VSCO girl
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈvɪskoʊ ɡɜːɫ/
Forms: form: VSCO girls
Etymology: VSCO is short for Visual Supply Company, makers of a popular photo editing application.
Senses: examples: text: The VSCO girl not only looks bright and beach-ready — she also radiates with a desire to “save the turtles.”
ref: 2019 August 30, Becky Hughes, “What Does VSCO Think About the ‘VSCO Girls’?”, in The New York Times:
text: The new kids will be over as soon as they get too old and the adolescent hordes find someone new to follow. Have you heard of the VSCO Girls? Google it. Your children probably already have.
ref: 2019 September 1, Ty Burr, “Famous now vs. famous then”, in Boston Sunday Globe, volume 296, number 63, page N9:
text: You probably thought scrunchies were over, but let the VSCO girl assure you: they are not, and your belief otherwise is yet another indication that you are almost impossibly decrepit and old.
ref: 2019 September 5, EJ Dickson, “All Hail the VSCO Girl, the Latest Gen-Z Meme to Make You Feel Impossibly Old”, in Rolling Stone:
text: There is much to learn on YouTube, including how to identify a Mukbang (a video/show in which a person eats a lot of food while talking to the audience) and a VSCO girl (oversize tees, stickered Hydro Flask, puka necklace, scrunchies, Birkenstocks and photos edited on VSCO).
ref: 2019 September 13, Mary McNamara, “What I learned from 5 days of binge-watching YouTube”, in Daily Citizen, volume 108, number 164, page A9:
text: Khushboo Rathore, another 17-year-old at Blair, would like to be able to wear crop tops and bandeaus like other girls at school do, like the girls on Instagram who post the caption “hot girl summer” and like the “VSCO girls” who look beachy and effortless with their short shorts, scrunchies and Hydro Flasks.
ref: 2019 October 6, Samantha Schmidt, “Parents navigate the dress code debate”, in The Washington Post:
text: But then I learned that these colorful bracelets — made by artisans in Costa Rica — are part of the larger “VSCO girl” trend, an “effortless, beachy” aesthetic popularized on social apps like TikTok.
ref: 2019 November 12, Jackie Ashton, “When Your Tween Wants to Conform to the VSCO Girl Trend”, in The New York Times:
text: Being a VSCO girl is often embraced and mocked by those who subscribe to the trend.
ref: 2019 November 14, Leah Harper, “The rise of the VSCO girl – and how to spot one”, in The Guardian:
text: The “it” girl of 2019 was definitely the VSCO girl! The term comes from the photo editing app VSCO and she is known for sporting natural makeup, expressing herself with captions like “Sksksksk” and is all about taking Polaroids. You’ll find her posting in pics on social media wearing things like scrunchies, Fjällräven backpacks, Birkenstocks, crop tops and even mom jeans. It’s an aesthetic that no one rocked better than our girl Emma Chamberlain!
ref: 2020 January 1, “All Hail the VSCO Girl!”, in J-14:
text: One of the largest commonalities among VSCO girls is their outfits, which often consist of clothing and accessories from the same brands.
ref: 2020 January 21, Chelsea Ritschel, “VSCO Girl: What Is The Trend Taking Over Instagram And TikTok?”, in Independent:
text: The brand [Hydro Flask] has especially found love among “VSCO girls,” young women who embrace a beachy, easygoing, 1990s-inspired aesthetic.
ref: 2020 February 23, Priscella Vega, “This water bottle carries many messages”, in Los Angeles Times:
text: Indeed, the nostalgia value of the hat is eternally appealing: The Last Dance’s reminded everyone of Dennis Rodman’s classic bucket-hat styles (remember the iconic leopard-print look on The Tonight Show?) while it has been swept up in the trend for retro looks (hi VSCO girls) and a general rewind to a “lithe surfer (or indeed raver) wandering around The Green Fields at Glastonbury” (we see you tie-dye).
ref: 2020 May 28, Priya Elan, “The nostalgic value of the bucket hat”, in The Guardian:
text: When Sharp first bought a pair of bike shorts in 2019, she was inspired by those who had gotten on the bandwagon before her: VSCO girls on TikTok, teenagers she knows from the summer camp where she works, and Princess Diana, who was also namechecked by Ogunnaike and Gattuso.
ref: 2020 August 25, Eliza Brooke, “Bike shorts are all the rage during the pandemic”, in Houston Chronicle:
text: From Evian bottles littered around Shelley Long in the 1989 film “Troop Beverly Hills” to the Naya bottle tucked in the golden carrier of Alicia Silverstone’s character Cher in 1995’s “Clueless” to the Hydro Flasks favoured by today’s VSCO Girls, “Keeping a bottle of water in hand makes it look like you’re healthy and it became a status symbol,” said Rose, 37.
ref: 2021 February 26, Katherine Rosman, “The water bottle that won’t leave you alone”, in Toronto Star:
text: Clad in denim shorts, a worn-in graphic tee and Birkenstock sandals, the classic VSCO girls can be seen driving a white Jeep whilst living out a perpetual summer and documenting it on social media for the rest of us to see. The term VSCO girls and boys—a name which comes from a photo editing app—is attributed to those living out the California high school stereotype with a laid back personality and a questionably fashionable, beach-loving style.
ref: 2021 April, Dunya Mostaghimi, “How to: AeSthEt!C”, in C Magazine, volume 9, edition 4, Palo Alto High School, page 17:
text: Bottles from Hydro Flask — with their interchangeable lids and promise to keep beverages cold for up to 24 hours — were a must-have for VSCO girls.
ref: 2022 May 29, Danya Issawi, “The Sisterhood of the Stanley Tumbler”, in San Antonio Express-News:
text: If you happen to know about the legs or hotdogs meme, Evil Kermit, or what a Milkshake Duck or VSCO girl is, you are poised to do well in this version of the game [Trivial Pursuit Decades: 2010–2020].
ref: 2023 January 16, Saleema Nawaz, “Suddenly, teens are winning pieces of Trivial Pursuit’s pie”, in Montreal Gazette:
qualifier: TikTok aesthetic
glosses: A girl or woman who embraces the VSCO girl trend/subculture of the late 2010s and early 2020s, characterized by heavy use of social media and relaxed, beachy fashion.
wikipedia: VSCO