Yes, I’m wearing pants: A VSCO tale
Alyssa Bunde
Staff Writer
A SATIRE PIECE
Last Thursday, I dressed like a VSCO girl, and was subsequently asked if I was wearing pants at least five times that day, proving that the life of a VSCO girl is a rough one.
For those of you who don’t know, VSCO girls are the latest internet meme, stemming mostly from Tik-Tok, the garbage rip-off of Vine. People have populated YouTube with VSCO girl transformations, jokes, and how-to videos about this trend, so I decided to follow suit, and became a VSCO girl for a day.
For those that still have no idea what I’m talking about allow me to explain further. According to Urban Dictionary, my go-to resource of all slang that I’m too uncultured to understand, a VSCO girl is defined as, “the Tumblr girls of 2019, you’ll probably catch them wearing a scrunchie, tube top, puka shell necklace, vans or Birkenstocks and don’t forget the hydro flask to finish off the look.”
In addition, VSCO girls have been associated with always carrying CarMax Chapstick, saying phrases like sksksks and I oop, wearing baggy shirts, and always having aesthetically pleasing video and photo content.
To begin my transformation, I dug out all the scrunchies I could find, grabbed all my Burts Bees Chapstick (because CarMax Chapstick sucks, there I said it), borrowed a giant T-shirt, practiced my sksksks voice, failed to locate a puka shell necklace ( I wasn’t about to buy one), and grabbed some Vans.
I was ready. I posted a selfie to my story, obviously with a filter and almost instantly my messages were flooded with comments stating I was basic or asking where my pants were. Right off the bat it was clear that being a VSCO girl came at a price, but I sksksks’d and moved on with my day.
As the day progressed, I found myself growing rather annoyed with the attention I was getting from my outfit. At face value, being a VSCO girl appears to just be a fashion choice.
However, digging deeper it’s more than just a style, it reveals something more interesting about our society. The internet has turned VSCO girls into a meme and yet another category for girls to fit into. Choosing that baggy T-shirt and scrunchies combo opens you up to flaming, be it online or in real life.
“Do you have a personality under that T-shirt? Well not anymore, now you’re just basic.”
In the midst of my research, I saw a tweet that read, “Tumblr girls walked so VSCO girls could run.” Tumblr girls were once the hot trend, complete with messy buns, fringed tank tops, Aztec patterns, and aesthetically pleasing everything.
Sadly, they too were considered to be the epitome of “basic”. The tweet is accurate, showing that the concept of being basic has evolved into a new style while the ridicule stays the same. People are shoved into these categories and written off as basic just because of their style, and it’s kind of ridiculous.
Sometimes I just wish how I dressed wouldn’t force me into a category. Why do I have to be a hippy when I wear my Birkenstock and tie-dye? Why do I have to be an e-girl when I wear my combat boots and dark lipstick? I shouldn’t have to be, I’m just a girl with a wide variety of clothing, but I guess that in itself is probably a category too.
So, the pattern will continue and tomorrow when I decide what to wear, I’ll also be choosing what mold I want to fit into today. Hopefully in the future we will all be able to just be ourselves and not be categorized, but for now I’ll stay in my ever-changing mold and continue to be annoyed about this whole situation.