{"id":760328,"date":"2026-06-25T14:07:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/760328\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:07:17","slug":"olivia-rodrigos-wardrobe-isnt-rage-bait-its-researched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/760328\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s wardrobe isn\u2019t rage bait. It\u2019s researched"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n It\u2019s never easy for pop stars to introduce their next era. If they cling too closely to what has been done in the past, critics may grumble over a lack of innovation. If they veer too far from what fans know and expect, they risk losing the base that gave them a platform in the first place. For Olivia Rodrigo, the new \u201cYou Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl so in Love\u201d era has mostly relied on \u2014 as she sings in the lead single, \u201cdrop dead\u201d \u2014 her own feminine intuition.\n <\/p>\n

\n The 23-year-old\u2019s third studio album, released this month, ushers in perhaps the most exciting phase of her career yet, one where both her style and sound are maturing in tandem.\n <\/p>\n

\n The 13-track record chronicles the lifespan of a relationship, from the exuberance of initial infatuation to the whiplash of begging for affection from a partner that was once so easily enamored. It\u2019s already earned Rodrigo her third consecutive No. 1<\/a> on the Billboard 200 albums chart. She kept the momentum going Monday with the announcement of Daisy Chain Fields<\/a>, a new music festival featuring an all-women lineup \u2014 including Chappell Roan, Doechii, Bikini Kill and Katseye \u2014 with proceeds going towards women advocacy organizations. The event takes after Lilith Fair, the groundbreaking \u201890s feminist festival founded by Sarah McLachlan, who will also make a special guest appearance, along with Stevie Nicks and Karen O.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rodrigo\u2019s previous two albums,\u201cSour\u201d (2021) and \u201cGuts\u201d (2023), were industry-shakers in their own right. Songs like \u201cDrivers License\u201d and \u201cVampire\u201d demonstrated her talent for writing breakup ballads, while hits like \u201cGood 4 U\u201d and \u201cGet Him Back\u201d showcased her proficiency in \u201890s punk rock \u2014 an arena of music which has become her signature sonic playground. Up until now, Rodrigo\u2019s style reflected that musical predilection, with the singer\u2019s rotation of plaid miniskirts and platform boots often landing as a hybrid mix between Gwen Stefani and Cher Horowitz.\u202fRodrigo\u2019s eras have clearly defined color palettes too; her first two albums were synonymous with a spunky purple hue, while \u201cYou Seem Pretty Sad\u201d has subtly shifted to a definitively girly powdery pink.\n <\/p>\n

\"Rodrigo's<\/p>\n

Big Style: Where culture meets clothing<\/p>\n

CNN senior style reporter and advanced outfit anthropologist Rachel Tashjian<\/a> excavates the stylish amusements and contextualizes the world of fashion \u2013 all in your inbox. Sign up for Big Style here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n If the job of a debut album is to introduce an artist to the world, while a sophomore album reinforces their reputation, then a third album offers a channel for artists to expand beyond the familiar tricks and peculiarities that shot them to fame in the first place. In Rodrigo\u2019s case, \u201cYou Seem Pretty Sad\u201d mostly ditches the pop punk and alt-rock references and, instead, borrows sounds that defined the \u201880s. Think New Order, or post-punk flourishes from The Cure (the English band\u2019s frontman, Robert Smith, even makes an appearance on the album\u2019s B-side track, \u201cWhat\u2019s Wrong with Me\u201d). Rodrigo\u2019s wardrobe naturally followed suit.\n <\/p>\n

\n Her deft use of fashion during the \u201cYou Seem Pretty Sad\u201d rollout does more than allow Rodrigo to play dress up \u2014 it also functions as a vehicle for her artistry. Gone are the Mary Jane Dr. Martens and schoolgirl plaid skirts. Working with sister stylist duo Chloe and Chenelle Delgadillo, Rodrigo has reconstructed her signature looks to feel softer and more grown-up, with outfits drawing from fashion references just as diverse as her musical taste.\n <\/p>\n

