13 votes

Teens explain the VSCO Girl-and why you never want to be one

7 comments

  1. [3]
    kfwyre
    Link
    As a teacher, I see memes take kids by storm and then blow over shortly thereafter. Right now I hear chatter from students about VSCO girls constantly, and the hallways are filled with a chorus of...

    As a teacher, I see memes take kids by storm and then blow over shortly thereafter. Right now I hear chatter from students about VSCO girls constantly, and the hallways are filled with a chorus of "sk-sk-sks" during class change. Something else will take its place soon. Fad whiplash is strong, where every popular thing will eventually suffer under the weight of its success because everyone doing or talking about something makes it fundamentally uncool. I watched Fortnite go from the most amazing thing to passé seemingly overnight.

    The cynic in me thinks most widespread memes for kids are, as hinted at in the article, viral marketing. "VSCO girl" has the name of the app right in the phrase. "Alexa, play Despacito" was a rare two-for-one that highlighted both a product and a song. Fortnite probably owes most of its success to its dances--kids would, I'm not exaggerating, stand up and bust out "Orange Justice" when they got a right answer in class or a good quiz grade. Vines were nearly lost and forgotten to a dead platform, only to suddenly resurface en masse right as TikTok was trying to become a thing. The kids get a kick out of all of these memes and they're largely harmless1 so I'm not necessarily critical of them, but I'm pretty certain they're more strategic than irreverent.

    Even if a particular meme originates organically, I have no doubt that relevant companies see their rise and fuel them. "VSCO girl" is an identifier that has raised the profile of the app better than any advertising campaign ever could. They would be foolish not to capitalize on it.


    1I am bothered that "VSCO girl" seems to be another log on the fire of kids learning to be dismissive and critical of girls' appearances. Though many memes are value-neutral, I would argue this one isn't.

    16 votes
    1. imperialismus
      Link Parent
      I don’t think that teenage girls (or boys) need memes to encourage them to be dismissive and critical of each other. There are definitely some ideas floating around that generate fresh, judgmental...

      I don’t think that teenage girls (or boys) need memes to encourage them to be dismissive and critical of each other. There are definitely some ideas floating around that generate fresh, judgmental attitudes that would otherwise not exist (modern fashion/beauty ideals, where girls are impossibly thin and dudes are impossibly lean but muscular, for instance). But this sort of fad subculture, I think, is more like focusing a general instinct for tribalism which it would take a radical shift in what it means to be a teenager, or indeed human, to remove; if it wasn’t this, it would be some other subculture. I don’t think it generates judgmental attitudes, only provides an outlet for them, and the fact that they’re so faddish and interchangeable, that every generation has a few of these, seems to be evidence for that.

      Oh, and admittedly I had never heard of the VSCO girl archetype before this article, but from what I can tell from the article, it’s not just purely about appearance. It appears to be about a combination of fashion, attitude and stock phrases. Not that we should celebrate teenage judgmentalness, but at least they’re judging each other on a broader spectrum of things than just looks.

      On a different note, I’m fascinated by these highly specific archetypes. It seems to be a more modern phenomenon. If you asked me to describe a typical 1960s/early 70s hippie, I would give you some vague keywords: psychedelic drugs, rock and roll, opposition to the vietnam war, dirty but colorful clothes, into harmony with nature. The other day I encountered a highly specific Portuguese archetype:

      Guilherme is the kind of guy who wears expensive white shirts from Hugo Boss. He's likely lanky, with a Zac Efron haircut or - if born after 1995 - an undercut. He drives a good car which his father bought for him for his 16th (despite the fact that you can only drive at 18). He cheats on his girlfriend, but cries when getting caught and she's in a sunk cost relationship, having been with him since high school, so she forgives him. He thinks he has abs. His mom calls him "sir".

      It seems like the definition of the Guilherme or the VSCO girl is simultaneously more specific, and less connected to an actual subculture (a community of like-minded people) than the hippie or the greaser or the emo kid.

      7 votes
    2. onyxleopard
      Link Parent
      Everything old is new again. In my days it was slap bands, Tomagotchis, and Pogs. Well, and Pokémon, but that was more than a fad. It’s pretty obvious that any little viral ripple gets amplified a...

      Everything old is new again. In my days it was slap bands, Tomagotchis, and Pogs. Well, and Pokémon, but that was more than a fad. It’s pretty obvious that any little viral ripple gets amplified a lot when someone decides they can make a profit off it. Be it fidget spinners, Vuvuzelas, or those sneakers with wheels in the heels. Some factory in Shenzhen is pumping it out as fast as it can while it’s profitable.

      2 votes
  2. [4]
    balooga
    Link
    I'm getting too old. It's funny, I could talk about a bunch of subcultures or cliques from yesteryear without batting an eye. It's easy to see their cultural impact after the fact. Valley girls,...

    I'm getting too old.

    It's funny, I could talk about a bunch of subcultures or cliques from yesteryear without batting an eye. It's easy to see their cultural impact after the fact. Valley girls, preps, goths, nerds, hippies, greasers, flappers, and so on. These were all "things."

    It's so much weirder when this stuff is still in motion, especially as an adult outsider. Will this VSCO girl fad actually be a lasting cultural phenomenon, or is it just some privileged kids playing dress up until they get bored and everyone moves on? Is it worth anyone's attention today? Will it be, 10 or 20 years from now? I'm still marveling that "emos" became what they did, and then I guess "scene kids" was the MySpacified successor to that, by which point I was graduating from college and completely lost the thread. Now I'm just confused.

    8 votes
    1. papasquat
      Link Parent
      I kinda doubt it. This seems like such a specific thing, and one that doesn't have a general overarching theme. They're just a bunch of popular brands of things that young people happen to like....

      I kinda doubt it. This seems like such a specific thing, and one that doesn't have a general overarching theme. They're just a bunch of popular brands of things that young people happen to like. It's akin to "mac guy" of the early 2000s. It was sort of a thing, but not something that ever gained a ton of traction or that's really recognized as a subculture.

      1 vote
    2. thejumpingbulldog
      Link Parent
      To be fair I've never been trendy and always been confused. I guess I've always viewed trends in a way like an anthropologist would.

      To be fair I've never been trendy and always been confused. I guess I've always viewed trends in a way like an anthropologist would.

    3. krg
      Link Parent
      No doubt. I have no idea what the title of this post is even referring to. I only get the occasional glimpse of this viral/meme-y stuff these days and...it's probably for the best. Shit, I always...

      I'm getting too old.

      No doubt. I have no idea what the title of this post is even referring to.

      I only get the occasional glimpse of this viral/meme-y stuff these days and...it's probably for the best. Shit, I always felt pretty well connected to Internet "culture", too!

      To be young, again...