You’re walking down the hall and suddenly you hear a weird hum swiftly approaching you. It’s a sound you’ve never heard before; the sound of puka shells rattling against Hydroflasks. It’s closer now and getting increasingly louder. You start to sweat because what you see is so skskskscary. 

It’s a giant group of girls in oversized t-shirts with scrunchies around their wrists and solid metal bottles in their hands. One of them is applying Carmex chapstick to her lips while another is jamming out to the Airpods tucked in her ears, double dutch braids hanging across her shoulders.

It’s… the VSCO girls. (insert intimidating sound effect here)

They took over summer social media, but the school year is back in full force and the VSCO girls are navigating through the halls of the new school year.

Thanks to apps like Tik Tok who spread the word, VCSO-ism is now running rampant through middle and high schools with girls that are still trying to find their style; they see this trend as the newest and coolest fad.

Teenage girls these days have hopped on the trend for the sake of following the crowd, not establishing their own personal style. And no, covering your Hydroflask with stickers is not what I mean by “style.” I understand wanting to go with what everyone else is doing, but it’s so much more important to develop your own personal style that will make people remember you. 

If the VSCO girl “look” works for you, then by all means, continue as you were. But don’t be afraid to branch out and experiment with new styles that aren’t a carbon copy of your peers.

High school is a big and scary place where you could be judged by anything and everything—that’s universal no matter where you attend. It’s unavoidable, so why force yourself to fit into a stereotype that will draw more negative attention to you than if you wore the clothes that actually express who you are as a person?

Every human being has the opportunity to develop their own personal style that makes them unique and beautiful in their own way. There are no exceptions no matter what style or outfit a person chooses.

So I encourage you to branch off; be different just because you can. You have the time now to explore and find what works best for you so you aren’t clueless out in the “real world.” You might find that a little change is all you need to break away from this tired movement.

So if you drop your Hydroflask, it’s okay to just pick it up and move on.  No need for the “And I oop! Sksksksksksksk!”