That girl
Etymology
From the phrase "she’s that girl," meaning someone enviably put-together. It crystallized as an aesthetic and hashtag on TikTok and Instagram around 2021, built around beautifully filmed routines of exercise, clean eating, and productivity.
noun · /THAT gurl/
The aspirational, disciplined woman of wellness videos — up at dawn, green smoothie, journaling, workout, all perfectly optimized.
What it names
It names an internet ideal of self-optimized femininity, in which health, productivity, and aesthetics fuse into a single polished morning-routine persona — one that can inspire and quietly oppress at once.
Example
I tried to become that girl for a week — 5 a.m. wake-ups, matcha, Pilates — and lasted three days.
Related idea
A close relative of the clean girl aesthetic; "that girl" is about the disciplined lifestyle, the clean girl about the minimal, polished look.