There are few certainties about being a 20-something-year-old in 2016, except a couple… usually involving our behaviour on Instagram. Someone liking all your photos but not following you back? Going on a deleting spree because you’ve changed your vibe from six hours ago?
London-based illustrator and recent Central Saint Martins graduate @topgirl.studio is calling us out on the superficial beings that social media has apparently made us into with iGIRL, a "satirical publication that takes a look into the user’s thoughts”.
She explains: "I wanted to create something that would make girls laugh but also wasn’t just nonsense, there was a meaning behind it. iGirl is a bit of fun, yes but it also opens up our eyes to the bigger picture: how reliant we have become online. It’s all about ‘internet goals and having the perfect feed.’ Which when we take a step back and think about it, it’s all ridiculous but we all do it, including me.”
Self-described as “Regina George in Mean Girls or the Burn Book but about Instagram”, within its pink pages are references to some of today’s most pressing pop cultural phenomena; Yeezy, Drake, the ‘importance’ of a following and our spiralling dependence on selfies.
"When it came to getting ideas on what topics to choose for iGirl, it was pretty easy, I just read a lot of comments from people I follow. The words they use, how they tag their friends, everything had this tone to it and it intrigued me,” she says. "The next step was to personify iGirl, I needed to make her real, so I took inspiration from Beyonce and created iGirl as my alter ego. iGirl has the confidence to say it how it is, and the ego to not care what other people think of her. Once I had her personality down, all I had to do was ask her questions. iGirl is simple, she’s relatable and no matter what you think of her, I can guarantee there’s one page that is you."
Pre-order iGirl here or follow @topgirl.studio here
