The popularity of the VSCO girl trend almost coincided with the increased use of Facebook Live. This is the reason why the trend is named after the app due to their laid-back approach to pop culture. The app developers also affirm that they designed the app to take the pressure off social networking. This app is meant for photo-editing and is a bit laid back in their approach to posting content. The trend got its name from the VSCO app. This will help us to understand how the trend from this Gen Z subculture gained so much popularity. There are many social media sites that aided the VSCO girl trend to increase and we’ll take a look at some of them. "We are in a privileged position as a Swedish brand that there's nothing ostentatious or boisterous about it.The VSCO girl has become increasingly popular because of the attention it received on social media. "People are aware of things like 'green washing' and over-marketing," she says. Park says its popularity with Gen Z is part of a general embrace of brands that project a more "authentic" message than, say, the likes of Victoria's Secret or Zara. According to the company, a Kanken is sold every 13 seconds, despite maintaining pretty much the same design since 1974, new colours notwithstanding.įjallraven's Australian business manager Susan Park says the brand wears its association with VSCO girls as a badge of honour. According to recent data from market researcher NPD Group, the VSCO girl trend may be responsible for a 25 per cent surge in sales of Vans sneakers, especially the checkered style commonly associated with the trend.Īnother item that's become synonymous with VSCO girls is the Kanken backpack by Swedish outdoor outfitter Fjallraven. While Gen Z is the first cohort to grow up as "digital natives", meaning they have lived their whole lives with technology and interactive devices, the VSCO girl trend is giving some heritage brands a renewed popularity. And her VSCO photos are often taken from behind, by an unseen boyfriend or husband or gay BFF or less effervescent female friend, who lies in wait till the moment she can wordlessly enter the frame and revel in the sunlight".Įmma Chamberlain, left, lines up alongside Selby Drummond, Anna Wintour, Lindsay Peoples Wagner and Rickey Thompson at last month's Teen Vogue Celebrates Generation Next event in New York City.
Her shirts are adorably baggy, while her shorts are so tiny as to be virtually non-functional.
Rolling Stone summed up the VSCO girl as having skin that "glows from the inside, like she just swallowed a radioactive goldfish.
But some commentators have pointed to a crack in their authentic veneer, accusing them of "performative casualness" and showing little more than "cosmetic interest in social justice causes". Also think tie-dyed T-shirts, short shorts, friendship bands, shell necklaces, crop tops or oversized crop hoodies, ruffled skirts, metal drinking straws and casual sneakers. VSCO girls are into scrunchies, Birkenstocks and fuss-free skin care brands such as Mario Badescu and Carmex, as opposed to their highly contoured Millennial counterparts. That said, it's also polarising, as in – if you're part of the girl group who wholeheartedly think it's cool, then it's cool, but to others it can be seen as a bit of a stereotype." In describing VSCO girls, Nicole Adolphe, the head of style, womenswear, for fashion e-tailer The Iconic, explains how it's both a trend and a meme: "It's a cute and beachy look. VSCO girls are into scrunchies, Birkenstocks and fuss-free skin care brands such as Mario Badescu and Carmex. The name comes from the image-sharing app VSCO and refers to the homogeneous, slightly faded, vintage-like appearance of the images captured and shared by VSCO girls on the platform.
In July, she was named as one of Time magazine's 25 most influential people on the internet and this month she attended New York Fashion Week with none other than US Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.Ĭhamberlain is also the poster child for VSCO girls, a subculture of mostly white, middle-class girls who dress seemingly alike and seek to promote an air of wholesomeness compared to archetypal Millennial influencers, epitomised by the likes of the Kardashians. Her videos have been viewed more than 875 million times.
In just two years, US-based Chamberlain, 18, has become one of the world's most influential "vloggers", with more than 8 million subscribers on her channel. Make no mistake though, the YouTube star, and a whole subculture of Gen Z consumers like her, are shaping the future of fashion and retail. There is a very good chance you have never heard of Emma Chamberlain.