If you’re the mother of a tween or teen girl you have probably heard the term “VSCO Girl.”  When I first heard it, I asked my daughter if it meant “Vintage Disco?”  She looked at me, kind of said yes and went on her way.  OMG, I was so excited my heart actually skipped a beat!

I was going to educate her on the greatness that was Studio 54, I could help her shop for sparkles and gold lame, we could have 70’s dance parties in the living room.  My teenage motherhood dreams had come true!

However, when I kept referring to it as Vintage Disco and questioning why none of the girls she was pointing out to me looked like they were vintage anything, she finally said, “That’s not what it is.”  Wait, but you said it was.  No, she didn’t.  I was crushed and visco was dead before it even started.

So, what it is?  She then explained that VSCO is a photo filtering app.  What VSCO really is, is an aesthetic.  It’s a laid-back California look and lifestyle, even if you don’t live in California.  Most importantly, it’s currently everywhere.

VSCO girls wear scrunchies in their hair, with not just messy top knots, but a specific top knot that is floppy, sloppy and kind of makes their hair look like a bow.  VSCO girls wear Birkenstocks and carry Hydro flasks. They wear oversized shirts.  They say weird things like “And I oop” and the “Sksksksk” sound in rapid fire succession.  They are easy, breezy and beautiful.

My daughter is adamant she is not a VSCO girl.  But when I point out she wears Birkenstocks, says “And I oop” and wears scrunchies in her hair with the weird floppy up do, she politely reminds me she doesn’t own a Hydro flask.  Ahhh, ok.

While I pondered the VSCO girl trend, I realized these girls are nothing more than a modern version of the Valley Girl.  The Valley Girl was an aesthetic.  She was materialistic.  She hailed from California and then bled into other parts of the country.  Most importantly, she was everywhere.

The Valley Girl wore her hair big and feathered, which she painstakingly curled and sprayed until it was perfect. She wore pink pumps and oversized shirts.  She carried her Dad’s credit card, hung out at the mall and said weird things like “Gag me with a spoon,” peppered her sentences with the word “Like” and started them with an OMG {she may still do this today, even though she’s well into her 40’s.}  She was a little uptight and she was beautiful.

The VSCO Girl and the Valley Girl are almost one in the same.  Teen girls who are/were following the trends while trying to fit in and stay relevant in their ever-changing worlds.  However, the VSCO girl has a few of the qualities the Valley Girl lacked.  She cares about the environment, she’s all about girl power, and she’s more of a free-spirit than an uptight bitch.

So, when my daughter got in the car after school the other day and I commented on the VSCO girls, like I do every day, she proclaimed rather vehemently that “VSCO is dead.”  Oh, okay.  I shrugged and so badly wanted to tell her, “OMG, that’s what you think…”