Steal Her Look

About

Steal Her Look is a series of instructional posts for costume ideas on Tumblr that offer a list of high-end, boutique clothing items and fashion accessories required to achieve the look of an Internet meme, such as a fictional character, viral video celebrity or inanimate object, as a parody of the familiar “lookbook” format widely used in fashion magazines and seasonal catalogues.

Origin

While the layout of “steal her style” posts has been a long-running format in the fashion publishing industry, and later, the fashion blogosphere, its earliest known application in meme-themed costume guides can be traced back to Know Your Meme’s Hallowmeme costume catalogue launched on October 14th, 2009.

The earliest known usage of the phrase “steal her look” in this context can be found in a Facebook page^[3] titled “Steal Her Look," created on September 9th, 2010, within four years, the page has gained over 2,000 likes.

Spread

On September 27th, 2014, Tumblr user vaginawoolf^[2] posted a GIF of The Pumpkin Dance next to pictures of a black turtleneck, black leggings and a pumpkin with the caption “get her look.” Within 48 hours the post gained over 40,000 notes.

The next day vaginawolf posted a steal her look entry based on the DashCon ball pit. Within 48 hours the post gained over 50,000 notes.

On September 29th, Tumblr user pastel-chaos^[4] published a steal her look post featuring Tony the talking clock from Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, within 24 hours the post gained over 1,000 notes. The same day Tumblr user theofmoviestills^[5] published a steal her look post featuring Tommy Wiseau, within 24 hours the post gained over 1,000 notes. The same day Tumblr user swiggityswagthenightmarestagvevo^[6] published a steal her look post featuring hot chocolately milkey spider, within 24 hours the post gained over 100 notes.