Why the ‘It Girls’ are Losing Power
This may come as a shock, but when I think of the typical ‘It Girl’, I don’t think of women like Britney, Beyoncé or Jennifer Lopez. To me, they were always seen as the ‘stars’.
I don’t think of Tyra Banks or Adriana Lima - they were models.
Growing up, ‘It Girls’ were the girls who you never quite knew what they did, but they wouldn’t always be in the magazines for the pair of jeans they were wearing or the guy they were dating.
They would be referenced as an actress, but very few can recall what films or TV shows they had watched them in.
Sienna Miller, Chloe Sevigny, and Alexa Chung come to mind. These were the women who were glorified for their fashion sense. Women wanted to know where they were partying and if they could find a guy who looked like Jude Law, but with fidelity.
But things have changed.
There was a time when being this kind of girl meant something. If Closer magazine plastered you on their front cover spilling out onto the London streets at 3 in the morning, but you were wearing the right outfit from Topshop you were a ‘somebody’.
Yet, when every girl in almost every country can curate an aesthetic in one afternoon, upload a personality trait in nine seconds flat and put the illusion of desirability through girly brunch dates and borrowed outfits, the title has fallen.
Social media gave us a ready-made template:
Look a certain way
Pose a certain way (feet up on the chair)
Consume the same brands
Eat in the same spots
Adopt the same vocabulary
Manufacture the same lifestyle snapshots
And as a result, you get a global catalogue of interchangeable women wearing the same identity. Accessibility at this level means only one thing: the exhaustion of appeal.
Exclusivity dissolves, and the power that once was evaporates.
It starts to get old really quickly. And no one wants to see the 20th version of the same girl doing a GRWM, especially when we already know the outcome.
Popularity Fatigue and the Craving for Substance
I’d easily put it down to the timing of the planets, but honestly, we are living through an era of heavy popularity fatigue. Everything feels excessive.
People are tired of the algorithm’s favourites. They’re bored with trend-chasing aesthetics, and they’re over the idea that influence equals worthiness.
The audience wants something else now. Something that doesn’t vanish in the next trend cycle. Something that isn’t packaged in the same way, the same catchphrases, in the same shoes.
We are currently living in an era where women who are seeking inspiration want depth. We know popularity grows tired eventually.
Remember the girl at school who everyone was nice to because she was so popular, until one day, one brave soul called her out on something, and suddenly she wasn’t so popular anymore.
Popularity ages quickly, but real substance lasts forever.
Popularity doesn’t require discipline or discernment. It thrives on immediacy.
But credibility requires:
A body of work
A mind that isn’t outsourced to trends
Identity that isn’t dependent on strangers’ validation
Decision-making that isn’t reactive
Something to say, not just something to show
People are no longer impressed by the girl who is seen by many. They’re impressed by the woman who stands for something and is willing to build her life around it.
We’re in the middle of a correction. Fake confidence is being filtered out. Being influenced to buy a pair of leggings is losing its shine. The audience is in search of women with actual value to offer, not just an edited highlight reel.
Who Is Replacing Them?
The fall of the ‘It Girl’ has created more space for a more interesting archetype: the woman with range.
This woman isn’t built on aesthetics alone. She has layers, perspectives, skills and stories. She’s the woman who can hold a room and a conversation, while still having something unexpected to contribute.
People don’t follow her because she’s popular, they follow her because she’s compelling.
Here are a few things that define the woman with range:
Her personality isn’t related to the algorithm. She doesn’t manipulate her identity to fit trends. She manipulates the trends around her identity.
She’s selective, not performative. She doesn’t need to be everywhere. She’s intentional about where she shows up.
She invests in her intellect as much as her image. You’ll find her reading, studying, and travelling. visiting museums and galleries. Knowledge is a standard.
She builds instead of imitates. Projects, brands, communities, she’s producing, not mimicking.
She has longevity. Range creates resilience. The woman with range can outgrow platforms, niches, and trends without losing relevance.
This is the era of the multi-dimensional woman, the one who doesn’t disappear the moment you stop looking at her outfit. It’s a flex that can’t be bought, copied, or filtered.
Influence That Isn’t for Sale
The biggest downfall of the ‘It Girl’ economy is that it became a marketplace. Once everything turned into #ad, #gifted, and “use my code,” the trust broke. I don’t know about you, but as soon as I see or hear any of these words, I’m scrolling straight past.
Not interested.
Instead, real influence, the kind of influence that shapes culture, is never for sale. The women rising right now understand that influence is built on three things:
1. Independence of thought
She doesn’t rush to echo the popular take. In fact, she thrives off of having an opposing opinion and will only agree if it’s genuine to how she feels. She dares to form her own opinions, and people pay attention because they’re not copied from the same script everyone else is reading.
2. Discernment
She doesn’t attach her name to everything; therefore, when she does, it means something. You never know everything about her because certain things she holds sacred to her heart.
And scarcity is her power.
3. Credibility earned privately first
She’s creating the lifestyle for herself behind closed doors before she speaks about it publicly. She’s working on being the example, not becoming the advertisement.
Finally
The new cultural currency is not popularity. It’s not virality. It’s not even having any form of a digital presence.
Its relevance lies in having range and intellect among women who can articulate ideas, not just aesthetics.
Women who can hold space, not just attention. Women who demonstrate self-awareness, strategy, and sophistication in how they move through the world.
Women are no longer aspiring to be ‘followed’, they’re aspiring to be a source of innovation and, at the same time, be respected for it. They’re not trying to be icons.
And that is why the age of the ‘It Girl’ is dissolving and why the era of the credible, cultured, intellectually-driven woman is just beginning.
