The ‘IT’ girl trend truly started in the ’90s when fashion designers saw the opportunity to promote their brands through IT girls, the most influential women that started their own trends and even have their own designer bags. 

For many designers, it wasn’t until the 90’s that they realized using celebrities who wore their pieces was a way to make things ‘happen’. The ’90s was the turning point in fashion. Actresses and singers were among the first set of IT girls that changed the fashion industry. 

Many people have been named an IT girl, in the ’90s designers turned to the edgy celebrity, the one who broke the rules, or was just seen at every event. When it came to putting faces to brands, people like Kate Moss were one of the first people to think of. 

But, it was truly an array of actresses that changed the game for these brands, their faces, and the term ‘IT girl’. Vogue was always a magazine that only ever featured models on the cover until the 90’s when year by year more and more actresses started featuring on the covers. 

This change in pace for Vogue sparked when brands started using actresses as their own IT girls. For people like Gweneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, Rene Zellwegger, the use of these faces allowed brands to get traction globally. 

It has been few designers that have realized that many actresses are the way to go when it comes to promoting brands. In the 80’s Hermes released the most famous bag of all time, The Birkin, after actress Jane Birkin. 

“It’s not just a bag, it’s a Birkin” became one of the most iconic lines in the tv show Sex and the City, a homage to the IT girl. Sex and the City became one of the shows that told the stories of IT girls and made those girls into IT girls themselves. Sarah Jessica Parker is known to be one of the most influential actresses to date, and without her influence and style Sex and the City wouldn’t be the tv show it is today. 

The IT girl of the ’90s is truly the one that started these new trends. It became a competition on the red carpet of ‘who are you wearing’, and many of these actresses have shaped what the fashion world is like today. 

The IT girl is the girl everyone wants to be. In today’s day and age, IT girls still exist but in ways that maybe has changed fashion for the worst. These IT girls are now considered ‘Influencers’; they aren’t actresses or celebrities, but they have managed to use their influential platforms on social media to become the everyday model. 

The ’90s was truly one of the best eras for fashion, from the start of celebrities on Vogue, to having bags created after actresses, the ’90s is one era that truly defined fashion for the better.