As a high school counselor, I get to participate in school spirit activities such as theme days. If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard the term “VSCO girl”, and their trademarks like “sksksk” or “and I oop”. These are all phrases commonly used by VSCO girls but they don’t exactly make sense to us grown-ups.
So, this year, at the high school where I work, one spirit day celebrated was VSCO girl day. After much consultation with my high school students, Google and YouTube, I was ready.
And here are the 10 things I realized while being a VSCO girl (woman) for the day:
- VSCO girls are all about comfort. Oversized t-shirts/sweatshirts, shorts/leggings/ripped jeans, and Crocs or Birkenstocks. Now this is a trend I can get behind.
- Due to all the comfortable clothes… I was super sleepy that day, I mean more so than usual.
- When it comes to hair… a messy bun on the very top of your head is key. I’m down with the messy bun for sure, but I did have a headache from having my hair up that high all day.
- VSCO girls stay hydrated by carrying around a Hydroflask. Think insulated cup that keeps things cold or hot. YETIs are out, Hydroflasks are in. You can take your Hydroflask to the next level and add stickers to it.
- Jewelry, you ask? Think late 90s, early 2000s when we all wore those black chokers. You can rock a plain black choker, one with a faux pearl, or a shell choker. The options are endless, but all are black chokers. I’m never comfortable wearing a choker necklace, it’s either too tight or too loose. I feel like if it’s too loose it defeats the purpose and is no longer a choker.
- Part hair wear, part jewelry… it’s the return of the scrunchie. However, not just any old scrunchie, velvet ones. VSCO gals wear them on their wrists and in that high messy bun. And don’t just stop at one scrunchie, load up your wrist with a few. I wore one in my hair, and that’s where I went wrong. If you have limited scrunchies… always opt for the wrist.
- Back to the shoes… Birks or Crocs, and with socks. Yup, we have to apologize to all the old guys we made fun of for wearing socks with sandals years back, because who knew they were trendsetters.
- Save the turtles! If you’re VSCO, you care about the environment, wildlife included. So, minimize plastic use with your Hydroflask and steel straws, and don’t litter because the turtles need our saving!
- Learning the language. ‘Sksksks’ and phrases like ‘and I oop’ were explained to me, but they still don’t make sense. If you wanna say ‘hahahaha’ just say it, don’t say ‘sksksksk’ in its place. If you’re surprised or shocked by something, don’t say ‘and I oop’, stick with omg. However, I’m always baffled by teenagers making up new words for words that already exist, especially if the newly created catchphrase is longer.
- VSCO girls grow up to be moms who wear workout clothes all day but don’t go to the gym or workout. I am one of those moms, so basically I am a VSCO woman.
Here are some items I already owned and wore, and some that are VSCO essentials:
