvy, when a key aspect of It Girl involves an element of effortlessness. The film It went on to break box office records and capitulated its star, Bow, to become one of the biggest movie stars of the 1920s and an American icon. It also cemented the term “It” a permanent place in the cultural lexicon, and what started as simply calling Bow “the It girl” as in the girl from the movie It became the definition of her cultural impact. Every woman wanted to be just like Bow, making the actress herself an actual It girl. Bow’s It-factor helped her make the difficult transition from silent films to talkies. She was seen as an It girl until her early retirement in 1933. Her retirement opened the door for a new It girl to take her place which many, including Bow herself, saw to be Lana Turner. 

Bow’s replacement (who had impossible shoes to fill, like becoming president after George Washington or performing at the Grammys after Taylor Swift), Lana Turner made her film debut in 1937’s They Won’t Forget. In the film, Turner wore a form-fitting sweater which gave her the nickname “Sweater Girl.” Although she notably hated the nickname, it became her claim to fame. She became a popular pin-up model during World War II and even partnered with MGM to tour the West Coast to promote the sale of war bonds, with the actress handing out kisses to the highest buyer (this would NEVER happen now, both because of the sexism and COVID-19). At the end of that tour, she sold what’s worth 90 million dollars today in war bonds. Just like during the tour, Lana Turner’s sex appeal and magnetism were highlighted in her films, as well. This is what caused “It” to gain a sexual connotation that didn’t occur in its original form (AKA in Bow’s era).

In the 1950s, an era that was known for its glitz, glamour, and poise, a new crop of Hollywood It girls appeared. These women each had a longevity that still makes them impactful today (all posthumously) and each has their own individual appeal and alluring traits that separate them from the others. These girls included Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, and Elizabeth Taylor. Each of these women embodies qualities that have become associated with the term, just in very different ways. In a sense, these four Golden Age It girls represent the 4 types of It Girls, the female gaze girl (Hepburn), the male gaze girl who is very underestimated (Monroe), the aspirant, in the sense that every girl aspires to be like her (Kelly), and the sex symbol (Taylor). Sure, they were each beautiful, successful, influential, and famous, but they also each possessed a certain power that made them distinctive, intriguing, and stood the test of time, and is still looked at today as feminine icons. This rise of the It girl also coincided with the rise of the paparazzi. In Bow and Turner’s day, actresses were purely admired due to their on-screen presence and magnetism. Now, these women were being perceived in a much larger and more personal manner. This can be seen as positive and negative because, on the one hand, they can connect with their fans past the point of the silver screen, however, it also made them much more accessible and therefore gave their personal life an opening for judgment. This also somewhat destroyed an essential quality of It: mystique (however, compared to today, this was hardly true destruction). 

Audrey Hepburn rose in popularity due to her star-making and Oscar-winning performance in 1953’s Roman Holiday. She became the poster child for a new idea of femininity that contrasted the blonde bombshell look that had grown popular over the years due to women like Jean Harlow and Veronica Lake. Audrey was incredibly unique compared to Kelly, Taylor, and Monroe because she wasn’t overtly sexual. She was gorgeous, with her high cheekbones, enviable eyebrows, luxurious eyelashes, and big, infectious smile, but she also had a boyishness to her appearance that was not seen in many women on-screen at the time. That was her appeal. She became an icon for the gamine beauty standard. By definition, gamine is an attractive woman with a boyish charm, with Twiggy, Chloe Sevingy, Kate Moss, and Lily-Rose Depp later becoming gamine icons (and the latter three also becoming It girls). With Hepburn, yes, men saw her as beautiful, but her true popularity was with women, as opposed to her counterparts, which helped her stand out against her peers. She was a woman whose image was crafted from the female gaze, a rarity at that time. She was a girl’s girl, a girl for the girls, which was drastically different from Monroe and Taylor, and even Kelly (although out of the three was definitely the closest, especially when she became Princess of Monaco). She was elegant, graceful, poised, goofy, and caring, everything every woman wants to be, and it’s worth noting that these qualities aren’t physical. Hepburn still appeals more so to women than men today. Hepburn was also extremely private about her personal life (most of the details of her private life were revealed after her death), adding a level of mystery to her that also made her intriguing. However, when she did reveal tidbits of her personal life, it only made her more endearing to the public. She sweetly owned a pet fawn, showing how much of an unapologetic individual she was. She became a UNICEF ambassador, showing how she wasn’t a self-indulgent movie star. She also has a down-to-earth home life, in direct contrast to her glamorous onscreen persona, making her one of the first celebrities to hone in on the whole “celebrities, they are just like us,” idea. She didn’t get consumed by Hollywood, unlike her contemporaries. These contradictions of glamorous and down-to-earth made her an enigma, which only fueled the public’s interest in her. She was also a prominent figure in the fashion industry, having one of the first celebrity partnerships with a designer and becoming their muse. This happened for her with Hubert De Givenchy. This still happens with It girls today, with examples being Anthony Vaccarello of YSL and Hailey Bieber, Margaret Qualley and Virginie Viard of Chanel, and Dua Lipa and Donatella Versace being modern examples of similar relationships. The relationship between Hepburn and Givenchy is what began the idea of the It girl coinciding with the idea of being a muse, leading to other iconic It girl’s big breaks like Edie Sedgwick with Andy Warhol and Claudia Schiffer with Karl Lagerfeld. That partnership, coupled with Hepburn’s roles often being fashion-centric (Breakfast At Tiffany’s and Funny Face being examples), made her a style icon. Because of this, Hepburn is also what caused the It girl to often coincide with a woman also being a style icon (another moniker that is often thrown around, but should actually be earned). This combination solidified Hepburn’s status as not just an It girl, but also a permanent and prominent figure in pop culture. 

The public’s perception of Hepburn was vastly different from its perception of Monroe, who was only lauded for her beauty and sex appeal, and not much else, despite being an incredibly smart and groundbreaking woman. Monroe was one of the first women to open her own production company in Hollywood, paving the way for women like Reese Witherspoon and Margot Robbie today. Monroe took advantage of the growing power of publicity and kept her name in the headlines to get her name out to producers (sound familiar? Kim Kardashian & Paris Hilton did this in the 2000s). She used the public’s perception of her to her advantage, much like Gossip Girl used their negative reviews in their advertisements, and Taylor Swift’s Reputation Era used a snake as its calling card. Swift capitalized on her bad reputation, cementing herself a permanent place in pop culture as she did so. Much like Swift, Monroe carefully cultivated her image and used it to her advantage. The way she used her sexuality on and off screen was generally unheard of at the time. Her ability to have the strength and resilience not to bow down the scrutiny and backlash could be seen as her true It-factor. Her intelligence and maltreatment have only recently been discussed with public compassion and admiration, instead of hate and despair. The public had a very specific image of Monroe due to her being typecast in many “dumb blonde” roles (The Seven Year Itch and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes being examples). She was often made to be the butt of the joke, both on-screen and off. This aspect was reflected in her treatment by the media, where she was often vilified for just existing. No matter what she did, it was perceived negatively, from health issues to marital woes. This brings me to mind. the common phrase “all news is good news,” which as we all know isn’t necessarily true. While in today’s day and age, this publicity would make them accessible (think Julia Fox and 2022 Megan Fox), it actually did the opposite, it made people hunger for any bit of gossip about Monroe, which meant when the rumor of her alleged affair with President John F. Kennedy started, the media and the public had a field day. Because of this, Monroe’s story reveals the darker side of having the It-factor. 

One thing to note about Hepburn’s It Girl status versus Monroe’s is that Hepburn’s appealed to the female gaze. As aforementioned, she was admired for her non-physical qualities, as well as her beauty and her beauty was also more relatable at the time compared to the oversaturated hourglass figure that was the “trendy” body type at the time. While Monroe’s appeal was from the male gaze, as she was only admired for her beauty and not much else. This difference in perspective is vital to these women’s successes, legacy, and reputation, as well as how they influenced what would be considered having the It factor. 

Grace Kelly is best known as the Hollywood starlet turned Princess, way before Meghan Markle. In the 1950s, she starred in many critically acclaimed films, including many Alfred Hitchcock films like To Catch A Thief, Rear Window, and Dial M For Murder. This work garnered her much respect in the industry and the characters she played were often known for their poise, propriety, and quiet strength, causing journalists to refer to her as “Lady Kelly” or “Ms. Kelly.” This influenced the public perception of her. However, when rumors started spiraling around of affairs with her co-stars, this caused her to be branded as a homewrecker and nearly destroyed her career (even though affairs were very normal in Hollywood at the time) because the public felt betrayed. The public acted more viciously to these rumors because they didn’t match the persona they built up in their heads. This backlash came to a halt when she announced her engagement to Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Their relationship was referred to as a modern fairytale (sound familiar?). Their courtship drew global media attention and their wedding ceremony was even televised, with an estimated 30 million people having watched the program. As Princess of Monaco, she became an incredibly influential figure and a style icon due to her wedding gown being the gown to beat for the remainder of the 50s. Her It girl status was cemented when a photo of her carrying a Hermes bag circulated, capitulating it to fame, and it was soon renamed the “Kelly bag,” also cementing the It girl as a trendsetter, as well as a muse and a style icon.

Child star turned acting legend Elizabeth Taylor became one of the most popular and iconic actresses from Hollywood’s Golden Age. She became a teen star after signing with MGM and appearing in the 1944 film National Velvet. She transitioned into a more mature role in the 50s with films like Father of the Bride and A Place In The Sun. Taylor began to define a new type of celebrity as they headed into the 1960s as paparazzi became a normal feature of media culture. Taylor’s private life became of huge public interest, with her 7 husbands (Richard Burton she married twice and most notably) and rumored affairs. She was one of the first people to be considered “famous for being famous” despite being one of the most successful actresses of her time. She was known for playing sultry, empowered, reckless, sexy, and hot-tempered women. Like Monroe, she used her scandals to her advantage to make herself consistently in the conversation, even if it wasn’t for the best reasons. However, either way, it worked and cemented a permanent place for herself in Hollywood and pop culture, really honing in on that Gossip Girl idea of “you’re nobody until you’re talked about” (decades before the books were ever written). However, unlike Monroe, Taylor’s sexuality was revered by the media, not punished, and MGM still gave her the opportunity to showcase her acting range, with her acting being praised for its intuitiveness and intelligence (and unlike Monroe, she never received any professional acting training). Social critic Camile Paglia once wrote that Taylor was a pre-feminist woman saying that she “wields the sexual power that feminism cannot explain and has tried to destroy.” Cultural critic M.G. Lord called Taylor an “accidental feminist” as many of her films included feminist themes and therefore introduced such themes to a wider audience, despite Taylor herself not identifying as a feminist. This makes her quite ahead of her time. Her relationship with Richard Burton was also one of the first major celebrity couples, the first “It-couple” if you will, way before Beyonce and Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears, or Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. She was also the longest-living It-Girl from this time, as well as the one with the most career longevity, as she did not pass away until 2011. This meant that her impact only grew. By the 80s she became somewhat of a mythic figure, so when she revealed how big of a fan she was of the soap opera General Hospital, she was given a guest spot in the show’s most iconic episode, Luke and Laura’s wedding, where she played the original Helena Cassadine and cursed their union. She also had alleged affairs with actors Anthony Geary and Tristan Rogers from the show. Her It factor singlehandedly put the show on the map as one of the greatest soap operas of all time (the show is currently the longest-running television program of all time, celebrating 60 years in 2023). The reason I am mentioning this is because it shows just how impactful an It girl’s approval can be. She was also one of the first celebrities to test their profitability by creating her own business outside of acting or fashion. This was her now iconic White Diamond fragrance (my grandma’s personal favorite). Like Hepburn, she also became an activist, working with GLAAD, and becoming a “gay icon” through her work with the LGBT community and AIDS organizations. 

As aforementioned, it’s worth noting how most It girls simultaneously become style icons, which started during the era of Hepburn, Monroe, Kelly, and Taylor, with Twiggy, Kate Moss, Paris Hilton, Alexa Chung, and Olivia Rodrigo being examples of this dichotomy throughout pop culture history. Hepburn was especially a style icon, with her having an almost equal footing in both the entertainment and fashion industries. Her style is often seen as the epitome of timeless fashion, with many of her outfits still being able to work today, from her iconic all-black ensemble in Funny Face to Holly Golightly’s iconic black dress with pearls in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. These are also a few of her fashionable on-screen personas, proving how intertwined those two industries were during her career. Her personal style was polished and feminine, with a simplicity that made her the most elegant person in the room. Kelly was similar in elegance, but a little more dolled up than Hepburn due to her Princess status (although Hepburn played many princesses and upper-class women throughout her career), as Hepburn was also seen in casual, more dressed down pieces, but due to Hepburn’s poise, she still had the essence of elegance. This contrasted Monroe and Taylor, who were all about sex appeal. Monroe’s style was much more glamorous, often seen dripping in attention-grabbing diamonds (After all, she did sing “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” in Gentleman Prefer Blondes). While, Taylor’s style was brighter and more fun, which helped with her longevity during her lifetime and career as her color palette could mold to the current trends, in comparison to her counterparts who valued a more timeless color palette of neutrals. 

Something to be noted about Hepburn, Monroe, Kelly, and Taylor’s impact on the It Girl is their lasting legacy, as they are all still fawned over today. This shows just how timeless these women and their images are, and how the moniker of It Girl can also coincide with their legacy. They continue to be referenced in pop culture, especially in media centered around young women. The CW megahit Gossip Girl is probably one of the biggest and most important examples. In the cinematic universe, Serena exhibits traits that are stereotypically associated with an It girl, therefore the Gossip Girl site gives the moniker to her. She’s beautiful, charming, mysterious, and enigmatic. She has an effortlessly cool demeanor, a fun-loving attitude, and an utter disinterest in being in the public eye, even though she is often a muse to many artists and designers (she was the muse to photographer Aaron Rose, received designs named after her by Marc Jacobs and Kiki de Montparnasse, and *spoiler alert* is Dan Humprey’s muse for creating the Gossip Girl site to begin with, as well as his muse for the other stories he writes throughout the series), and admired by people all over New York (at least, the New York within the cinematic universe). Serena had a magnetism that was indescribable, giving her the It-factor. However, for her best friend Blair Waldorf, “It” isn’t as effortless. She strives to receive It Girl status, which almost never works out the way she hopes. Blair is an overachiever and a schemer, always striving to be recognized for her talents, charm, and achievements, often living in Serena’s shadow. Blair works hard and earns all of her accomplishments. However, unlike Serena who is a modern woman who represents her times perfectly, Blair emulates It girls of the past, with Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn being two of her biggest inspirations. She was able to recreate the things that made those girls It, and much like Monroe, she cultivated an image that was undeniably successful, making her the Queen Bee of her school. This carefully crafted image inspired by It girls wasn’t as artificial as it sounds because her arc throughout the series deals with Blair discovering her true talents and strengths, the things that actually do make It, and that discovery helped her achieve all she has been working for by the end of the series. This idea of emulating It girls made Blair’s character far more relatable to the audience then Serena, which si part of why she’s the show’s most popular character. She inspired real-life girls to also emulate their favorite It girls. While Blair helped showcase how to emulate It girls in the right way, I can’t help but ask myself if this example is what subconsciously influenced the term’s redundancy and overuse today, because too many girls are trying to emulate what It girls do and they showcase that emulation online.

This dichotomy between Old and young Hollywood within the show is manifested in the consistent theme of making references through dream sequences. Blair mostly, but Serena and Chuck on occasion, would often dream themselves into Old Hollywood movies. Most of the time they were Audrey Hepburn films like Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Sabrina, Charade, Wait Until Dark, and My Fair Lady, with Blair always starring as Hepburn, her ultimate idol. Blair sees herself as elegant and posed just like Hepburn, and while she is, the dream sequences are often used as a comedic, satirical, and characteristic way to detail Blair’s insecurity, desires, and anxiety to the audience. Blair also has a dark side, which is often where the twist in these dream sequences comes from. Serena once had a notable dream where she portrayed Marilyn Monroe and Blair as Hepburn. The sequences represented how Hepburn was the apple of Hollywood’s eye, while Monroe was only seen as a pretty face, paralleling Serena’s insecurity toward Blair, that the men in her life only see her as a fun time and not as someone to commit to (although this does come at a point in the series when Blair becomes the effortlessly admired one after years of admiring It girls and Serena begins to fall by the wayside). They also referenced All About Eve and A Affair To Remember. Gossip Girl really helped hone in on that Mad Men-esque (remember that episode with the “are you a Jackie or a Marilyn?” advertising campaign? In this case, Jackie is the Hepburn-Kelly-Blair type and Marilyn is obviously the Monroe-Taylor-Serena type) idea that women are either an Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe-esque Serena van der Woodsen, sexual, enigmatic, popular and effortlessly beautiful, or an Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly-esque Blair Waldorf, a woman known for her elegance, grace, smarts and beauty on the inside as well as on the out.

It girls throughout the decades have had similar qualities of being fashion-forward, beautiful, mysterious, and talented. In the 60s, the media considered Janet Leigh, Rita Moreno, Jane Holzer, Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon, Julie Andrews, Pattie Boyd, Sharon Tate, and Diana Ross the It girls of the time. Out of these women, Boyd was probably the closest to being a true It girl. Like Hepburn, she was a muse, but to musicians instead of designers. Boyd was a muse to two of the biggest musicians of the time, George Harrison of The Beatles and Eric Clapton, so much so that she was often at the center of a love triangle between the two. She began the idea that the It Girl could also coincide with being a rockstar’s girlfriend, paving the way for It girls of the future like Bianca Jagger and Alexa Chung. 

The ’60s also ushered in a new wave of It girls who were more alternative, rebellious, and, frankly much more impactful. Many 1960s It girls took the form of a muse-turned-model, much like Hepburn and Serena from Gossip Girl. In the 60s, these women were Twiggy, Edie Sedgwick, Jean Shrimpton, and Jane Birkin. Unlike the actresses before them, these It girls were perceived as art, which made a crucial part of their It-factor their relationship with the artist. Jean Shrimpton had David Bailey, and along with Boyd epitomized that look for British women in the 60s, with many considering Shrimpton to be the first true supermodel. Jane Birkin was a muse to Serge Gainsbourg and the fashion houses like Paco Rabanne and Hermes, with the latter of which named the iconic Birkin handbag after her (Kris Jenner has a closet full of them in different colors and there was a whole episode of Sex and the City where Samantha Jones tries to jack a Birkin off of Lucy Liu. These things are meant to show how it is still culturally relevant today). However the most impactful were Edie Sedgwick’s ties to Andy Warhol and Twiggy’s ties to Mary Quant. Firstly, Sedgwick and Warhol worked together at Warhol’s studio “The Factory” in Midtown Manhattan where they made avante-garde films together. She was actually dubbed “The ‘It’ Girl” by many media outlets at the time and even named “The Girl Of The Year” in 1965. Vogue also named her a “Youthquaker” in the 60s and also named her a style icon for her edgy and sexy style. Twiggy became the face of the Swinging 60s movement out of London and quickly became a style icon. She was known for her androgynous gamine looks, her affinity for mini skirts, her simple and bright fashion taste, and her unique, spikey eye-makeup. Her nickname came from her childhood nickname “Twigs” which commented on her petite frame. She was even named “The Face of ’66.” Twiggy based her look on other British It girls like Shrimpton and Boyd. 

While there was significant interest in Twiggy, Birkin, Shrimpton, and Sedgwick’s personal lives, it was their image that drew people to them. Each of them became the face of a certain style movement in the 60s. Twiggy epitomizes the Mod look. Edie Sedgwick had an attentive and edgy look that epitomized the youthful bohemian aesthetic (that was later epitomized by Serena van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl and praised by Gossip Girl star Taylor Momsen). Jane Birkin exemplifies the 1960s hippie and Jean Shrimpton exemplifies the carefree girl in the same vein as Sharon Tate, which later became associated with model-off-duty style. Twiggy was the only one to achieve mainstream success, becoming so successful that her face appeared on everything from lunchboxes to t-shirts. However, they were considered tastemakers and trendsetters in smaller subcultures like hippies and punks. Each woman is still looked at for style inspiration and revered for their impact on pop culture today. 

It’s worth noting how this era of It girl mirrored the past, specifically when it came to muse-turned-model Emma Hart. In the 1700s, Hart was born incredibly poor but used her charm and beauty to her advantage and became the mistress to a number of wealthy men, which helped her climb the social hierarchy. She eventually became the muse of one of England’s most fashionable artists, George Romney. As the subject of Romney’s most famous portraits, she became one of the most famous women in Britain at the time and the face of the Romanticism art movement. She eventually married Sir William Hamilton and took the name Lady Hamilton, and joined the British court. She became successful and befriended the Queen. However, she flew too close to the sun, much like Paul and Monroe, and she died in her 40s almost as poor as she was to begin with. Hart is an example of how the secret to maintaining It girl status isn’t to put all your worth in public opinion because as much as the public can create an It girl (much like the internet does today), they can also, as the kids say, cancel them, and take it away too.

