Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/celebrity-fandom

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

It boy

Term for a young man with sex appeal

Term for a young man with sex appeal

An "it boy" (sometimes "it man") is an attractive young man who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The term was coined as the male equivalent of an "it girl".

History

In 1950, actress Clara Bow, for who the term "it girl" was coined, identified Robert Mitchum as an it man. In 1995, Entertainment Weekly referred to Leonardo DiCaprio as "Hollywood's 'It' Boy" because of his "blazing talent and dashing baby-faced looks – a combination of the mystic and the mischievous – that have the praise faucets gushing buckets".

In 2024, Vox published an article titled "Every Hollywood 'it' boy is a white guy," criticizing the entertainment industry for focusing almost exclusively on white actors in the 2020s.

Examples

2010s

  • BTS, South Korean boy brand founded in 2010.
  • Timothée Chalamet (b.1995), American and French actor.

2020s

  • Yeonjun (b. 1999), South Korean singer, songwriter and dancer.
  • Jack Schlossberg (b. 1993) American political commentator and author.
  • Bach Buquen (b. 2006), French influencer and model.
  • Jacob Elordi (b. 1997), Australian actor.
  • Callum Turner (b. 1990), English actor.
  • Romeo Beckham (b. 2002), English model, son of David and Victoria.
  • Manu Ríos (b. 1998), Spanish actor and singer.

File:Robert Mitchum 1955.jpg|alt=|Robert Mitchum File:BTS during a White House press conference May 31, 2022 (cropped).jpg|BTS File:Timothée Chalamet 2017 Berlinale.jpg|Timothée Chalamet File:Yeonjun 250625.jpg|Yeonjun File:Jack Schlossberg at Earthshot Prize 2022 (FjEdLNqXEAItagu) (1).jpg|Jack Schlossberg

References

References

  1. ''Waterloo Daily Courier'', 21 September 1950
  2. (March 24, 1995). "Hollywood's 'It' Boy".
  3. (March 28, 2003). "'It' Boys".
  4. Cunningham, Kyndall. (2024-06-17). "Every Hollywood "it" boy is a white guy".
  5. Herman, Tamar. (2017-09-21). "BTS' 'Pied Piper' Is Filled With Tough Love Towards Fan Culture".
  6. (2018-10-15). "Timothée Chalamet's Blazing Beautiful Boy Press Tour".
  7. (February 16, 2021). "TXT's Yeonjun Is Making His NYFW Debut".
  8. Nazzaro, Miranda. (2024-08-20). "Who is Jack Schlossberg? JFK's grandson speaks at DNC".
  9. (2024-07-11). "Fans are thirsting over JFK's grandson, Jack Schlossberg, after he's named Vogue political correspondent".
  10. Cordero, Robert. (2024-10-21). "The TikTok ‘It Boy’ Who’s Getting Men to Wear Makeup".
  11. Sinha, Ekta. (2024-01-11). "Jacob Elordi Is The New Fashion 'IT' Boy Of The Internet And With Good Reason".
  12. Leslau, Tania. (2025-01-14). "Fashion’s It-boys to have on your radar for 2025".
  13. Ponce, Kev. (August 25, 2025). "VMAN 55: FALL’S MOST WANTED WITH ROMEO BECKHAM". V Man.
  14. LeDonne, Rob. (2023-10-20). "Manu Ríos & Marc Forné Are Hitting the Street With a New Brand—Introducing Carrer".
  15. Aguado, Javier. (2018-08-22). "Manu Ríos, el nuevo 'it boy' que arrasa en Instagram".
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

celebrity-fandom stereotypes-of-men 1950s-neologisms social-influence
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about It boy — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report