What the year of microtrends has taught us about the ever-elusive "It Girl"
“The ‘It-girl’ is more than a person; she is an aesthetic, a cultural moment, a business distilled into human form.” - Amy Francombe, Vogue Business.
There’s been plenty of commentary and dozens of articles written about what makes a true “It Girl.” She’s hot, popular, fashionable, put-together, usually rich, frequently a celebrity or an influencer thriving in her moment.
When it comes to style, however, the “It Girl” is also a paradox.
2024 was the year of microtrends — a whirlwind of fleeting aesthetics that demanded rapid adaptation in marketing, shopping, and even news. From the bow boom to BRAT summer slime green and “the office siren,” these looks were everything — until as soon as the next week, that is, when suddenly, they weren’t. Now, bows top every list of trends that cool girls won’t be wearing in 2025.
Because the trend machine is moving at lightning speed, as I noted in my post about how the imminent TikTok ban will impact fashion. The ins of today have always been the outs of tomorrow, of course, but with TikTok and other socials playing such an enormous role in shopping culture, those days now look more like milliseconds.
“You can tell someone’s screen time from their outfit,” fashion writer Alexandra Hildreth famously said (or perhaps internet-famously said? Who knows! My brain is rotted), speaking of seeing embodiments of these fleeting trends frolicking around New York City.
But you want to be an “It Girl,” right? All the “It Girls” or “cool girls” are wearing this, buying that, styling their hair like this, TikTokers declare. They point to Hailey Bieber’s “glazed donut” nails or Sofia Richie Grainge’s slicked-back bun and “clean girl aesthetic.”
Except that can’t be. Because there’s one critical characteristic of the “It Girl” — she’s impossibly unique.
The “It Girl” is the pinnacle, the feverish dream that stands opposite the loathsome, detested “Other Girl.” It Girls aren’t like the Other Girls — they aren’t all the same. They’re fresh and new, and yet, somehow, also timeless and chic. They are envied and therefore quickly copied, until brand deals and dupes swoop in to effectively end their “It.” Or perhaps they continue to evolve, in which case we will manufacture ideal after unachievable ideal for ourselves to chase, credit cards in hand.
By naming an It Girl, we sentence ourselves to otherness. Certainly, there is nothing inherently wrong with this, and maybe one of the clearest solutions to our It Girl problem is an investment in personal style and authenticity — whatever that is.
Just as soon as we find a way to package and sell it.