IT GIRL

:''For the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar, see ''The It Girl.
An 'It girl' is a charming, sexy young woman, or one who has just broken into mainstream cinema. The reign of an "It girl" is usually temporary; some of the rising it girls will either become a fully-fledged celebrity or her popularity will fade. The term "it boy", much less frequently used, is the male equivalent.

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Clara Bow and ''It'' (1927)

Modern "It girls"

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References

Clara Bow and ''It'' (1927)

The term was coined by English romance novelist and screenwriter Elinor Glyn to describe actress Clara Bow when she appeared with success in the Hollywood silent film ''It'' in 1927. Based on Glyn's novella of the same title, the movie was planned as a special showcase for the popular Paramount Studios star. Owing to Glyn's widely publicized pronouncement, the term ''it'', a euphemism for sex-appeal, not only catapulted Bow to fame but became a catch phrase, eventually entering the cultural lexicon. Bow's contemporary and friend, the actress Louise Brooks, who popularised the bobbed hairstyle of the 1920s, was also widely described as an "It girl", especially retrospectively.
Bow's film was turned into a musical called ''The It Girl'' in 2001, which opened at the York Theatre Company off-Broadway starring Jean Louisa Kelly. It Girl Musical

Modern "It girls"

Since 1927 the term has been extended beyond the world of film, referring to whoever in society, fashion or the performing arts was in vogue at the time, including, from the 1960s onwards, singer and Rolling Stones' muse Marianne Faithfull; Talitha Getty, second wife of John Paul Getty; actress and comedienne Goldie Hawn; 1980s "wild child" Amanda de Cadenet (christened by Compton Miller as "patron saint of It Girls": ''Who's Really! Who'', 1997); socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson; fashion writers Plum and Lucy Sykes; fashion icon and actress Chloe Sevigny; actress and "boho"-queen Sienna Miller; actress from The O.C. Mischa Barton; actress and singer-songwriter Kylie Minogue; actress Scarlett Johansson and socialite/actress Lindsay Lohan; Iconic Pop Star Britney Spears and broadcaster and actress Ksenia Sobchak (described by the ''Guardian'' as "Moscow's answer to Paris Hilton, the American heiress, and Russia's chief 'it' girl": 3 June 2006).
The writer William Donaldson observed that, having initially been coined in the 1920s, the term was applied in the 1990s to describe "a young woman of noticeable 'sex appeal' who occupied herself by shoe shopping and party-going" (''Brewer's Rogues, Villains and Eccentrics'', 2002). At around the same time the term ''posh tart'' was coined as a broad equivalent, though this tended to be reserved for those, such as Palmer-Tomkinson and Lady Victoria Hervey, daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, who came from the "higher" echelons of society. An example of the male equivalent of a "posh tart", or celebrity partying with family money, would be the Englishman William Wales, more usually styled as Prince William. In 2006, a fashion journalist, Emma Hill, declared in the ''Sunday Times Style'' supplement, "Forget Sienna Miller, forget Paris Hilton.
In the 00's the phrase is generally referring to a modified version of the Brewsters quote "an IT girl is a young woman of noticeable 'sex appeal' with rich parents who occupies herself by shoe and fashion shopping and party-going with accompanying media attention as they attend events at well known celebrity night spots."
There is a new category of celebrity. Those that qualify are not actors or singers, nor are they artists or even models. Most of them have grown up amidst celebrities thanks to family ties, and now, owing to their legal age, they are known for being socialites. Basically, they are famous for, being famous.

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★ Clara Bow, the original It girl

References