Every decade has its defining trends, but the “it-girl” of the 2010s, armed with a puka-shell necklace and a Hydro Flask water bottle, has garnered both haters and followers. 

   The VSCO girl emerged from the photo-based social media app called VSCO. At its core, the app is a place for creators to post art without the burden of like-counts or views.  But what started as a platform for artistic photos and melancholy quotes morphed into the origin of style standards for teenage girls. 

   “[The VSCO girl] definitely has her Hydro Flask, her shell necklace, oversized tee, metal straws if you’re just really top tier VSCO girl,” senior Brooke West said.

   These items are just a section of the VSCO girl uniform. In an online newspaper survey, students described VSCO girls as “addicted to trendy stuff,” “someone who imitates what they see on VSCO in their lives,” and an “annoying and basic white girl,” to name a few. 

   “I feel like VSCO is the new place to get trends,” junior Talon Floyd said. “[The trend] could go away if people don’t add to it. I think it could last and define us more if people keep making things trendy through VSCO, like how in other decades people would start making things trendy through models or actresses.”

   The VSCO girl has permeated almost every form of social media, branching out beyond its origin app and taking over the digital world. From influencers to meme pages on Instagram, the VSCO girl is now a staple of the Gen Z fashion brand. Like any trend, many aspects have become the object of ridicule. Adherers to the trend receive hate on social media platforms, especially TikTok, simply due to the fact their fashion is aligned with the VSCO look. Catchphrases like “SKSKSKSK” or “an I oop” have created a persona that spoils the fun. 

   “If [VSCO girls] actually like the stuff that they own or wearing, then they don’t deserve hate,” Floyd said. “But if they just do it because it’s trendy, then I think it’s more deserved than if they just do it because they like wearing it.,” 

   The deeper question is about the motivation behind this trend. Critics wonder if it is a personal choice, or is it a desire and a way to fit in?.

    “Some of the younger girls might be just hopping on it because it’s a trend,” Floyd said. 

“But like, I’ve worn scrunchies and big T-shirts for the past three, four years of my life and so I feel like that’s not really a bandwagon thing. The younger girls are hopping on all those trends right now because they see older, more popular girls wearing it. Even girls [my] age do it to look trendy.”   

The image of a VSCO girl is intertwined with material goods. When she screams to save the turtles, the VSCO girl drinks out of a $40 dollar Hydro Flask using a $20 metal straw. When she’s posing for new photos, she’s wearing Birkenstocks or Crocs. Some items, like puka shell necklaces or big T-shirts don’t cost as much as the other facets of VSCO trendiness. But in order to fit that image, many think they have to buy the “required” items in order to fit in. If one can’t afford certain products, the image of the “VSCO” girl seems unattainable.

   “Honestly kids in this school literally look at you for what you have and not what you are,” senior Zion Hinds said. 

    At school, students wear uniforms to prevent exclusion through brands or expensive items. The uniforms create a sense of solidarity to allow students, in theory, to be seen as the people person they are rather than the clothes they wear. Even with the equalizing factor of uniforms, materialism still creeps into the school. North VFace backpacks and name-brand shoes are staples of the private school uniform, just like Vans or Brandy Melville tank tops are staples of the VSCO girl trend. 

  “I think inevitably, materialism is something that’s innate in our broken human nature,” theology teacher Joseph Welch said. “Everybody tends to have to fight with it a little bit. I do think our school struggles particularly because we’ve got a lot of families with a lot of resources, and the more resources you have, the more access you have to stuff and it becomes a bigger problem.” 

  The Catholic faith is especially attuned to justice and solidarity. While trends like the VSCO girl can create a sense of solidarity, it can also exclude those who don’t feel as if they fit into the standards of the trend. The divide between the haves and have-nots comes with every generation and every trend. Trends come and go, but their impacts, whether positive or negative, depends on the adherent’s point of view. For West, she sees the joy of the trend.

    “I think anyone can be a VSCO girl,”  West said. “It’s for all of us.”