If you’ve ever been wandering around uni and spotted a (generally) white, (moderately) wealthy girl with at least one scrunchie, Fjallraven Kanken backpack and a hydro flask (usually a Chilly’s bottle in a pastel shade) then you, my friend, have spotted a VSCO girl.
If you’re lucky, you’ll usually see a swarm of them in Urban Outfitters buying overpriced scrunchies or hunched over their Macbooks (that conveniently has a ‘save the turtles' sticker emblazoned on the front, staring at the Brandy Melville website intently.
I’ve managed to put together a list of what you can expect to find in their bright yellow Fjallraven Kanken after close analysis of these strange beings: at least two Carmex lip balms, a pastel Polaroid camera, a puka shell necklace and some metal straws because they’re obviously eco-conscious. On their phone expect to find a semi-thriving Tiktok account and, of course, the photo editing app VSCO that allows them to edit themselves to their heart's desire.
Youtubers like Emma Chamberlain can be considered the creator of the trend due to her endless vlogs on Urban and Brandy hauls but also her thrift store hunts. Her Instagram always features a sun-kissed, saturated picture of herself in mini shorts/mom jeans and a thrifted vintage crop top, showing us she’s always beach ready (a common theme of the life as a VSCO girl).
Due to the distorted world of social media and aesthetically pleasing view of a tan that society has placed on us, this creates a false representation of a VSCO girl’s life, for example, Emma Chamberlain. Making us pine for the wealthy VSCO girl life of warm beaches, an even tan and an excessive amount of lip balm.
VSCO girls have been haunting our screens for some time now, slowly embedding their ‘and i oops’ into our general vocabulary and, for me, persuading me to buy far too many scrunchies and EOS lip balms than one person needs. I guess, like always, we’re going to have to sit and ride this trend out as we did throughout the entirety of the noughties.