The It Girls - by Caroline Young (Hardcover)

About the Book

From bohemian artists' muses to today's socialites, including Nell Gwyn, Clara Bow, Josephine Baker, Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears, the Kardashians, and more, The It Girls delves into the history and lives of these explosive, trend-setting women, whose much-disseminated images have defined notions of beauty, celebrity, sex, and scandal.

Book Synopsis

The first book to explore the history of the It girl across the centuries.

Nell Gwyn and Clara Bow, Marilyn Monroe and Edie Sedgwick, Jean Seberg and Margaux Hemingway, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian: These names all conjure up images of glamor and celebrity, as well as the toxic side of fame. They are the faces of their generation--the ones we can't look away from, and the ones who inevitably self-destruct.

In The It Girls: Glamor, Celebrity, and Scandal, Caroline Young delves into the history and lives of these explosive, trend-setting women. From seventeenth-century London to twenty-first century Seoul, Young tells the fascinating, oftentimes tragic, stories of the women who have been celebrated for their looks and scandalized for their actions in equal measure. She explores how the It girls defined and set new standards of beauty--including the red-haired muses of the Pre-Raphaelite artists, the World War II pin-up, the crop-haired icons of the sixties, and the cosmetically-enhanced social media darlings of today--and how, no matter the era, the treatment of these It girls is universal. While they are lauded and emulated, they are also scrutinized and criticized.

The stories of the It girls are laced with childhood trauma, misogyny, gaslighting, and exploitation, revealing that fame and adoration don't always equate to happiness. The It Girls is a captivating examination of women's history, offering a reevaluation of how women have been celebrated and objectified over the centuries.

Review Quotes

"Caroline Young's vibrant book puts women back in the centre of history. It's great to see these women portrayed with the agency they deserve." --Amber Butchart, author, curator, and presenter of the BBC's A Stitch in Time

"A dazzling line-up of famous and forgotten "It" girls from the past and present are expertly brought to life by Caroline Young's storytelling. Inspiring and infuriating, they blazed a trail and were girl bosses before the term was coined. The book and its subjects are sensory overload at its finest!" --Lyndsy Spence, author of The Grit in the Pearl and Where Madness Lies

"Both idols and scapegoats, "It" girls from Nell Gwyn to Kim Kardashian and K-pop princesses have always reflected the aspirations and insecurities of their times. This juicy history functions both as a how-to manual and a cautionary tale that's more relevant than ever in the influencer economy." --Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, fashion historian and author

"The It Girls brings us the stories of women who have shaped cultural landscapes and blazed a bright trail across centuries of celebrity. These are women who refused to be quiet. They shine on here in Caroline Young's sparkling narrative." --Kate Strasdin, PhD, fashion historian and author of The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes

"A fascinating insight into the world of beauty, success, and adoration and the tumultuous chaos of being coined an "It" girl, all of which comes at a price. From royal mistresses, pre-Raphaelite muses and Georgian courtesans to the heady heights of Studio 54, the champagne "It" girls of the 1990s and the seemingly impenetrable gloss of the Kardashians, The It Girls reveals the truth and tragedy behind these empowering yet vulnerable women." --Tamara Sturtz-Filby, author of Behind the Gloss: Discos, Divas and Dressing Up

"In her latest book, Caroline Young captures the essence of that special something that makes an "It" girl. Her focus on women as varied as royal mistress Nell Gwyn, star of the silver screen Clara Bow, and reality personality Kim Kardashian highlights the varied, and often tragic, lives of the women men want to be with, and other women want to emulate." --Victoria Haddock, dress and design historian

"Caroline Young traces the phenomenon of the girl whose name comes to be on everyone's lips, from courtesans and mistresses, through dancers and actresses, to the girls who embodied the style of a decade and the zeitgeist of a social trend. As Young clearly shows, the structures of celebrity that support them today may be very different, as are questions of who controls the marketing of their brands, but the perennial fascination with a girl who stands for sex, style, and magnetism right now is as strong today as it ever was. What Young achieves here is to link the "It" girl with intelligence, wit, and individuality, not just notoriety, exposure, and exploitation, thereby expanding the meaning of "It" into more complex and compassionate terrain." --Lucy Bolton, professor of film philosophy, Queen Mary University of London, and author of Contemporary Cinema and the Philosophy of Iris Murdoch

"The It Girls is meticulously researched, and Young has deftly synthesized many diverse sources to weave together the tales of each woman . . . Interesting, readable, and compelling, The It Girls would be enjoyed by readers of celebrity memoirs, like those by Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, who want to take a deeper dive into this history." --Booklist

About the Author

Caroline Young is an author from Edinburgh, Scotland, who specializes in film, fashion, and popular culture. Her previous works include Hitchcock's Heroines, Living with Coco Chanel, Audrey in Paris, The Fabulous Frances Farquharson, and Crazy Old Ladies: The Story of Hag Horror, which was nominated for both a Rondo Hatton Award 2023 and the 2022 Richard Wall Memorial Award.