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The It Girls: Glamor, Celebrity, and Scandal
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 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 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.
Nell Gwyn and Clara Bow, Marilyn Monroe and Edie Sedgwick, Jean Seberg and Margaux Hemingway, Paris Hilton and Kim 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 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.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
435 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 18, 2025
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50 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 24, 2025
What an interesting premise: Caroline Young sets out to recount the history of the It Girl, starting with 17th century actress Nell Gwyn, to the likes of silent film star Clara Bow (the first to carry the "It Girl" title), to, of course, Marilyn Monroe, Edie Sedgwick, and Kate Moss up to Britney, Paris, the Kardashians. Lately, there's been a plethora of books contemplating how 90's and 2000's tabloid culture has exploited and in some cases ruined young, vulnerable women by chasing them and turning them into a spectacle, preferably one of the trainwreck variety, because that's what sells magazines (e.g. Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s) - and it's high time media representation and consumption become widely discussed. What's important though is to question the behavior of the media, the women in question (who have agency), and the consumers (who also have agency) - and unfortunately, this is where Young falls short.
Her compendium offers numerous biographies, some of them re-hashing what we all already know (Kate Moss and her coke scandal, Britney's conservatorship, Kim's and Paris' sextapes etc.), many of them reading like well-researched Wikipedia articles. The socio-cultural analysis does not go deep enough, it is overshadowed by an enumeration of biographical facts. Also, some women aren't held accountable - and make no mistake, to unduly enhance the victim perspective is not feminist, but minimizes a woman's agency. The same goes for girlboss framing: Sure, Kim Kardashian is no dum-dum, she is a savvy business woman, but to criticize her blatant wrongdoings would mean to take her seriously. Similar issues arise when it comes to women attacking each other for exposure, and for the narcissism some protagonists have displayed. The girlboss angle is a dangerous perspective for feminist storytelling - just look at Katy Perry's cringe-inducing space adventure, which is not less hypercapitalist, hedonistic and ecologically irresponsible because the crew consisted of women.
A more nuanced approach would have been more revealing, especially including the role of the audiences, because these women have been abused because audiences paid for the content - and this cycle is still running, especially in social media, where people pay with attention which enterprises and influencers turn into hard capital. If people (meaning: all of us) stopped consuming this, the business model would be dead, but some of the It Girls portrayed here have helped to create and perfect this very machine, which in many cases crushed them in the end. Has anyone ever really mastered the female fame game? This is where it gets truly interesting, this is where the cultural impact beyond personal destinies lies.
Her compendium offers numerous biographies, some of them re-hashing what we all already know (Kate Moss and her coke scandal, Britney's conservatorship, Kim's and Paris' sextapes etc.), many of them reading like well-researched Wikipedia articles. The socio-cultural analysis does not go deep enough, it is overshadowed by an enumeration of biographical facts. Also, some women aren't held accountable - and make no mistake, to unduly enhance the victim perspective is not feminist, but minimizes a woman's agency. The same goes for girlboss framing: Sure, Kim Kardashian is no dum-dum, she is a savvy business woman, but to criticize her blatant wrongdoings would mean to take her seriously. Similar issues arise when it comes to women attacking each other for exposure, and for the narcissism some protagonists have displayed. The girlboss angle is a dangerous perspective for feminist storytelling - just look at Katy Perry's cringe-inducing space adventure, which is not less hypercapitalist, hedonistic and ecologically irresponsible because the crew consisted of women.
A more nuanced approach would have been more revealing, especially including the role of the audiences, because these women have been abused because audiences paid for the content - and this cycle is still running, especially in social media, where people pay with attention which enterprises and influencers turn into hard capital. If people (meaning: all of us) stopped consuming this, the business model would be dead, but some of the It Girls portrayed here have helped to create and perfect this very machine, which in many cases crushed them in the end. Has anyone ever really mastered the female fame game? This is where it gets truly interesting, this is where the cultural impact beyond personal destinies lies.
November 17, 2025
Nowadays, when one thinks of someone who's "famous for being famous," one thinks of the Kardashians or Instagram influencers. But the phenomenon of the It girl is a long and storied one.
