The term it girl was originally popularised all the way back to 1920’s America where the U.S actress Clara Bow starred in a silent film ‘it’ appearing as a the charismatic shop girl Betty Lou with a modern attitude and a high sense of fashion charming all those she meets and eventually purposefully catching the attention of her employer trough her outgoing ways and confidence; The film defines it as a “quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force” which has stood the test of time
Clara Bow Courtesy, Everett Collection
The modern face of an it girl is vastly different from when the term was coined, with current social media platforms and channels in a world so chronically online and over saturated with advertising and content which anybody is able to produce as well as large corporations holding a significant amount of digital real estate it can be hard cutting trough the noise.
As consumers we value authenticity and gravitate towards values that align with our own and with the turbulent state of the world it’s important to talk about social issues and use your platform to not only spread awareness but also promote positive social change, we see stars and the next wave and a recirculation of supermodels such as Julia fox, Alex Consani, Gabbriette Bechtel and more growing in presence using social media platforms as well as their already previously established positions with in the public eye, ebodying a playful persona showing authentinc personalituy reaching fans and building followings using platforms such as tik toc and Instagram fundimentally having funwhile entertaining viewers making them feel apart of their world showing more than a glossy campaign photoshoot connecting the public with the stars.
CHAELI XCX, Charli with it girls Julia Fox and Rachel Sennott filming the "360" music video
cementing that fame is not an overnight process especially with the modern rising pop girls such as Charli xcx releasing her first project on myspace in around 2008 growing a cult like fandom and writing for other artists such as Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, will.i.am, MØ and more, finally in 2024 ‘achieving commercial success going mainstream with second top 10 charting album coming in at number 2.