The very first "It" Girl and America's First Sex Symbol - Clara Bow

When you hear someone saying, "She's got "IT" or "She has the "it" factor", they're talking about that "special something" that is hard to define. This term was first ever used on Clara Bow, who starred in the movie "It" and became known as "The It Girl" after the film's release in 1927. A character in the movie "It" described "it" with the definition, "It...that strange magnetism which attracts both sexes...entirely unself-conscious...full of self-confidence...indifferent to the effect...she is producing and uninfluenced by others."

I was assigned to do a report on Clara Bow when I was in the tenth grade and I had never heard of her before. I remember reading that she was called "Clara Bow" because of her bow shaped lips, but when I looked her up today, I saw that her father's last name was "bow". Maybe people associated her name and her lips together. I did find on wikipedia that Clara applied her lipstick in a heart shape on her lips, and women that followed her were said to be putting a "Clara Bow on their lips".

I rememebr looking at photos of her back in tenth grade, wondering to myself "What was it that men liked about her so much? Would she be considered attractive today?" I couldn't figure out why she had that "it" factor.

When I was in tenth grade, girls all strived to have huge hairsprayed hair, often long, often permed, scrunched with mousse, sometimes bleached, sometimes with blonde highlights. They wore big scrunchy socks with their baggy pants tucked into them, or they wore splotched up "acid washed" jeans. I know it sounds like crazy clown attire, but at the time this is what girls thought would make them look "fine". So, I didn't get what the big deal was about Clara Bow.

Today was the first time I saw her on film. Now I get it. She DOES have that "It" factor. She's uniquely beautiful. "It" is her expressive and searching eyes, her pouting lips, her china doll skin and soft expressions. More than that, it is something that people simply cannot describe. She had star quality. And she was indeed a star! Her filmography includes around 60 films.

Clara Bow had a horrible childhood. She was neglected, abused, and her childhood friend died in her arms. She was quoted as saying "Even now I can't trust life. It did too many awful things to me as a kid."