Jackie Kennedy, or Jackie O, was an incredibly influential figure in the ’60s, and still is today. As aforementioned, this caused a similar comparison to Monroe that she and Hepburn had. While this comparison is rooted in the rumors of JFK’s affair, the comparison itself draws parallels between Hepburn and Kennedy (and yes, Blair Waldorf did admire Kennedy very much too). This was because, like Hepburn, Kennedy was the subject of the female gaze. Women grew to admire Kennedy’s strength, poise, sense of style, and grace and began to emulate her. Kennedy wasn’t just impactful in the United States, but also globally, with JFK famously saying on a presidential trip to Paris, “I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.” If there was ever an It girl in regard to the First Lady, it would be Jacqueline Kennedy. She had a mystique, allure, sophistication, and intrigue that gave her longevity even after JFK’s death and her remarriage to Aristotle Onassis. Her intriguing nature is part of why the Kennedy family is so fascinating to so many people and is considered American Royalty. Many First Ladies since have tried to replicate Jackie O’s impact with little success (the closest in my opinion being Michelle Obama). Her fashion sense was also incredibly impactful with her exemplifying the ideal image of a First Lady with big hair, big sunglasses, dress suits, and matching sets. This look is still looked at for inspiration today, both in the mainstream culture and by every First Lady since. Her fashion sense was used as inspiration during Moschino’s Fall 2018 collection and was even used as inspiration in Ariana Grande’s presidential-inspired music video for “Positions.” 

Lee Radziwill, Kennedy’s sister, and her group of friends in New York high society were also quite influential. Radziwill, along with her friends Babe Paley, C.Z. Guest, Slim Keith, Ann Woodward, Pamela Churchill, Marella Agnelli, Pamela Harriman, and Gloria Guinness, were all considered style icons during the 1960s. The women were debutantes and ran in elite circles filled with prominent figures in fashion and industry like fashion designer Bill Blass, Diane Vreeland (Vogue editor-in-chief prior to Anna Wintour), and members of the Astor, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt families, particularly Happy Rockefeller and Gloria Vanderbilt. They were so influential that they were even the subject of Truman Capote’s (yes, the author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s) iconic and salacious, yet unfinished novel Answered Prayers. They singlehandedly put the restaurant La Cote Basque on the map and all became fashion and cultural icons in their own right. In essence, people did things, included people, and went places that “The Swans” (as Capote called them) approved of. While none of these women would truly be considered It girls, I do think they are an important example of how one can use connections to build an influential reputation, with Capote using his friendship with Guest and Paley, and them using their friendship with Radziwill, and Radziwill using her familial connection to the presidential family to gain recognition. This climbing of the social hierarchy is a tale as old as time and is showcased through the character of Jenny Humphrey in Gossip Girl, who uses her frenemy relationships with Serena and Blair to try and achieve It Girl status. 

The media considered Farrah Fawcett, Marisa Berenson, Ali McGraw, Pat Cleveland, Diane von Furstenburg, Bianca Jagger, and Olivia Newton-John in the 70s. However, while Ali McGraw, who was Diana Vreeland’s assistant-turned-actress, and actress and model Marisa Berenson, who was one of the decade’s most successful nepo babies (she’s Elsa Schiaparelli’s granddaughter) make them worthy contenders, Farrah Fawcett and Bianca Jagger were probably the true “It” girls during this time due to their boundary-pushing liberation and mystique. Farrah Fawcett’s feathered hair and iconic red bathing suit poster made her dare I say, the biggest American sex symbol since Marilyn Monroe, which solidified her It girl status. Bianca Jagger was an actress, style icon, and wife to rock star Mick Jagger, which cemented her It-factor. It’s also worth noting that while von Furstenburg was the It designer and one of half of the It couple of the time (she was married to Prince Egon von Furstenburg), she herself didn’t quite have the It factor alone. 

Brooke Shields, Molly Ringwald, Lisa Bonet, Dianne Brill, Cornelia Guest, Cookie Mueller, Lisa Edelstein, Tina Chow, Grace Jones, Madonna, Phoebe Cates, Demi Moore, and Jennifer Beals were all considered It Girls in the 1980s. However, while Brill, Guest, Edelstein, and Chow were all dubbed “Queens of the Night” by various pop culture figures like Andy Warhol and Maureen Dowd and considered It girls of the 80s New York club scene, I personally believe Shields, Jones, and Madonna were the true It girl of the decade. Brooke Shields shocked everyone with her daring film roles in Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon as well as her iconic, sensual, and highly controversial Calvin Klein ads. She was also seen hanging out with all the biggest stars from the time like Judd Nelson and Michael Jackson, making her the 80s teen It girl by a landslide. Jones was one of the most iconic models of the time and was seen as the It girl of the Studio 54 club scene. It’s also worth noting that chronologically speaking, she is our first woman of color to be considered a true It girl, representing the changing times and viewpoints associated with the 80s (after all, just look at all the amount of successful BIPOC entertainers of the time: Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Prince, Eddie Murphy, Oprah Winfrey, Lionel Richie, Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, etc). Of course, as aforementioned, Madonna created her own moniker of “Material Girl” (although she has expressed regret about the nickname becoming nearly synonymous with her), showing her nonchalance and individuality, further solidifying her status as the ultimate 80s It girl. 

Also in the 80s the term It girl shifted again, to socialites, once again opening doors for the influencers of today to possibly earn the title. These women were wealthy, unemployed, and often seen at parties with mainstream celebrities. They usually lived in New York City. This was immortalized in photographer Merle Rubiner’s Ladies Who Lunch series (This was the inspiration for Taylor Swift’s “Ladies Lunching” chapter of the Folklore and Evermore albums). She photographs the women of Manhattan Elite (hint, hint), not just at black-tie dinner parties or charity galas, but also about town (think of these women like the 1980s equivalent of Lily van der Woodsen-Bass-Humphrey in Gossip Girl) grabbing lunch and going shopping, all during the working week. They had the look of being a booked and busy, stylish career woman (AKA at this time in the 80s, the idea of the “modern woman”), just without the actual job. While these women weren’t actual It girls by any means due to their lack of the It-factor and mainstream influence outside of their elite circles, they did set the groundwork for socialite It girls of the future, making it possible for characters like Serena and Lily to exist and for people like Tinsley Mortimer and Paris Hilton to garner fame and influence. Now, Jackie Kennedy-Onassis, Lee Radziwill, Babe Paley, C.Z. Guest, Edie Sedgwick, and Gilded Age Amercian princesses Alva Vanderbilt and Caroline Astor are probably the first official socialite It girls during their respective times, but it wasn’t as common or normalized until the 80s with the Ladies Who Lunch. This could be due to the rise in intrigue into the lifestyles of the rich and famous thanks to the reality show by the same name, the primetime soap Dynasty and the creation of entertainment news shows like Entertainment Tonight.   

While Shields, Madonna, and Jones were It girls in their own right, the one true It girl of the 80s was undeniably Princess Diana. As we saw with Grace Kelly, the media and the public, especially in America, have a fascination with royalty, especially the British monarchy because in a way British history is also America’s history. Diana was often referred to as the People’s Princess due to her refreshing approachability and loving nature. She was known for her elegance, poise, kindness, charisma, grace, activism and fashion sense. It was to the point where if something got Diana’s seal of approval, then that’s it, that thing is the coolest thing ever, making her tastemaker. This happened with the film E.T., the pop new wave band Duran Duran, and fashion brands and designers like Catherine Walker (this British designer is also a Kate Middleton favorite), Christian Dior (the brand named a handbag after her: Lady Dior, similar to her nickname of Lady Di), and Gianni Versace. Her It factor was so apparent that it could also be the reason her husband, Prince Charles (who at least at that time would be the future king), felt so insecure about her growing popularity. He painted her It-factor as attention-hogging, selfish, and desperate. He, and his family, saw Diana’s popularity as a burden and an insult instead of something they should take advantage of, as a universally favored royal. Despite Charles’ best attempts to paint Diana as a desperate attention hogger (this is showcased in Netflix’s The Crown), in reality, that wasn’t the case at all, it was actually her natural charisma, grace, and kindness that people adored, not Diana’s nonexistent forcefulness. Her It-factor could also be blamed for her death. This is because the paparazzi were so obsessed with following her every move, trying to satisfy the public interest in her, that they literally chased her to her death. This public addiction quickly gave her the title of being “most photographed woman in the world,” a title she never wanted or asked for, often being annoyed by their constant presence. Grace Kelly was killed in a similar way, which further suggested how similar the two women and their It-factors were in the most spooky way. It also revealed how dangerous the It factor can be, occasionally being a death sentence (just look at Monroe too). Princess Diana is still a beloved figure today, with documentaries, biopics, and themed photoshoots all dissecting her impact, life, and importance.

Many royals, such as Markle and Middleton have attempted to recreate the phenomenon without much luck (the irony of Kate Middleton also taking up the mantle as the new Princess of Wales isn’t lost on me either, but let’s hope she tries to carve her own path and not follow exactly in Diana’s footsteps. After all, those are impossible shoes to fill), due to the fact that they simply don’t have the It-factor. If anyone in the Royal Family has even come close, it would be Markle. After all, she has learned from Diana’s mistakes and showed qualities of intelligence, strength, individuality, grace, independence, and respect throughout her turbulent time in the Royal Family. The Royal family has even reacted in a similar way, seeing Markle’s modernity as a threat to the institution in the same way they saw Diana (instead of someone they can use to help make their institution more approachable and modern and help appeal to the commonwealth as a whole, who are mostly BIPOC people like Markle, but that’s just what I, a casual college student, think). That’s also probably why Prince Harry fell for her, because of her individuality. After all, he is his mother’s son, with a charitable heart and a goofy, rebellious streak. There were even headlines at the beginning of Markle’s royal career that said “The New People’s Princess,” with her charitable background already causing many to draw parallels between Markle and Diana. Markle has also been ruthlessly followed by the media, but unlike Diana, Markle is relentlessly criticized, while Diana was relentlessly praised, despite the Royal Family always trying to paint her as problematic. That just shows that it’s not what the media says that actually matters, it’s the loudness of them saying it all, with or without social media existing. Both women challenged the institution with their vulnerability and honesty about their mental health struggles as well. They both tried so hard to fit in. They never asked for extensive media coverage. The public loved them despite constantly being fed media pieces of them being trashed. It never worked. They came out on the other side with a lasting legacy far stronger than any monarch. This situation with the media and Markle and Diana refutes the idea of all news being good news, unlike it was during Monroe’s reign as the It girl.

The 90s probably featured the most iconic era of the It girl. The media considered socialites like Tamara Neckwith, Aerin Lauder, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy; actors like Julia Roberts, Parker Posey, Alicia Silverstone, Gweneth Paltrow, Jennifer Anniston, Drew Barrymore, Winona Ryder and Sarah Michelle Gellar; and musicians like Lauryn Hill, Britney Spears, Courtney Love, Victoria Beckham and Alanis Morrissette all as It girls during this time. These women were varied and represented every kind of 90s woman, the bubblegum pop girl, the grunge girl, the quiet luxury girl, etc. 