I read this at about the same time as I read Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century, and they work pretty well as companions - that book describing trendsetting fashion, and this book describing the trendsetters themselves.
Young tells the story of It girls through the centuries, who hold such diverse roles in life as sex workers, models, actresses, and debutantes, but have in common the way they exemplify the fashion and ethos of the age, and their wide dissemination through popular media. I enjoyed that while she covered a wide range of women, she clearly connected them as It girls, even if that was not the term applied to them, and convincingly made the case of why specific kinds of women took off during certain eras.
However, while I found Young's discussions of these various It girls interesting, I did wish that she went a bit more in-depth about why the zeitgeist shifted, bringing some It girls into fashion and casting others out of it. I was also curious about the outside groups, media and the like, that promoted the It girls in their time - who they chose, why they did it, and what they got out of it. I thought there was a lot more to dig into the stories of these women.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
I read this at about the same time as I read Skirts: Fashioning Modern Femininity in the Twentieth Century, and they work pretty well as companions - that book describing trendsetting fashion, and this book describing the trendsetters themselves.
Young tells the story of It girls through the centuries, who hold such diverse roles in life as sex workers, models, actresses, and debutantes, but have in common the way they exemplify the fashion and ethos of the age, and their wide dissemination through popular media. I enjoyed that while she covered a wide range of women, she clearly connected them as It girls, even if that was not the term applied to them, and convincingly made the case of why specific kinds of women took off during certain eras.
However, while I found Young's discussions of these various It girls interesting, I did wish that she went a bit more in-depth about why the zeitgeist shifted, bringing some It girls into fashion and casting others out of it. I was also curious about the outside groups, media and the like, that promoted the It girls in their time - who they chose, why they did it, and what they got out of it. I thought there was a lot more to dig into the stories of these women.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
March 23, 2025
The It Girls by Caroline Young is a short but informative read on the history of the It Girl, the girl who the world knows their name and brings love and hate all at once.
When it comes to the It Girl's of today, a few names may come to mind: Sabrina Carpenter, Selena Gomez, Chappel Roan. More recently, Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears. But the history of the It Girl shows, it wasn't always the rich and famous that were the mainstays of their days. At the beginning, the It Girl was more often than not, the mistress and lover of a King or Prince (Nell Gwynn or Madam De Pompadour). It eventually moved onto actresses, but a lot of these actress became infamous for their royal lovers' connections (Lillie Langtry). Young's novel covers decades of history which brings to light what made the It Girl of its time.
This is a quick interesting read that I'd recommend for history lovers. 3/5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Rowman and Littlefield Publishers for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
When it comes to the It Girl's of today, a few names may come to mind: Sabrina Carpenter, Selena Gomez, Chappel Roan. More recently, Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears. But the history of the It Girl shows, it wasn't always the rich and famous that were the mainstays of their days. At the beginning, the It Girl was more often than not, the mistress and lover of a King or Prince (Nell Gwynn or Madam De Pompadour). It eventually moved onto actresses, but a lot of these actress became infamous for their royal lovers' connections (Lillie Langtry). Young's novel covers decades of history which brings to light what made the It Girl of its time.
This is a quick interesting read that I'd recommend for history lovers. 3/5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Rowman and Littlefield Publishers for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.
May 12, 2025
Fascinating read from various time periods. It showcases some women I had never heard of. Take your time to read and enjoy. I found myself researching these women to get a better idea of the paintings, movies or styles the author referred to in each chapter. The overall theme seemed to be that being the "it" girl was a dream for many and once there you were replaced quickly. These life stories were heartbreaking.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2025
I love this type of book, collecting mini-bios of people who share some trait or another. This one, about famous sex symbols throughout history, was very entertaining and well done. I expected to enjoy the historical subjects more than the modern ones, because I’m generally more interested in history than celebrity. But I ended up enjoying the book from the first page to the last. Bringing the stories right up to the current moment emphasized the full sweep of the topic in a way that just focusing on historical “It Girls” would not have done.
December 26, 2025
This was very informative but I do wish it went little deeper into why our society let some be popular and some not.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews