By Sarah Spellings
Gun to my head, if I had to sum up what a “VSCO girl” is in one word, it would be “basic.” But gun to my head, I would probably use my last breath to say that I am 24 years old and I should not feel this ancient because of an internet trend.
In recent months, the VSCO girl has become inescapable in certain corners of the internet — mainly those that teens flock to, like YouTube and TikTok — and made its way into established outlets like the New York Times and BuzzFeed News. I’d sum it up as “manic pixie ecowarrior,” though a teen I know described the archetype more bluntly — as “annoying, white hopeless romantics.”
The VSCO girl is both a person and a meme, blandly aspirational to many, but also the subject of pointed parody. It has a hyperspecific set of associations and aesthetics. The name comes from VSCO, a popular photo-editing app, known for its dreamy “is that a film camera?” filters. And the VSCO girl has a set uniform as well: Brandy Melville crop tops and oversize tees that eclipse one’s jean shorts, scrunchies, a perpetually dewy face courtesy of Mario Badescu facial sprays, Pura Vida puka-shell bracelets, a Fjällräven backpack, and a sticker-covered Hydro Flask water bottle. They love taking photos…