It’s logical to think about why Besset-Kennedy was seen as the It girl, because she was one half of the It couple, herself and John F. Kennedy Jr., making her the modern Kennedy and often seen as Jackie’s successor. JFK Jr and Besset-Kennedy’s relevance in the 90s, mostly due to JFK Jr’s George Magazine (which also featured It girl Cindy Crawford dressed up as George Washington on its first-ever magazine cover), only helped the entire Kennedy family to stay relevant. Similar to the British Royal Family, who have generations of It (first Diana, then Markle), it seems the same happens with the Kennedys, who as aforementioned are often considered America’s Royal Family. With Jackie and Besset-Kennedy both having passed away, it begs the question of who the current Kennedy It girl is going to be. My money is on Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s daughter Kyra Kennedy, who is close friends with YouTube’s current head of fashion Derek Blasberg, is often spotted at fashion shows for fashion houses like Carolina Herrera and Versace, and often posts about her latest jet set (she is also the sister of Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend Conor Kennedy). However, her influencer cousin, Michaela Cuomo-Kennedy, is also a close second. Although, just because they may become Kennedy It girls, doesn’t mean they are true It girls. They are just the youngest and have the most potential for influence in their high-status family (a family that has a long history of pop culture relevance), as opposed to their older (and other) family members. Anyway, much like Jackie, Besset-Kennedy still remains relevant today, particularly when it comes to her fashion sense. She still looked all the time for that minimalistic yet sophisticated 90s street-style look. Her quiet, but luxurious aesthetic is now associated with the Olsen Twins. 

However, the true It girls of the 90s were the supermodels. While Claudia Schiffer may have been Karl Lagerfeld’s muse and his first choice for the coveted Chanel bride, being one a whopping 11 times, and Bridget Hall may have been the face of Ralph Lauren, but the true supermodel It girls were Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Kate Moss. These women graced the covers of multiple fashion magazines, walked in come of the most iconic runway shows, and were the faces of some of the popular brands. However, models like Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista did the same, and while they are certainly iconic, they certainly don’t have the same It factor as Crawford or Moss. What truly made these girls It girls was their lifestyle. This was when the It girl became enviable instead of admirable. These women wore the hottest clothes, went to the hottest parties, and dated the hottest celebrities. This unattainability made the It girl even more alluring and started to become a part of what makes an It girl, well, “It.” There entire lives were enviable, and what’s more It then that?

Chloe Sevigny is often considered the ultimate 90s It girl of the underground scene for people who listen to Nirvana and Hole and love the darker and edger side of 90s fashion. Sevigny’s It-factor drew comparisons to Edie Sedgwick and other Warhol girls due to her alternative associations. Sevigny reiterated the original idea of “It” being the type of person to stay in your memory by simply walking down the street when writer Jay McInerney spotted a 19-year-old Sevigny walking around the streets of New York and ended up writing a 7-page article for the New Yorker where he called her “one of the coolest girls in the world.” In the article, he dissects Sevigny’s It-factor further, from being stopped by a group of girls who asked her where she bought her shoes to being propositioned by a fashion photographer who randomly saw her walking down the streets of Manhattan. Much like Hepburn, Sevigny didn’t conform to the mainstream beauty standards at the time and didn’t exude the sex appeal that the supermodel It girls of the time undeniably had. Another element of her uniqueness was her style, which has been highly praised by the public and fashion industry alike, contrasting the polished designer looks of runway models. Sevigny preferred vintage clothing and unique, juxtaposing outfits. Her eclectic style made her more relatable, as anyone in theory could go to a thrift store and find some unique wardrobe pieces. However, this also gave a duality to her appeal, after all, would her fans even bother buying something like that if they didn’t see her wearing it first? Similar to Sevigny, who went on to become a successful actress, starring in many films and true crime stories over the course of her career like 1998’s The Last Days of Disco and 2019’s The Act, actor Parker Posey was considered the It girl of the burgeoning underground independent film scene of the 90s, particularly due to her performance in 1995’s Party Girl. 

The media went full throttle with naming many influential young women It girls in the 2000s. Examples include Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Reese Witherspoon, Beyonce, Megan Fox, Natalie Portman, Kristen Dunst, Nicky Hilton, Blake Lively, Lindsey Lohan, Tinsley Mortimer, Olivia Palermo, Charlotte Ronson, Lauren Conrad, Leighton Meester, Fan Bingbing, Mischa Barton, Cory Kennedy, Paris Hilton, Anne Hathaway, Audrina Patridge, Britney Spears, Amanda Bynes, Emma Watson, and Halle Berry. Megan Fox’s mystique as a media-proclaimed It girl was so profound that Diablo Cody credits that quality in her to be the reason why she was cast in the cult classic film 2009’s Jennifer’s Body. Fox was also often compared to Monroe due to how they were both lauded for their beauty and sex appeal, but not much else. Fox’s examples of this are shown through her work with Michael Bay and her underage appearance on Two And A Half Men. She has said that she felt left out of the #MeToo movement and modern feminism due to women turning their backs on her, and eventually so did men when it was really marketing and media’s fault. It hasn’t been until her comeback in the 2020s. Along with Jennifer’s Body‘s newfound status as a cult classic, Fox has finally begun to be looked at from a more sympathetic sense, although due to her relationship with Machine Gun Kelly and her bold fashion choice thanks to stylist Maeve Reilly, she has still been the subject of much online scrutiny, but like Monroe, its been meant to keep her the minds of Hollywood officials and of fans, with many fans calling out people’s internalized misogyny towards her in the comments sections, unlike her experience with internal misogyny in the 2000s. 

Blake Lively took her It Girl status a step further. With the symbiotic relationship between It girl and style icon, Lively became her own stylist, a rarity in Hollywood. Her relationships with fashion houses like Chanel, Versace, Michael Kors, and Gucci have helped make this endeavor undeniably successful, giving her unprecedented creditability when it comes to her involvement in the fashion industry. Also, Lively is also best known for playing the ultimate socialite-turned-It-girl on Gossip Girl, a beloved character that is no doubt because Lively is one of the most believable TV It girls ever, mostly because she herself actually has that quality.

As you probably tell by now, it is impossible to talk about It Girl without talking about Gossip Girl‘s impact on terms, especially in regards to Blake Lively and her on-screen persona Serena van der Woodsen. Both Lively and Serena developed the true definition of what it means to be a modern It girl, without ever intending to. Lively is someone who can be surfing with her Hollywood-bound family one day and on the arm of Michael Kors at some fabulous New York fashion gala the next. Serena was the same way. She went to High school during the day and partied with supermodels at night. However, Serena showed how that lifestyle can turn toxic, and Lively learned from the characters’ mistakes, showing how to set boundaries in order to be both an It girl and a genuinely good role model at the same time. That’s a true It girl. Unlike Serena’s easy breezy lifestyle, Lively is a hard worker. She’s a mom, a business owner, and an activist. She uses her It Girl powers for good, not reveling in it as her on-screen persona does. Serena romanticizes it, but Lively shows the realities of it. Being an It girl takes work if you are smart about using your status well. 

In the 2000s, tabloid culture reached its peak, introducing celebutantes, which were basically socialites that achieved the same level of fame as celebrities like actors or musicians (the word was even mentioned in Gossip Girl, which had socialite characters like Serena and Lily van der Woodsen). These women were basically the Ladies Who Lunch, but younger and for the digital age. These were the true It girls this time. Like the 90s It girl supermodels, they were at the hottest parties and wore the trendiest clothes. The most famous examples of this were Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton who are best known for their reality TV series The Simple Life. Their hilariously oblivious antics on the show and unapologetic attitudes in IRL, combined with their wealth and beauty, capitulated them into fame. Hilton in particular was seen as the ultimate It girl at the time. This is highly due to her business savvy. Seen as a surprise, Hilton’s coveted, unattainable, iconic, and often ridiculed image of being a partying, wealthy, girly bimbo, with a dumb smile, bleach blonde hair, and a high pitch voice (her real voice is actually a much deeper) was actually completely curated by her. Because of this, she brought her close friends Richie and Kim Kardashian into the cultural conversation. She, and Richie in particular, became fixtures of the 2000s, often seen partying with other It Girls of the time like Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Mischa Barton, and the Olsen twins, who also made frequent appearances in tabloids, due to the paparazzi trying to satisfy the intense public’s interests in them, similar to Princess Diana. Undeniably, Spears and Lohan were the music and acting It Girls of the time, until their infamous tabloid-induced downfalls fueled by misogyny (literally just listen to Taylor Swift’s “Mad Woman” because that song is exactly what happened to these 2000s It Girls until all of their comebacks recently in the 2020s). Mischa Barton played Newport troublemaker Marissa Cooper on The O.C. While Marissa, definitely had some It Girl qualities, she never had the charisma to fully back that up. Barton is somewhat similar. While she had a very close relationship with Karl Lagerfeld, often wore Chanel (bringing it back into cultural relevance. She also singlehandedly caused Marissa to wear the brand on The O.C. due to her relationship with Lagerfeld), hung out with most popular celebrities, and was beautiful, talented, and successful, much like her character, she didn’t have the charm to truly level up with Spears, Lohan, or Lively. However, like Spears and Lohan, Barton also had a messy, publicized downfall. Unlike Diana, who was beloved by the public, these girls frequently dealt with controversy from drugs to arrests to partying and began to be mocked by the public. However, the thing that Diana has in common with Spears, Hilton, and Lohan is that they represented the consequences of having the It-factor, lack of privacy, and declining mental health being two of the most prominent.

While Hilton and Richie were the It girls of the West Coast, Olivia Palermo and Tinsley Mortimer dominated the New York City scene. As real-life Gossip Girls, their friends, clothes, and parties were blogged about online and their style was enviable. Websites like Socialite Rank and Park Avenue Peerage were dedicated to blogging about these specific women. Similar to the supermodels of the 90s, their entire lives were enviable. 

While at one point in time, being too accessible was detrimental to an It-girl’s “it-factor,” in the 2000s it became a crucial aspect of their allure, so much so that a group of teens called The Bling Ring broke into these celebrities’ homes in Hollywood for a taste of their lifestyles, representing how fans didn’t just envy their fame, talent, status, clothes and wealth, but also their lifestyle. Paris Hilton was their biggest target, as her lavish, excessive lifestyle was the most alluring to teens everywhere. She struts around in Juicy Couture tracksuits in every color, her iconic sparkly outfits epitomizing the ultimate party girl at the time, and had multiple flip phones. Sofia Coppola made a movie called The Bling Ring about that situation. The film was shot in Hilton’s real home and featured her closet, merchandise, and decor with her face on it and her stripper pole. It also coincidentally starred another media-labeled It-girl from the time, a post-Harry Potter Emma Watson, who was the rare Audrey Hepburn, Princess Diana-esque It girl who was more role model than sex symbol (it’s also worth noting that all three of these women are British, with two of them, Princess Diana and Emma Watson, being considered “English Roses“).

