About

Steal Her Look, alternatively written as Steal His 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 catalog 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 25th, 2014 Tumblr user lucillesballs shared a variation called "steal her look: anime girl club." The post received more than 100,000 notes in less than six years (shown below).

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.

Also on September 29th, Buzzfeed posted a steal her style round-up titled "Tumblr’s “Steal Her Look” Meme Is All The Halloween Inspiration You Need."

2021 Lingerie Versions

On July 16th, 2021, Tumblr^[9] user anarchofaggot posted a Steal His Look meme featuring serial killer Ghostface from the Scream franchise (shown below). In addition to Ghostface's mask and cloak, an expensive lingerie set was added. The post received over 21,900 likes and reblogs in three weeks.

On July 21st, Twitter^[10] user @parkoered reposted the meme, with the post gaining over 12,800 retweets and 79,200 likes in two weeks.

On July 22nd, Twitter^[11] user @pakuztrap posted the first derivative meme within the subformat, a Mob Psycho 100 meme that gained over 4,900 retweets and 32,200 likes in two weeks (shown below, left).

The format gained viral spread in the following weeks with multiple viral versions posted online. For example, on July 23rd, Facebook^[12] user Leonardo G. Baia posted a Death Note version that received over 1,400 reactions and 6,900 shares in two weeks (shown below, center).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References