The Not-It girl

This article presents an analysis of Clara Bow’s portrayal of the first It girl, a concept invented by the writer Elinor Glyn, in the silent movie It (Clarence E. Badger, 1927). This figure was to have an enduring, or at least recurrent, media future. The It girl is contrasted with another and opposite representation, which appeared in the same year, 1927, in the short story ‘Illusion’, by Jean Rhys. This story presents a different figure of fashion, a woman who does not show what she has; a woman who keeps her femininity hidden in the secret of the wardrobe. This type of woman, who dresses in a nondescript ‘normcore’ way, is frequently encountered in the psychoanalytic clinic, and is designated in the article as the Not-It girl.

Through analysis of the two contrasting fictional representations and consideration of a case history from her own psychoanalytic practice, the author draws on Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalytic formulations to consider what is going on in these two contrasted representations – and lived experiences – of femininity. The article concludes that the Not-It girl’s constant search for femininity (or its trappings) supports the fashion industry far more than the It girl ever does.