"That Girl" Was Originally A Gibson Girl: Why The Viral TikTok Trend Actually Began 100 Years Ago

In spring of 2020, when most of the world was still suffering through lockdowns and uncertainty, a new craze swept through TikTok: the “that girl” trend. “That girl” videos featured women who not only seemed to have their lives pulled together in a way that perfectly balanced health and aestheticism, but also managed to film it for the unwashed masses to enjoy on social media. “That girls” all seemingly got up at 6:00 in the morning, made the bed (which always featured crisp white sheets), immediately exercised in slick gym wear, and followed it up with healthy-conscious breakfasts – acai bowls, avocado toasts, or chia seed puddings were often meals of choice. The videos would then continue with scenes that generally included writing in their “Gratitude Journals,” taking showers to showcase a series of luxury beauty products, and drinking green juices or complicated coffee-based beverages with eco-conscious reusable straws.

According to Bustle, “that girl” videos logged around 800 million views from mid 2020 to late 2021. While many of them were the original videos described above, a large number were also guides for the less glamorous on how to attain the “that girl” lifestyle.

Though the obsession with “that girl” culture is not as strong as it was a year or two ago, its influence remains: the more recent “clean girl” and “vanilla girl” trends seem to feature the same type of person, albeit showcasing more relaxed and self-care focused aspects of their lives rather than the early morning wake up calls.

But, ironically, the true influence, and archetype, of “that girl” may have started over 100 years ago, albeit in a different form. 

The Gibson Girl

In 1890, artist Charles Dana Gibson created a sketch of his ideal woman that took the nation by storm: the Gibson Girl. She was an archetype of the ideal woman of that time period, and her trademark was her S-silhouette and high-coiffed hair. 

Though most today know of the Gibson Girl purely due to the caricature’s aesthetic attributes, the Gibson Girl was, in truth, a complete social phenomenon not truly seen until the emergence of the influencer era. For starters, the definition of a Gibson Girl was not just relegated to appearance. One newspaper, The Inter Ocean, even had a guide for the hallmarks of a Gibson Girl:

“The Gibson girl is a haughty yet charming, dainty yet strong, young woman. She is the embodiment of all the airs and graces of the breezy yet reserved, enthusiastic yet calm, American girl. There are many like her. She is a type.”

Just as “that girl” influencers portray their day-to-day lives in short videos on TikTok, Gibson would draw sketches that supposedly captured the lives of the standard Gibson Girl. While some of them were simple portraits – not unlike the selfies popular today – a large number demonstrated a surprisingly sporty side which seamlessly managed to exist parallel to the Gibson Girl’s obvious femininity. As summarized by the Toronto Public Library, “​​Gibson Girls were often depicted outdoors in various sporting activities like horse riding, motoring, cycling, playing golf or croquet, or swimming at the beach. Whatever the occupation, the Gibson Girl was always young, beautiful, and elegantly attired.” Compare this to “that girl” who remains lean with little muscle but is always filmed running or lifting weights with a perfect blowout and matching athleisure sets.

The Gibson Girl wasn’t just sporty. She was beautiful, immaculately dressed, and shapely with a thin waist and “S” curve silhouette. Moreover, despite her extremely feminine and traditional appearance, she was often portrayed in a way that almost seems “woke.” One famous cartoon shows four Gibson Girls examining a miniature man under a magnifying glass. Underneath the image reads “the weaker sex.” In another, a Gibson Girl is holding onto a dog while staring at a mother with her child. “Some women prefer dogs,” declares the caption – a phrase which seems more appropriate for 2023 Twitter than turn of the century Life.

Moreover, the Gibson Girl wasn’t just a straw figure; models and socialites descended on Gibson’s workshop, chaperones in hand, to be drawn as – and, more importantly, be publicly assigned the title of – a Gibson Girl, creating a small cabal of the verified elite. The ultimate coup for a model or socialite was to be drawn so that the initials on her handbag were visible and intact in the resulting image. That said, a 1936 edition of The Kansas City Star highlighted another way that women would advertise their new statuses as Gibson Girls in an era where posting on a personal page and sharing photos online was not possible:

“A young lady could leave a copy of Life, open at the important page, on her library table and not fail to be pleasingly identified by callers.”

Newspapers went so far as to cover the daily lives and minutiae of Gibson Girls, essentially making them the earliest influencers. One celebrated Gibson Girl had a routine that was listed by The Sidney Journal-Gazette as “breakfast early and exercise briskly for an hour or two. Have a luncheon and exercise again, this time riding,” a schedule that echoes the early fitness regimen of the “that girl” class. A DeKalb County Herald from 1934 noted that their local “late type of Gibson Girl” was an aspiring singer who had composed the class song. 

The social draw of the Gibson Girl should not be underestimated: when Mrs. Waldorf Astor, formerly Nancy Langhorne Shaw, was married in June of 1906, a large headline on the nuptials was not “American Socialite Marries Wealthy British Aristocrat.” Rather, it was “Gibson Girl Wedded.” The groom, eligible bachelor and wealthy heir Waldorf Astor, did not make the headline – the Gibson Girl name was somehow deemed more of a draw. To hammer the point home, the first line of the article read, “A Gibson Girl was the talk of all of England,” in case the declaration that the bride was a Gibson Girl had somehow eluded the reader. As a side note, British history buffs might recognize the bride as Viscountess Astor, the first female M.P. in history and one-time mistress of Cliveden House. 

Unsurprisingly, a social phenomenon so strong soon attracted capitalistic opportunities. There were Gibson Girl themed plates, spoons, pillows (in color options including red, fawn, russet, and electric blue), and even wallpaper. In today’s world, both regular influencers and the “that girl” segment similarly monetize their lives by promoting products like water bottles, vitamins, and more; fortunately, they are able to benefit financially while the Gibson Girls of yore did not.

Plus ça change . . . 

There is an old French saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same. When looking at the Gibson Girl mania of the 1900s and the “That Girl” trend of 2020, the idiom seems more apt than ever. In both cases, the ideal woman was sporty – but dressed to the nines the while. In both cases, the ideal was feminine, gentle, and calm while balancing “empowered” actions, whether it be “girl boss” self employment or the hustle for “that girl” or having untraditional social interactions for the Gibson Girl. Last but not least, women wanted to be associated with the ideal. While women were once banging on Charles Dana Gibson’s door to be his models, women today painstakingly create, edit, and promote videos where they tag themselves with “#thatgirl.”

The Gibson Girl dominance began to ebb following the end of World War I and the start of the roaring 20s; similarly, the “that girl” craze is already dying down quickly and surely another new trend will take its place. But what is interesting is that the Gibson Girl and “that girl” were both the first archetypes to take off following a new era in content delivery. The Gibson Girl took off at a time when magazines had not only just started mass circulation but also began to reach a national audience. “That Girl” videos were almost exclusively popularized by TikTok, an app that has already begun to change the face of social media and technology.  Whether these similarities say more about what women want or society’s expectations is a question for another time.