BRAT, Charli XCX’s sixth studio album, hailed as the new pinnacle of her career, has been explosively popular, especially the music video for “360” and its numerous guest appearances from it girls. The video brings together influential Internet girls from across TikTok, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter), and more for this once-in-a-lifetime event that’s practically become a bible for the chronically online Gen Z.

The essence of it girls, darlings of the Internet as they are, lies in the peculiar line they straddle between being indie in the mainstream and part of the indie mainstream. It’s within that framework that they have to use their style and image to inspire others to want to be just like them. Charli XCX could be said to have already been the Y2K queen long before the now ubiquitous throwback trend, not to mention her immeasurable influence on music—including genres like avant-pop and electro pop—and on pop culture as a whole. But much like it girls are described in the music video as possessing a certain je ne sais quoi, the title isn’t conferred upon earning a degree or annual award. So what exactly leads to someone being recognized as an it girl in the eyes of the public? Let’s look at five of these women who make cameos in the “360” video—and we might just find out the answer.

Julia Fox
“360” contains the line, “I’m everywhere, I’m so Julia,” and the comparison is accurate: Julia Fox is everywhere, busying herself across an unfathomably wide spectrum. She’s launched the women’s clothing brand Franziska Fox, been a photographer, a painter, a model, and acted in the 2019 Safdie brothers movie Uncut Gems alongside Adam Sandler, for which she won the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Performer. Since then, Julia wrote and directed the short film Fantasy Girls in 2021, and published her memoir, Down the Drain, in 2023, later releasing a song with the same name.

Fox recently went on Zach Sang’s podcast and explained what exactly it means to be “so Julia,” describing it as “just being that girl … being confident … being the center of attention.” In other words, it’s her daring, unapologetic honesty—the kind of personality that enables her to do so many different things. That includes her unconventional fashion choices, like an Oscars outfit made in part from human hair, a crop top she fashioned herself out of leftover denim, and her signature black graphic eyeliner. She brought that same boldly creative style to the cover of ELLE Brasil and it’s also what led her to become the face of London-based brand KNWLS.

With her elaborate clothes and makeup and her string of successes across the whole pop culture sphere, you might expect Julia would be living in a world far from our own, but as she showed off in a viral tour of her average two-bedroom apartment on TikTok, adding that “there’s more to life” than having a big, beautiful home. On the tour, she points out her son’s things here and there, and photos right on her bedroom mirror of friends who have passed away all too soon. Down-to-earth moments like these, and how readily she admits she “will a hundred percent sell out,” show that unapologetic honesty Julia’s known for so boldly putting on display. Because that’s just who she is—“that’s literally Julia Fox.”

Alex Consani
With the aura of a supermodel and the soul of a comedian, model and TikTok star Alex Consani exudes Gen Z energy like nobody else. Alex was the youngest transgender model when she got her start, and later made her debut as a runway model under Tom Ford at the 2021 New York Fashion Week. Her career has only blossomed since then, modeling for everyone from Coperni and Mugler to Givenchy, and landing herself on Vogue’s “11 Standout Models of Spring-Summer 2023.”

If Alex is a charismatic tour de force on the runway, she takes a 180 when it comes to TikTok. “TikTok for me,” she says, “is something that comes very in the moment,” and indeed, the Alex she shows the world on the platform is 100% unfiltered. Taking advantage of her expressive “Play-Doh face,” she lets loose in her videos in a way that proves she couldn’t care less about what people think about the things she says or does—just look at some of her viral videos covering everything from fancy water, good concerts, filming “360,” and signs. And her over 2.8 million followers and 116 million likes prove how much her sense of humor resonates with Gen Z, who value being yourself and having fun while doing it.

The fact that the term “model-off-duty look” exists shows how people expect models to look just as fabulous in everyday life as they do on the runway, but Alex suggests there is a new kind of model and Internet girl: one who’s a model when she’s modeling, but her real self when she isn’t. No longer do we live in an era where models must flaunt their chic side at all times. Today, they don’t have to be afraid about being open about their flaws and can just be themselves, silly side and all. It’s no wonder Alex Consani is now among the new era’s top it girls.

Emma Chamberlain
Emma Chamberlain started making YouTube videos in 2017, when she was just 15 years old. With new videos almost daily, she became a breakout star on the site a mere three months later, particularly thanks to one video about her dollar store haul. Emma’s unique sense of humor and editing style full of zooming became the approach to emulate, and her outgoing, non-confrontational, girl-next-door charm earned her a strong following of other girls her age. She went on to become a familiar face for the general public in the United States as well as Korea working as a correspondent at the Met Gala, and her YouTube channel now has over 12 million subscribers.

Emma truly emerged as a Gen Z it girl when she started to get noticed even more for her fashion sense. Her signature scrunchie sold out in just 29 minutes after going up for sale, and she made Coachella outfits a thing after she and fellow YouTubers Hannah Meloche and Ellie Thumann made a video on the topic that has since been viewed 16 million times. Later on, Emma was made ambassador for Louis Vuitton, attending countless events and cementing her status as a fashion icon.

