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.