Watson had all the makings of an It girl as she valued her privacy, giving her mystique, was internationally famous as she was the leading lady in the world’s biggest movie franchise (at the time if not ever), and she was often praised for her unique sense of style (she also had relationships with Chanel, Burberry and became a board member to Kering, which owns Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga) which is known for using classic elegance and feminine with a masculine edge. She is unique because she is often considered more of a role model than an It girl, as she made an effort to go to college while filming Potter, is renowned for her work ethic (could she be any more perfect for Hermione?), a UN ambassador for feminist activism, and has chosen roles specifically that subvert female stereotypes like Meg March in Little Women and, obviously, Hermione Granger in Harry Potter (she chose The Bling Ring because she felt it would be fascinating to play a character that has all the qualities she hates about a person). However, I wouldn’t necessarily call her a true It Girl because she seems to value her status as a role model far more than her status as an It Girl. As much as she is beautiful and gorgeous, her privacy makes her intriguing and creates mystique, and her unproblematic reputation makes her even more beloved, in stark comparison to the other party-crazed It girls of the time. In contrast, Watson has a quieter demeanor than her famous peers who do seem to have that head-turning It-factor, which could be attributed to part of how she values being a role model rather than It Girl. This is proven by how in recent years she is far more focused on her activism than her acting career. It seems like she never wanted to be an It girl, so even during her peak fame, she never profited off her fame, trying to make it last, unlike Elizabeth Taylor and Alexa Chung, but rather used her platform to make a difference in the world by promoting equality, feminism, and sustainability. This is similar to how fellow British It Girl Princess Diana used her It Factor, both women using it for charitable endeavors and using fashion as a way to bring awareness to those important causes, rather than simple publicity and visibility like so many others. However, unlike Diana, Watson has the luxury of control, agency, and privacy, and is free from the regulations that go along with royal life. Watson can choose what events to attend and how visible she wants to be, to a certain extent, while Diana never could control that. She tried to after her divorce, but her It-factor proved too strong. The quiet demeanor Watson has no doubt helped her, even more, to not have her It-factor run amuck like it did for the late princess. Watson was just authentically herself, something that, It Girl or not, is always admirable, attractive, and relatable. She simply doesn’t see herself as an It girl, and while many don’t as well, they play into it, Watson switches her focus on other things. However, if she did want to become an It girl, she is definitely capable of it, as proven by her phenomenal performance in The Bling Ring.

Another sector of It Girls in the 2000s was the Disney Channel It Girls. While all the other women on this list mostly appealed to girls in their teens and 20s, these girls appealed to little girls and tweens. This included Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Hilary Duff, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Raven Symone, and Demi Lovato. The thing that made Disney girls different from Nickelodeon girls like Miranda Cosgrove, Victoria Justice, and Jamie Lynn Spears was that Disney, much like the star system of Old Hollywood, carefully crafted a profitable image for their stars, particularly the stars that they noticed had the most popularity. They started coming out with music, participated in commercial campaigns, and guest-starred in each other’s shows. While Hilary Duff and Ashley Tisdale had been prime examples of Disney using its female stars to expand into music, Miley Cyrus on Hannah Montana, where the music was just as, if not more popular than the show itself, as well as Cyrus herself, was what cemented this symbiotic relationship in Disney’s mind. This inspired Disney to have their newest female stars like Gomez and Lovato sing the theme songs for their respective shows (where they were both the lead roles) and got them record deals with their in-house record label. This is particularly interesting as it was the women who are the reason this era for Disney is so iconic. It was the women that saw the most success, during and after their association with Disney, and even more rare, this was organic. This wasn’t pushed by the company but rather taken advantage of by the company after they saw its undeniable success. Were any of these girls true It Girls at this time (or even in the 2010s)? No. But they were It in their fans’ minds, showing the beginning of the redundancy of the term and how the consumer can often dedicate who the media proclaims is an It Girl. 

Britney Spears is one of the most influential pop artists of the 21st century. She’s an icon in every sense of the word. However, she is a prime example of how the media, especially in the 21st century, love to see an It girl have a downfall. Spears had it all. She was talented, beautiful, and had a dedicated fan base. However, everything she was praised for eventually became something the media used against her. The media started to call her crazy, despite being the reason for her lashing out. However, like many of the other 2000s It girls, she eventually made a comeback, first in the 2010s with her albums Femme Fatale and Britney Jean, and again the 2020s, as her dedicated fan base pushes for her conservatorship to end, and eventually succeeded. She has become one of the most unapologetic social media presences, calling out everyone who has taken advantage of her, including her own family, and even apologizing for her own mistakes, as she did with her sister Jamie-Lynn Spears’ Zoey 101 co-star Alexa Nikolas.

Lindsay Lohan is another example a media-proclaimed It Girl who had a messy downfall. Ever since her breakout performance in The Parent Trap, she became one of the most sought-after actresses in young Hollywood in the 2000s. From Freaky Friday to Mean Girls, she is part of many cult classic films from the 2000s. However, her difficult family background and the media’s exploitation of it caused her to have a breakdown. She left Hollywood for years, and only recently in 2022 did she have her much-deserved comeback with Falling For Christmas on Netflix.

What’s interesting about the It girl from the 2000s was that she was, in a sense, created (hence why Watson never got quite to that place, despite being internationally famous). In the past, it was more organic (with the exception of Blake Lively, whose “It-factor” was not only related to her on-screen persona, but she only just organically had it herself), but Hilton, no doubt taking inspiration from Monroe’s smarts of taking advantage of the “blonde bimbo” stereotype, carefully cultivated her image more like a business, only recently being open about the savvy businesswoman she truly is. The important thing to remember with It Girls is that they don’t have to force it. There is just something genuinely unique about them that drew people in. However, in the 2000s, the It girl became profitable. Sex symbols with a sprinkle of the It-factor like Playmate Holly Madison made Playboy one of the most popular brands during the 2000s, although none of these Playmates truly had the It-factor, just qualities that related to it. Models like Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima attracted teen girls to shop at Victoria’s Secret, making them influential like an It girl is, but they still didn’t necessarily have all of what makes an It girl “It.” However, this didn’t just have to do with branding, it also had to do with media. The media was hungry for It girls, granting young, beautiful women the moniker left and right and making a spectacle of it. This was the beginning of the term’s downfall. They were in movies, made music, (regardless if they were actually actors or singers, just look at “Stars Are Blind” by Paris Hilton), walked red carpets, and were put on magazine covers. They were overexposed, hyper-visible, and inescapable. This begs the question: did these girls actually have the “It-factor”? Or was the media so hungry for celebrity news that they just made us think that? This led to widespread confusion about the term due to its overuse. The best example of this was in the Cambridge Dictionary where the It girl was defined as “a famous young woman who is known for going to a lot of parties and social events,” which is extremely vague and can apply to almost any famous young woman in Hollywood. And in truth, any girl in a sorority could be “It,” which we all know is NOT true. It is deeper. It takes the allure and mystique completely out of the term. Personally, I believe the only true It girls of the time were Paris Hilton, Blake Lively, and Britney Spears.

You can’t talk about famous, rich, and beautiful women in the 2000s without talking about reality TV. These kinds of shows showcased the lifestyle of the rich and famous (which as aforementioned, was a thirst that began in the 80s), and as we all know, if there’s one thing the public loves, whether it’s a guilty pleasure or not, it’s that they love being a fly on the wall for the drama and excess of the rich and famous. This reality TV craze during the 2000s, including shows like Teen Mom, Real Housewives, The Anna Nicole Show, The City, Jersey Shore, and The Girls Next Door, meant that these messy and wealthy personalities became famous. 

I don’t think there is a better example of this than the Kardashian-Jenners, who are extremely wealthy families made up of young beautiful women, who are, mostly, all very different. Kim is business-savvy. Kourtney is nonchalant. Khloe is blunt. Kendall is reserved. Kylie is cool. While they had been friendly with Hollywood big names for years, it wasn’t until their show Keeping Up With The Kardashians premiered in 2007 that they became famous themselves, so much so that each one of them is now a household name. Now, personally, I don’t think any of the Kardashians are It girls, including Kim, although I do think she is one of the women the media has tricked us into believing is one (along with Kendall and Kylie). However, Kim Kardashian’s rise to fame gives us a unique insight into how becoming famous has changed in recent years because it was ridiculously simple; if someone said they were famous, then that’s it. They were. The media said Kim and her family were famous, and so they were, and they still are.

In the 2010s, like almost every aspect of pop culture during this time, it was when the It Girl got a little confusing due to its unprecedented broadness. Due to the media’s adoration of the use of the word It-girl (as well as the internet’s love of the term, with the 2010s being the peak time for social media with new platforms being created left and right) celebrities ranging from Emma Stone to Petra Collins to Dianna Agron were given the moniker by the media. Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Cat Marnell, Park Shin-Hye, Bella Throne, Jennifer Lawrence, Millie Bobby Brown, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Olivia Culpo, Billie Eilish, Naya Rivera, Nina Dobrev, Margot Robbie and Shay Mitchell were also considered It girls by the media.

However, due to the exceptionally growing power and popularity of social media, the public had access to a larger group of people than they had in the past, with anyone with a username, a password, and something to say having the ability to get famous if they were so lucky. This meant a wider number of people were beginning to be given the title of It Girl, the largest number of people in pop culture history to date, with almost everyone with more than 100,000 followers on social media gaining the moniker. Influencers started to arise through platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Bethany Mota, Zoella, Niki and Gabi, Blair Fowler, Alisha Marie, Lauren Elizabeth, and Meghan Rienks could all be called It girls in their respective social media circles, due to their multi-faceted business-savvy. Although it is going to take a very long time for social media influencers like them to gain the same creditability as Hollywood It girls, you can already see the media’s acceptance of these social media influencers seemingly having “It-factor,” even though it is even harder to figure out if they actually do (who would have thought the term could be MORE overused then it was in the 2000s?). Personally, I think the only true social media It girl during the 2010s would probably be MacBarbie07, or Bethany Mota. She was so successful that she had her own clothing line with Aeropostale, a mega-popular clothing store at the time, and appeared on Dancing With The Stars. She was the only one that was truly unavoidable, which is certainly a quality of the It girl. Although, she’s also a lesson in the consequences of overexposure. She ended up not liking her It Girl status very much and disappeared from the spotlight for years until she recently came out with her jewelry brand Atom & Matter. Social media influencers like Addison Rae, Charli and Dixie D’Amilio, Emma Chamberlain, Devon Lee Carlson, and Matilda Djerf are currently social media stars who the media has tricked us into believing are It Girls (continue reading to find out which Influencer I think has a shot at the title in the 2020s). However, it’s not just the fact that they still don’t have the same credibility quite yet as their actor, musician, socialite, and model counterparts, even if they have dabbled in those fields due to their social media following (although Rae is trying her hardest to gain that, without much critical success). It’s the fact that people are often wary of people who come from social media. That pushback is also part of why Mota disappeared from the internet for years. 

As aforementioned, key elements of the It Girl is their nonchalance, mystery, and uniqueness, not simply fame, beauty, and fashion taste (although some genuine and media-proclaimed It girls have better senses of style than others, proving how it’s not a done deal that every It girl is a style icon and vice versa). Keeping this in mind, there are very few women in the 2010s who actually had that “It-factor”. One of the few celebrities that actually seemed to have the It factor during this time was Alexa Chung. She started out as a model but eventually pivoted into becoming a TV presenter on Pop World, where she gained a cult-like following due to her unique style and on-camera charm. Her style was known for mixing masculine and feminine sensibilities, being sexy and sleek one day and quirky and fun the next. She became an icon for the popular Twee aesthetic at the time, with Taylor Swift’s Red era and Zooey Deschanel also being icons of the aesthetic. In 2010, she became a contributing editor for British Vogue, cementing her place in the fashion industry and validating her taste on a global scale. As public interest in her style increased, so did interest in her personal life, especially when it was discovered that she was dating Arctic Monkey’s frontman Alex Turner and is even considered a key inspiration for their massively popular album AM, making her a muse as well (a la Jane Birkin and Pattie Boyd). Although a key aspect of the It girl is not caring for their status, that doesn’t mean they aren’t aware of it, making her decision to title her 2013 book “It” a savvy business choice. 

Although Chung was a fashion It girl, Cara Delevigne was the face of fashion during the 2010s, making her earn the moniker as well. In 2012, she walked in over 50 shows, making her one of the most in-demand models. She was praised by fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld, who said “Cara is different. She’s full of life, full of pep. I like girls to be wild but at the same time beautifully brought up and very funny,” showing how dynamic “It” has to be, having a sweet and lovable sense of humor (which is especially important in the social media age when online hate is inevitable for those in the public eye), but also an alluring and mysterious side, which has been associated with the term since Bow’s era. She is also responsible for the thick eyebrow obsession of the 2010s, yet again showing how much of a trendsetter the It girl is, a very easy way to chart their just influence and status. Downfalls of an It girl are all-around pretty rare (however in the era of social media they have been seen to be common, which is usually a surefire sign that the girl was media-proclaimed and not a true It girl. As we have seen with Hepburn and Kelly, whose impacts are eternal, a true It girl’s fall from grace, pun unintended, is pretty rare). Either they stay relevant, or they don’t. While some often fade into the background favoring a quieter life as they grow older, finding the overexposure they experienced as It Girl to be too much for them, (we have seen this in Watson and Mota, and an attempt at this with Princess Diana) which is totally valid. The only “It” girl to have a true downfall was Monroe (Hilton, Spears, and Lohan have all had comebacks, so they don’t count), due to her job termination, scandal with JFK, and ridiculed death. However, Delevingne is another It girl with a downfall, which is mostly due to her pivot to acting. Modeling requires less press than an actor or singer. You just have to be a pretty face (I know that’s simplifying it, there is obviously more, but that is essentially the public perception and how the public interacts with you, unless you’re very active online). However, when Delvingene started to do press for her acting projects, she was criticized for her rudeness towards interviewers, and her fans felt betrayed by her irritating personality, which differed greatly from the easy-breezy, charming girl they had built up in their heads (this got to the point when it was clear that not even media training could save her It girl status). She may have had the It factor on the runway, but her screen presence wasn’t as magnetic, breaking the long-time “she can do it all” ethos that was crucial to the It girl.

This brings up the topic of celebrities stepping outside of their lane and creating brands outside of the job that made them famous. Examples include Rihanna’s Fenty, Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty, Ariana Grande’s R.E.M. Beauty, Hailey Bieber’s Rhode skincare, Kylie Cosmetics, GXVE by Gwen Stefani, SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker, The Outset from Scarlett Johansson, Brad Pitt’s La Domaine and Euphoria’s makeup artists Donni Davy’s Half Magic. Now, I am all for celebrities showing their versatility and finding their true passion, as Victoria Beckham and the Olsen Twins did with their fashion brands. But they were also considered fashion icons well before they opened these brands, which puts these brands in line with their already established public image. Also, I am all for celebrities creating empires, after all, media-named It girls like Reese Witherspoon, Sydney Sweeney, Lili Reinhart, Natalie Portman, and Margot Robbie have all created production companies in an effort to have more financial security and control over their careers. However, these at least still involve the entertainment industry. As much as the entertainment industry and the fashion industry parallel each other, with actors and musicians often being spokespersons for brands, like Beckham and the Olsens, these celebrities’ endeavors still need to have a point and some form of creditability. Gwen Stefani used to be a makeup artist. Rihanna’s message is at least one many women want to buy into, and she’s literally putting music on the back burner in order to focus on the brand. Davy wanting to capitalize on the zeitgeist of Euphoria makeup she created without the restrictions of storytelling through the show makes perfect sense. Gomez’s message of self-love is one worth buying into and also has been a message she’s supported since her Disney days (who remembers her song “Who Says”?). Sarah Jessica Parker became a style icon through her role as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex And The City, similar to Lively with Serena. So, her creating her own brand, in a way to sell her sense of style to her fans makes perfect sense. However, Pitt’s, Bieber’s, Johansson’s, and Grande’s frankly make absolutely no sense and clearly are just a way for them to further capitalize on their status as celebrities. This business-savvy idea when it comes to the It girl, as we saw with Chung, Taylor, and Monroe, is smart, but it only really works when it makes sense. Rihanna is a prime example of this, which I will touch on more later in this article. A key aspect of being an It girl is cultivating an image, and that image needs to be cohesive and sensical. The public turns away from transparent cash grabs and attention seekers, which is what these projects often come off as when they don’t match a celebrity’s image. 

Kylie Jenner is a different story. If there was ever a KarJenner that came even a little close to It Girl status, it would be Kylie (Kendall also became pretty close with her rise in the modeling industry, her beauty, her style icon status, and her enviable lifestyle, but her unoriginality when it came to starting her businesses, which seemed more like her trying to level up with her sisters despite being the only one with an actual legitimate career in most of America’s eyes, seems a little forced and inauthentic, which is the exact opposite of the ethos of being an It girl, as we have discussed). Specifically during her King Kylie era in the mid-2010s, when she had a relaxed soft grunge wardrobe that was all-the-rage on Tumblr, a blunt blue bob, enviable lips, annual Coachella tickets, Cartier love bracelets, and fame. She epitomized the life that every teen girl wanted during this time (remember “Just Girly Things”? It was basically just wishing they were Kylie Jenner at this time). This made her It in their mind, because of the message she was sharing. This is because all of this made her “It” in their minds, the beginning of the concept of an It girl being idealistic instead of in actuality, as Kylie was never really an It girl.

However, up until the mid-2010s, Kylie was just another KarJenner. However, what she had that her older sisters lacked was an understanding of social media as a tool for business. She utilized Instagram and Snapchat in a way her sisters didn’t at the time, understanding their importance when it comes to crafting an image and making her the more relatable of the 5 KarJenner sisters. It was also far more realistic than the content seen on their reality show. Her nonchalance about how so many celebrities and young women copied her, with her affinity for wigs and her edgy style made her be perceived as even more of an It girl, with that carefreeness being a vital part of the It-factor. Plus, at the end of the day, imitation is the purest form of flattery. This is best exemplified when she finally opened her company Kylie Cosmetics and sold out of her iconic Lip Kits within minutes of their first release. This is even more impressive when you remember how Kylie never used advertising in the beginning, only her own social media. This strictly social media, word-of-mouth approach would have failed it if were done by anyone else who didn’t have the understanding and following Kylie had. However, like Delevingne, Kylie had a downfall. She became routinely mocked online due to her lips and when she got pregnant with her daughter Stormi, she became intensely private, distancing herself from the relatable, relaxed, goofy teen we knew in the mid-2010s. This made her image colder, more stand-offish, and frankly, unlikeable. Unlike Delevingne and Monroe, this wasn’t because of the media, this was Kylie’s own doing, with her decision to become more private being entirely her own. However, she is still one of the richest and most successful KarJenners. Kylie may be influential, but she no longer has the authenticity that made this era so endearing. If anything, Kim and Khloe are the most authentic KarJenners now, with them having the most screen time on their Hulu show The Kardashians. Now, I don’t think Kylie is an It girl now, or ever was one to begin with. Even with her relaxed attitude, the image was still highly manufactured, while with women like Lively and Hilton, even with a manufactured image, you still need the It factor to back it up. However, she is a good example of capitalizing on your image in a sensical way (at least Kylie Cosmetics was at the beginning). 

Kylie’s potential It-girl status also brings us to the topic of nepotism and the term “nepo babies,” which are the kids of celebrities who also decide to pursue a career in entertainment. Now, people like Drew Barrymore, Mariska Hargitay, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Anniston, and Tracee Ellis Ross’ nepotism status is often not talked about because they have worked long enough and in enough projects for the public to see them as earning their fame. They have enough separation from their parents through the magnitude of their own careers and what aspect of entertainment they pursue. However, people like Maude Apatow, Maya Hawke, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Lily-Rose Depp, Kaia Gerber, Timothee Chalamet, Chris Pine, Zoey Deutsch, Dan Levy, Lila Moss, Jack Quaid, Jaden Smith, Gracie Abrams, Camila Morrone, Dan Levy, Elizabeth Olson, Dakota Johnson, Lily Collins, the Hadid sisters, and Zoe Kravitz are still called nepo babies. Now, Maude Apatow, Dakota Johnson, Lily Collins, Dan Levy, Timothee Chalamet, Chris Pine, Zoe Kravitz, and Maya Hawke have, in my opinion, handled it the right way. They are frank about the opportunities their parents have gotten them. For Apatow, it’s being in her father Judd Apatow’s films since she was a kid and for Hawke, it’s working with each other parents on many projects. However, their breakout roles were due to them simply being right for the role and making their own connections, with Apatow’s being on Euphoria, Johnson’s being Fifty Shades of Grey, Collins with The Blind Side, Levy’s creating Schitt’s Creek, Chlamaet with Call Me By Your Name, Pine with The Princess Diaries sequel, Kravitz’s being Big Little Lies and Hawke’s being Stranger Things, even though they probably got their agent because of their family, but they didn’t catapult to fame because of them. Unlike the aforementioned models, especially Kendall, who may have had to drive to the middle of nowhere for fittings, but did so in an Italian sports car and already had fame and a recognizable image through being on a reality show. Moss was controversially nominated for the British Fashion Council Foundation’s Model of The Year, despite not walking in many shows, being signed to her mom Kate Moss’ agency, and having her walk heavily critiqued. That’s the difference. Were you handed a boost, or were you handed the keys to the kingdom? Both are infuriating to many, but there is a big difference. 

Depp was heavily criticized recently for her oblivious and privileged response to being called a nepo baby. Depp even went as far as to compare it to the kids of doctors wanting to become doctors. Her model peer Vittoria Ceretti was quick to push back against Depp calling her out for going to casting calls in expensive cars and daring her to survive the first few years of her career. Now, of course, to a certain extent, being in the entertainment business (acting, singing, modeling, etc.) is the family business to these people, but you also have to earn your place. Depp was handed her Chanel ambassadorship at 16 because Karl Lagerfeld knew her from her mom also holding an ambassadorship for the fashion house. Her father is literally Johnny Depp and she has never had actual acting training, and I highly doubt she struggled getting an agent and a manager. Frankly, she hasn’t actually earned her place. Meanwhile, someone like Apatow handles things very differently. She hasn’t starred in one of her father’s projects since 2020 (although it was filmed in 2019, during Euphoria’s premiere, her breakthrough) and has put her focus on proving herself through taking on less splashy and more fulfilling roles in theatre and broadway, which has actually been her goal. Apatow is open about recognizing her privilege (like how she probably got her agent from her parents, although she isn’t stupid enough to explicitly say that) and determined to work hard to prove herself, while Depp just labels the “nepo baby” title as sexist and continues to strut around Hollywood without any awareness of her privilege (as aforementioned, there are plenty of male nepo babies, so that just makes her look even more deluded by calling the term sexist). For more information: check out this Twitter thread: “Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s nepotism.”

Rihanna is probably the closest thing to a true It girl during the 2010s. Although she had been a highly successful musician for a good amount of time at this point, her cultural relevance was at its peak during this decade. Starting out the decade with her Loud album, which cemented her as “That Girl,” her presence, and music were soon unavoidable, being seen sitting front row at the hottest fashion shows and with her music playing everywhere from retail stores to community pools to nightclubs. This avoidance combined with her mystique, as we don’t really know much about her personal life, made her go from That Girl to It Girl. Like any It girl, she has her moments of mainstream awe like her fiery red hair during her Loud era, her showstopping dress at the Met Gala during its China: Through The Looking Glass theme in 2015 (which made her a Met Gala regular, and one of its most anticipated attendees every year), her Swarovski Crystal covered sheer look at the 2014 CFDA Awards, the release of her beauty brand Fenty and her launch of the body positive lingerie brand Savage X Fenty. Even though she had a plethora of projects going on, she managed to keep her private life private, making her more mysterious and therefore more intriguing, which was a huge achievement in itself during the “share everything” social media era. 

Another It girl from this time worth mentioning, especially towards the end of the decade, is Taylor Swift. The poetic singer and meticulous storyteller’s impact on the 2010s is undeniable, so much so that she received multiple “Artist of the Decade” and “Icon” awards throughout the decade’s end. While many wouldn’t consider her an It girl by the definition I am arguing in this article due to her reputation for meticulous planning and past with controversy (although most of her controversy had nothing to do with her and mostly had to do with people’s reactions to her: cough Kanye West cough), however, I would argue that she is an It girl due to her consistent cultural relevance and impact. Swift has managed to break multiple records within the entertainment industry, be outspoken about politics and artist rights, and is credited with inspiring the next generation of singer-songwriters like Phoebe Bridgers and Olivia Rodrigo. Because of this, I think she qualifies. She also divides each of her albums into “eras” and shows this through imagery involving color, fashion, and aesthetics. Each era has the duality of feeling authentic to who Taylor is and an aspect of her personality while also hitting a certain zeitgeist with the public and her main demographic, young women. This shows how much of a trendsetter she is. While this “Eras” technique is formulaic and strategic (after all, she is known for her Easter Eggs), it is also thrilling and interactive, causing her fans to be investigators and anxious for her next project. This is truly what makes her It-factor unique because even in the social media age, it’s hard to have a truly interactive and positive relationship with your fans, but Swift’s business-savviness and brilliance make her truly one-of-a-kind. This individuality is vital to the “It-factor.” In recent years, she has become intensely private, and due to her highly publicized romantic past. Because of this, the public is more intrigued than ever about her romantic life. However, the thing that makes her It-factor truly impressive is its longevity. While all the It girls on this list remain impactful for decades, many truly stay relevant. Swift hasn’t just stayed relevant, but become even more relevant than ever before in recent years, despite spending over 15 years in the entertainment industry, something very rare not just for the It girl, but for women in entertainment in general. This combination of longevity, smarts, and mystery is what makes her “It-factor” truly undeniable. 

So, who are the real I” girls of today? Or rather, who has the media and internet tricked the rest of us into believing are It girls? Nepotistic models like Lila Moss, Kaia Gerber, Lily-Rose Depp, and Kendall Jenner are given the title all over the internet, while non-nepotistic models like Taylor Hill, Anok Yai, Paloma Elsesser, Vittoria Ceretti, and Jasmine Tookes have as well. In terms of actors, Millie Bobby Brown, Camila Mendes, Sydney Sweeney, Lili Reinhart, Stephanie Hsu, Madelyn Cline, Storm Reid, Jenna Ortega, Sadie Sink, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Madelaine Petsch, and Maia Refficco have all been granted the term by fans online. On the music front, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa, Sabrina Carpenter, Dove Cameron, Madison Beer, and Doja Cat have all been repeatedly called It Girls in their respective comment sections. However, I don’t think any of these women have become true It girls. Although, Dua Lipa is an interesting case because I believe she has the potential to become an It girl, due to her mystique, enviable lifestyle, and admired fashion taste, which floods many young women’s Pinterest boards. However, I don’t think she is quite there yet. 

Today, there are only a few mainstream celebrity women who seem to have actually earned the moniker of “It girl.” One is Zendaya, mostly due to her status as the style icon to beat on red carpets. However, while she is the face of these iconic looks, the mastermind is her renowned stylist Law Roach, who has worked with her since the beginning of her career to meticulously craft her high fashion, unique image, making her appear as an A-lister, despite being in such few projects (although her few projects have all been high profile from successful and much talked about television shows like Euphoria to film franchises like Spiderman and Dune. This is blatant proof of quality over quantity when it comes to crafting a successful image in Hollywood). Due to this image crafting, Roach calls himself an “image architect,” and has thus lent his talents to other girls vying for It girl and style icon status like Anya-Taylor Joy and Ariana Grande. However, this appearance doesn’t change the fact that Zendaya is Zendaya. She is undeniably talented on the screen and on the red carpet. Along with her ambassadorship with Bugari and Valentino, she has certainly earned her place as a high-profile celebrity and an It girl. She is also a prime example of further proving how being someone with good style (or the appearance of good style, or style icon potential) is a crucial aspect of the It girl. However, Zendaya’s true It factor comes from her charm. In interviews, her endearing personality shines through, even being relatable despite her being gorgeous and wealthy. This charm is endlessly refreshing in an age where so many people put on a facade in order to gain popularity. Zendaya has the unique duality of being equally elegant and goofy in a similar vein to Hepburn. Zendaya’s It factor is also quite similar to Hepburn’s in that while she does appeal to men, her main appeal is towards women. This makes her both approachable and, clearly, a certifiable star. She is also one of the rare stars in today’s Hollywood landscape who has an unblemished reputation. While she has had some drama (after all, who hasn’t in today’s landscape?), it hasn’t blown out of proportion or painted her in a bad light. While this could be due to a great publicist, and can no doubt also be credited to Zendaya being a genuine and unproblematic person all around. This freedom from controversy has made her similar to Watson in the sense that she is equally a role model as well as a culturally relevant It girl. However, unlike Watson, she utilizes her “It-factor,” hence why she is an ambassador for so many fashion brands (while Watson has worked with Burberry and Chanel in the past, and Prada currently, she spreads them out. Zendaya doesn’t). This more genuine quality also helps with her appeal as the public is more attracted to unproblematic celebrities in the era of cancel culture. She is also intensely private, so much so that the reason she decided to pursue acting instead of singing is because of the anonymity that comes with playing a character. This only makes her appeal greater because, as we have seen, an It-girl’s mystique only makes her more intriguing.

While Gigi Hadid and Bella Hadid both have their cultural relevance and can be both considered It girls in their individual rights, one certainly has a greater It-factor than the other. Due to the appealing debate about whether you are “a Gigi,” an easy, breezy Serena van der Woodsen-esque “It” girl, or “a Bella,” an edgy, cool Edie Sedgwick-type “It” girl (similar, but not exactly like the “are you a Blair or a Serena?” dynamic from Gossip Girl, the “Are you an Audrey or a Marilyn?” debate, or the “are you a Jackie or a Marilyn?” from Mad Men), both girls have been dubbed an It girl online by hundreds of internet users. However, despite the fact that predator Matt Lauer once said “People call you that phrase that they use too often (I hate how right he is in saying that first part because, well, it’s him) I think, It-girl,” about Gigi, I think Bella is probably the true “It” Girl between the two Hadid sisters. Bella is probably the only model today who could go up against the models in the 90s in terms of their cult-like following and inventiveness, especially after Coperni’s Spring 2023 show where she literally has a dress airbrushed onto her. Like many modern celebrities, Bella has an online presence with a dedicated following. However, it still feels surprisingly authentic in comparison to her peers, which is often more formulaic. It’s not for business. It’s not as an influencer. It’s not ingenuine. It’s just who Bella is. Her TikTok especially had been praised for its randomness and fun. This makes her come across as relatable rather than unattainable like her counterparts, despite being a millionaire. She also has a great fashion sense that many try to emulate. While Gigi’s online presence and admired style is similar, it’s not quite the same as her sister’s. 

Now, since we are talking about the 2020s, we obviously have to discuss influencers, and which ones are actually It girls. While the whole idea behind influencers is that they are people online who are influential, that’s more true in theory than actuality. The main problem with social media influencers today is that they don’t set trends, they follow them. They follow the current online trends and jump on them for instantly viral and likable content. They are also less mysterious, with their relevance being solely reliant on their activity on social media and their supposedly interesting life. Their job, yes I said job, is directly affected by an algorithm. While in theory, they are self-employed, in actuality, they are subjected to the algorithm their platform uses in order to give their users exposure to their content. And while the Gossip Girl tagline “you are no one until you’re talked about” is more relevant than ever in the social media era (being quite ahead of its time back in 2007), we also live in an era of cancel culture. This means that even if people are talking about you online if it’s not good, then you are at risk of being canceled, no matter what the algorithm says (hence, why not all publicity and news is good publicity and news). However, this often results in an overwhelming amount of content creation to keep followers satisfied, and oftentimes unoriginality, as they are sticking to a proven formula that works to avoid being canceled. This means that rather than the It-factor being unidentifiable, today it can be purchased by buying the trendiest clothes and gaining a number of followers. Due to this ability for profit, has created the idea of paid partnerships, sponsorships, and brand deals, and has also led to the decline of true It girls, hence why the term has risen in redundancy and started to become as trendy as “queen” or “slay.”

Another reason why the “It” girl is going extinct is because of their accessibility. It girls used to be rare. Now, they are seemingly a dime-a-dozen. It also used to be mysterious. Fans were curious about what It girls did on their days off, what their favorite cocktail was, what they wore when she was vegging about at home, what their favorite store was, and who their style icon was. Now, you can see every aspect of their day. There is not even a hint of mystique or intrigue anymore, if there is, it’s more of a challenge to provide that mystique because everyone’s first instinct nowadays is to post everything. Because of the Internet’s size and scope, it’s almost impossible for an influencer to jump the hurdle and reach It Girl status due to them, like celebrities, being pigeonholed into their niche circle. It often takes anywhere from 4-10 years for an influencer to expand beyond just posting on their respective platform. On the rare chance they do jump the hurdle into mainstream media, they are often met with difficulty and apprehension and are not taken seriously due to their beginnings online. This is particularly seen when they venture into music, acting, or modeling, especially because they are taking jobs away from non-influencers who have dedicated their lives to the craft and are undiscovered. However, as aforementioned, the It-factor doesn’t equate to being famous. They still need more. 

