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it girl
An "It Girl" is a beautiful, stylish young woman who possesses sex appeal without flaunting her sexuality. The phrase is believed to have originated as slang in upper class British society around the turn of the 20th century.〔Etherington-Smith, Meredith and Pilcher, Jeremy, ''The 'It' Girls'' (1986), 241.〕 An early literary usage of the term "it" in this context may be traced to a 1904 short story by Rudyard Kipling: "It isn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just 'It'." The expression reached global attention in 1927, with the popularity of the Paramount Studios film ''It'', starring Clara Bow. Elinor Glyn, the notorious English novelist who wrote the book ''It'' and the screenplay based on it, lectured: "With 'It,' you win all men if you are a woman and all women if you are a man. 'It' can be a quality of the mind as well as a physical attraction."〔Introduction script from the movie ''It'' (USA, 1927)〕 Glyn, who first rose to fame as the author of the scandalous 1907 bestseller ''Three Weeks'', is usually credited with the invention of the "It Girl" concept, although it predates her book and movie. But she is definitely responsible for the impact the term had on the culture of the 1920s.
The fashion component to the It Girl, however, originated with Glyn's elder sister, the celebrated couturier Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, known professionally as "Lucile," the name under which she directed exclusive salons in London, Paris and New York. As Lucile, Lucy Duff Gordon was the first designer to present her collections on a stage complete with the theatrical accoutrements of lights and music, inspiring the modern runway or catwalk show, and she was famous for making sexuality an aspect of fashion through her provocative lingerie and lingerie-inspired clothes.〔Evans, Caroline, ''The Mechanical Smile'' (2013), 34-36, 39-41; Bigham, Randy Bryan, ''Lucile - Her Life by Design'' (2012), 23-31.〕 Lucile also specialised in dressing trendsetting stage and film performers, ranging from the stars of the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' on Broadway to silent screen icons like Mary Pickford and Irene Castle. As early as 1917 Lucile herself used the term "it" in relation to style in her fashion column for ''Harper's Bazaar'': "... I saw a very ladylike and well-bred friend of mine in her newest Parisian frock ... she felt she was 'it' and perfectly happy."〔Duff Gordon, Lady (Lucile), "The Last Word in Fashions," ''Harper's Bazaar'', October 1917, 63; Bigham, Randy Bryan, ''Lucile - Her Life by Design'' (2012), 31, 275.〕
==''It'' (1927)==
The Paramount Studios movie was planned as a special showcase for its popular star Clara Bow, and her spectacular performance〔January 1(private showing), 1927, Variety〕 introduced the term "It" to the cultural lexicon. Bow later said she wasn't sure what "It" meant,〔Waterloo Daily Courier, September 21, 1950〕 although she identified Lana Turner,〔September 21, 1950, Waterloo Daily Courier〕 and later Marilyn Monroe, as It Girls, and Robert Mitchum as an It Man.〔
The movie plays with the notion that "It" is a quality which eschews definitions and categories; consequently the girl portrayed by Bow is an amalgam of an ingenue and a femme fatale, with a touch of Madonna's latter day "Material Girl" incarnation. By contrast, Bow's rival is equally young and comely (and rich and well-bred to boot), yet she doesn't have "It".
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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