While it was her style that put Emma directly under the limelight, she bucked the trend of designing a fashion line and instead launched her own coffee brand, Chamberlain Coffee. It makes sense given that, aside from being a fashion icon, her YouTube videos tend to be vlogs focusing on her day-to-day life—where coffee is never far from reach. The way she starts so many of her videos with an iced almond milk latte became iconic, and her recipe for it went viral. There’s actually a shot in the “360” music video where Emma grabs someone’s coffee out of their hands as they walk by, takes a sip, then tosses it away in disgust—a perfect encapsulation of her sophisticated coffee palate. People have applauded Emma for being authentic as seen in the genuine passion and care she puts into her coffee business.

Although Emma rose to prominence at a time when new YouTubers were popping up daily, people continue to check Emma out to this day thanks to her chill and sincere nature and because she doesn’t attract controversy. Despite achieving immense success at such a young age, she can still host a very relatable podcast about friendships and relationships. Girls who once decided what to wear to school by watching Emma’s haul videos now empathize with her struggles as a twentysomething—and the same girls will probably be nodding along in agreement as they listen to what Emma has to say as an old woman in the distant future. Just imagine her sitting there, white-haired, sipping her iced almond milk latte, waxing eloquent about the futility of it all.

Gabbriette
Of all the it girls in “360,” Gabbriette shares a particularly deep connection with Charli XCX. A former ballerina and model, Gabbriette first crossed paths with Charli XCX when she appeared in the music video for the singer’s 2016 single “After The Afterparty,” after which Charli XCX formed the band Nasty Cherry, an all-girl group that counted Gabbriette among its four members. Their debut and time together shortly thereafter created such a buzz that Netflix released the docu-reality series I’m With the Band: Nasty Cherry. Charli XCX sought to create a cool band with awesome women, and frontwoman Gabbriette played a pivotal role in bringing that vision to fruition. The other members of Nasty Cherry sum her up in I’m With the Band in one sentence: “Gabi is just effin’ cool.”

After becoming the very embodiment of a cool indie rock frontwoman with her smoky makeup and goth fashion during her Nasty Cherry days, Gabbriette went on to become a true Gen Z fashion icon in 2023, emerging as a trendsetter in the resurgence of 1990s goth girl style and heroin chic. Hers was a succubus chic style—thin, arched eyebrows, ashy eyeshadow, black, gothy clothes—that fully bucked what had been the trend up to that point: the clean girl aesthetic. Gabbriette became an adherent of succubus chic long before it ever went mainstream, leading her to start popping up on many a Pinterest board as a fashion flagbearer for Gen Z’s obsession with the ’90s style, along with the OG fashionista herself, Angelina Jolie. The Internet it girl is also the originator of the Bayonetta glasses element of the office siren trend, all of which further defines the Gabbriette look.

The opening to “360” includes the lines, “I’m your favorite reference, baby / Call me Gabbriette, you’re so inspired,” a direct nod to how much influence she has over people’s style. Sites like YouTube and TikTok are filled with videos of people “covering” her makeup, her fashion, and even her incredibly popular cooking videos. Whatever Gabbriette does, people want to join in. She’s a walking, talking Pinterest board.

Chloë Sevigny
Everybody in the “360” music video, including Alex Consani, Gabbriette, and Julia Fox, vapes. Everyone, that is, except Chloë Sevigny, puffing away on her cigarette. It makes sense, given that the OG it girl among Gen Z’s ’90s and 2000s babies hit the scene in 1992.

Spending her formative years making friends in Washington Square with art school skateboarders, Chloë first rose to prominence as a model for Sassy magazine and X-Girl, and her name and face spread even further after appearing in a Sonic Youth music video. From that point on, Chloë’s unique brand of cool and downtown New York hipster fashion sense meant all eyes were on her, and The New Yorker ran a huge seven-page article on her that proved she was one of New York’s it girls at the tender age of 20. A little further down the road, she became a behemoth in the fashion industry, modeling for Miu Miu in 1996 and giving the world countless iconic looks. She also became a darling of the screen, starring in a number of different indie movies and TV shows in the US, including Larry Clark’s 1995 film Kids, and earned herself an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Boys Don’t Cry (1999) and won a Golden Globe in the same category for Big Love (2010).

But Chloë isn’t in the music video just for the sake of showing respect to the OG. Like the others she appears alongside, Chloë continues to be an incredibly influential it girl in the eyes of Gen Z. For proof of the fact, look no further than how much buzz surrounded the closet sale she held last year. To call it a success would be an understatement: A nearly endless line of Gen Zers waited patiently for a chance to buy something from her personal collection, while social media was practically bursting with videos of people proudly showing off their hauls. Notably, pop star Olivia Rodrigo, herself a part of Gen Z, was thrilled to share her find among Chloë’s stash: a dress for which she “had the picture of her wearing the dress saved on my Pinterest for years.”

What makes Chloë a perpetual symbol of cool from Gen X to Gen Z is her unwavering dedication. Not only has she always had impeccable style, but she never bowed to the mainstream, even after she became famous. Instead of moving to LA to become a Hollywood star, she chose near-and-dear New York, only taking acting roles for characters she wanted to play in films directed by people she respects. Having a niche is part and parcel to being an it girl. Chloë Sevigny has always had that unwavering dedication to the things she likes, making this it girl just as stylish, cool, and even mysterious, some 30 years on.