The only true social media It today I believe is Emma Chamberlain (or at least she has the potential to become one). Part of the reason her career has differed from her peers like Addison Rae and Charli D’Amilio is that her career began on YouTube, one of the only social media platforms that is more based on authenticity and less on a curated image. Like Zoella and Bethany Mota before her, viewers fell in love with her relatability and personality, rather than her image and beauty. Sure, she had the added bonus of having great fashion taste, but unlike her counterparts, this was an authentic part of who she was. People didn’t just like watching her videos, they wanted to be her, and what’s more “It” than that? And in terms of her style, she had a great taste before it was curated by a stylist. A stylist helped refine Chamberlain’s style, unlike her peers who follow trends, and only wear experimental clothing due to their stylist’s connections and with the hope of it causing a strong reaction and thus boosting their presence online. It comes off as inauthentic because they don’t have a true and defined style, while Chamberlain does. This is a prime example of why being stylish is an added bonus, but not a requirement, for It Girl status, and while it is a bonus, it still needs to be good and unique. Chamberlain’s style has also been praised by Vogue, as she has attended the Met Gala since 2021, and has also been tasked with interviewing the attendees on Vogue’s behalf, and is a frequent attendee of Fashion Weeks all over the world from Stockholm to Paris. 

Olivia Rodrigo has been the It girl of today by many. She certainly has the making of one as she shares clear similarities with It girls of the past. Her music, like Swift’s, is essentially her diary, which makes her relatable lyrics all the more appealing to her young female listeners due to their authenticity. Also, similar to Swift, her clothes are specific, yet authentic, making her a style icon in her young fans’ minds. The aesthetic she is known for is pop punk with a youthful, preppy twist, which ironically coincides with the recent rise in 2000s fashion trends and nostalgia. The sound of her music also has 2000s pop punk to coincide with her diaristic lyrics, causing comparisons with Hayley Williams, a perceived It girl during the 2000s in the emo scene. Of course, we don’t know if this youthful, fun, edgy, and rebellious style is her actual taste due to the fact that it matches her one and only Sour era a little too perfectly. Her street style in particular had garnered a lot of attention for its risk-taking casualness and pop-punk influence, which is very cohesive with her event looks as well. She also has mystique because, while she has been in the industry on the acting front for quite a while, as we see with Zendaya, acting provides somewhat of a sense of anonymity as you are best known for your character, not yourself. Her music is how she gained visibility online, by posting covers of Taylor Swift songs, snippets of original songs she wrote, and hosting Q&A where she expressed her latest music obsessions. Since catapulting into stardom, she has been less active on social media, valuing her privacy, and further proving her mystique. With all these elements combined, coupled with the rapidness of social media due to Rodrigo’s short time (so far) as a culturally relevant figure, I think she has quite possibly been the fastest girl in history to earn the title of It girl. However, I think that it will still take a few more album cycles for Rodrigo to truly prove herself as an It Girl. Right now, her music and style seem to have a similar effect as Kylie Jenner in the mid-2010s. She is “It” in her fans’ minds, but right now she is an It girl in a more idealistic way than in an actual way. While again, she has the making of one, I think it’s too soon to tell if she actually is an It girl. 

Julia Fox has garnered recognition over the past year for her bold fashion, unapologetic attitude, and blunt relatability. She has also starred in the successful film Uncut Gems, where she also served as a muse for the project. Due to this, I think she is on her way to becoming an I” girl. However, she has yet to warrant the creditability and respect that all It girls (excluding the ones during the 2000s) have garnered. We will have to see if her bold fashion choices and cultural relevance is enough to make her “It.”

If there is one female celebrity today that truly personifies the “It-factor,” it’s Alexa Demie. The Euphoria actress is one of the most fawn-over young celebrities due to her unique yet timeless style and unapologetic attitude, but we actually don’t know that much about her. There is even controversy over something as simple as her age. This kind of mystique is beyond rare nowadays with the accessibility of social media. While she is drop-dead gorgeous, but she is also multi-talented as a model, director, and singer as well, this sense of mystery and allure has made her fans hungry to know more. Demie has quickly become a style icon and as we know, the It girl and style icon status are nearly synonymous. While her on-screen persona is known for her bold and sexy style, Demie, much like the relationship between Lively and Serena on Gossip Girl, has a symbiotic relationship through fashion as well. Demie’s style is rebellious and creative but also feels effortlessly timeless. This is mainly due to her friendship with Brynn Jones, the owner of the high fashion vintage store Aralda Vintage, which sources many archive pieces for celebrities like Ariana Grande and Zendaya (they are also responsible for Samantha’s iconic closet that Maddy rummages through in Euphoria’s second season, something only made possible due to her friendship with Jones and Demie’s heavy involvement in Maddy’s look in collaboration with costume designer Heidi Bivens). She has used her relationship with Jones to sport iconic looks from Alaia and Vivienne Westwood. She even formed a partnership with Balenciaga, which she has since severed due to its recent controversy. However, she did sport many unique looks with them, like a jumpsuit that looks like a stretched-out pair of jeans. Her style is an internal part of her allure, with her being the rare celebrity whose style is based on timelessness. While she is a risk-taker, her risks in fashion are always based on trends from the past, making her have the potential for longevity, which only Swift, Lively, Hepburn, Kelly, Monroe, and Taylor have managed to have, which makes sense as they also value timelessness over trendiness. This duality of risk-taking and timelessness also makes her style unpredictable, which makes it so exciting when she is spotted out and about or on the red carpet. This also reveals to us one key aspect of Demie’s personality, that she’s an artistic old soul, mostly using the past as inspiration for her creativity. Also, similarly to Lively again, she plays the It girl in her respective show. Maddy is fashion-forward and confident, much like Demie, who has expressed her confidence through her red-carpet looks, not even through interviews, press, or other publicity. However, Demie’s appearances in the press are notably extremely rare, only adding to her mystique further, as they are in harsh comparison to the heavy exposure of her co-stars Sweeney and Zendaya. Also, the fact that Demie is widely considered the breakout star of the Euphoria and has shied away from doing press, seemingly unless it’s authentic to her carefully chosen role or meticulously crafted image, like attending a Balenciaga show or a Euphoria premiere, seems like smart business move on Demie’s end. She has social media, but she mostly uses it as a mood board for aesthetics and artistry, not as a highlight reel or business tool like so many of her peers. She uses that moodboard to create characters and personas, which turns it coincidentally into an interactive guessing game for her fans, as we use our minuscule knowledge about her to try and figure out which and if one of these personas is the real her, or her real aesthetic. The best example of this is her photography series Fairy Tales with Rodrigo’s frequent music video collaborator and director Petra Collins, who was considered an It girl in her own right in the 2010s. While pretty privilege is definitely a fact in the allure of the It Girl, and undeniably with the gorgeous Demie, it’s also just how she is that’s intriguing. When she is spotted in public, she is sporting interesting fashion choices, like wearing a Prada headband with workout clothes (Addison Rae hilariously tried to recreate this with not much success due to her notable lack of knowledge and respect for the fashion industry, her lack of the It-factor, and lack of originality). However, unlike Fox, Demie isn’t as easily accessible, which is a major factor in her intrigue, proving how important the power of mystique is when it comes to the idea of the It-factor, because today not being easily accessible is an anomaly in and of itself. That is her true allure. 

Demie’s way of distancing herself from the public is her business strategy. She knows how hungry today’s media is and the audiences are, and she capitalizes on it to build her empire in fashion and entertainment, and successfully catapulted her star power by doing so, despite being in such few projects (she was notably the only Euphoria cast member with no upcoming projects after Season 2). She has spoken about how picky she is about the projects she picks despite being so new on the scene, so it’s safe to assume nothing appealed to her high expectations, which is honestly very disappointing because she is a great actress who deserves great material. However, this doesn’t come off as calculating as it once (misogynistically) did for Swift. That’s because it’s exactly what Maddy, her character, would do. Instead of the Bow-era nonchalance of not relishing in her “It-factor,” like Lively did when she attempted to distance herself from Serena through her business and directing endeavors, Demie understands that knowing what you got and flaunting it is what creates truly interesting people nowadays, not just simple relevance, because relevance changes every day in today’s landscape, but you are forever. While privacy works for many celebrities, with the aforementioned examples being Hepburn, Zendaya, Swift, and Rodrigo, very few can get by with such a minimal online presence. It’s almost impossible nowadays without being famous prior to the social media boom, with Daniel Radcliffe, Jennifer Lawrence, and Emma Stone being examples of this. Nowadays, agents, managers, and casting directors even look at prospective clients’ social media followings to see whether they should get representation or get a job (which is very frustrating for many reasons). Demie literally only has Instagram, so that’s really saying something.

Many people may not know this but Demie is also a nepo baby. She is the adopted granddaughter of Dennis Wilson, the founding member of The Beach Boys, which means that he did have a connection to the entertainment industry. Her mom is also a makeup artist. However, she doesn’t flaunt it through her name or in the press. People had to dig to find this out, making her almost the antithesis of a nepo baby (if only all nepo babies were this determined, savvy, and had this much belief in themselves). This is in stark comparison to her Euphoria co-star Maude Apatow or peers Maya Hawke and Lily-Rose Depp and shows how much of a hard worker she is and how meticulous she is when it comes to crafting her career and image. Like Swift, she is formulaic and has a good understanding of how the industry works since she grew up living in Los Angeles and around the business. Her meticulousness, like Swift’s, doesn’t come off as ingenuine or calculating. It comes off as smart, savvy, and purposeful. It also shows that, unlike Depp or Hawke, she doesn’t profit from her connections, she makes her own (something Apatow has started doing). While some celebrities value their privacy to protect their family from the public eye, Demie uses her privacy to crave her own path, separate from her family and goes out of her way to be successful on her own terms. This self-belief and boldness only make her more endearing, as she is willing to do the work to get the career she wants. She’s not desperate (cough Cassie Howard cough). In a world of fads and FOMO, Demie is both refreshing and alluring. She stands out in the social media age when everyone wants to be talked about and tell people where they are and what’s going on all the time. She proves that being mysterious and timeless can still occur, and will always be more powerful than trends and accessibility.So, next time you feel the urge to comment on your friend’s Instagram post or reply to your favorite female celebrity’s tweet by calling them an “It Girl,” pause for a second and think about if this woman has actually earned the title.

• Alexa Demie
• culture
• entertainment
• fashion
• It Girl
• Olivia Rodrigo
• Zendaya