\n The new album \u201cends up pulling a little bit from \u201880s new wave, but her look isn\u2019t really going \u201880s new wave,\u201d said music journalist Brittany Spanos of Rodrigo\u2019s evolving sound and style. \u201cWhereas she\u2019s been pulling from grungier \u201890s looks for her last two album cycles, this one she expanded more into the hyper femme versions of it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n To shape this era\u2019s \u201cfemme palette,\u201d Rodrigo has worn a mix of shift dresses reminiscent of \u201860s mod, ballet flats from the \u201870s-founded shoe brand Repetto, Y2K-style jeans paired with peep-toe heels, and modern riffs on the twee aesthetic. The music video for the album\u2019s first single, \u201cDrop Dead,\u201d featured Rodrigo in two outfits: a replica of a crochet dress that Jane Birkin wore in the 1975 French film, \u201cCatherine & Co,\u201d and a pink-and-blue nightgown set from Chlo\u00e9\u2019s pre-fall 2026 collection \u2014 the latter of which looks like it could have been taken straight from the costume department of Sofia Coppola\u2019s \u201cMarie Antoinette.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Rodrigo<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think Olivia knows how to work a reference in a more profound sense than many pop stars,\u201d stylist and trends spokesperson at social shopping app Depop, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, said over email. (Depop serves as one of the official partners of Rodrigo\u2019s Daisy Chain Fields.) \u201cWhen I think about her boho, and early aughts, and Jane Birkin nods, what is clear to me is that there is no real aesthetic throughline. The reference is more a state of being and a message of liberation \u2014 these are all aesthetics that connote women at their wildest and most free. That\u2019s what her music is about, so why not also look that way?\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Rodrigo\u2019s recent wardrobe contributes to the album\u2019s worldbuilding, but her new style hasn\u2019t been formed in a vacuum, either. \u201cShe knows how young people are dressing right now \u2014 she is one!\u201d Karefa-Johnson said.\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"Channeling<\/p>\n

\n In the last three months alone, Depop searches for babydoll dresses have increased by 144%, Y2K low- rise jeans by 102%, and peep toe heels by 108%, according to the platform. Rodrigo\u2019s other beloved trends, like vintage mod and indie sleaze, are also on the rise on the site.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the relationship between Rodrigo\u2019s wardrobe choices and this year\u2019s trend cycles is also symbiotic.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou can\u2019t really have the history of popular music without the history of fashion,\u201d Spanos said. \u201cIt\u2019s completely braided together. Artists, genres and things like music eras have always influenced and formed trends in fashion, and vice versa.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Then the babydoll-sized elephant walked into the room.\n <\/p>\n

\n Shortly after Rodrigo released her new album\u2019s lead single, the pop star found herself at the center of a media maelstrom. A puff-sleeved babydoll dress she wore onstage during a Spotify concert in Barcelona saw some on social media accused Rodrigo of promoting a hypersexualized childlike aesthetic. Public outrage over how a female pop star dresses has, of course, recurred long before Rodrigo became a household name. The past few decades saw similar degrees of vitriol lobbed against the likes of Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rodrigo pushed back against the outcry in an interview with the New York Times in May. Her outfit was reminiscent of feminist riot grrrl \u201cheroes\u201d Kathleen Hanna and Courtney Love, she said, adding, \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be responsible for some guy sexualizing you in some way that was never your intention.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think some of the confusion was a feeling of disconnect between the sound and look,\u201d said Spanos, who wrote about the controversy in an essay for The Cut<\/a>. While the tone and subject matter of \u201cYou Seem Pretty Sad\u201d may not exactly emulate the punk social commentary found in the discography of Rodrigo\u2019s riot grrrl heroes, the babydoll dress still plays a role in how she wants to represent this new chapter of her career. \u201cThere\u2019s a softness and a vulnerability,\u201d said Spanos of Rodrigo\u2019s latest album, that led her to \u201cembrace these femme silhouettes and structures that have a little bit of an edge to them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"While<\/p>\n

\"Musician<\/p>\n

\n Independent music critic Molly Mary O\u2019Brien noted how the early-to-mid-\u201990s period that produced the original iteration of pop-punk fashion, and the current moment Rodrigo now operates within, are vastly different. \u201cWe have this very long lineage of female musicians subverting sexual expectations or just expectations of femininity,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost a symbol of how far women in the music industry have come, in a sense, that in the \u201890s grunge was an alternative movement that went mainstream. I feel like Rodrigo is maybe signifying this in her clothing\u2026 There is this continual push-pull between alternative and mainstream that she\u2019s almost trying to thread the needle with.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The way celebrities employ fashion references in their wardrobes is no accident, said Karefa-Johnson. \u201cWe need to be thinking critically and engaging with the complexity beneath the visual surface of a trend or reference,\u201d she added. \u201cThe most compelling fashion references use history as a point of departure \u2014 they create friction by rubbing the future against the past. A reference shouldn\u2019t be a blueprint but rather a jumping off point from which to explore something new.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Rodrigo follows in the footsteps of other pop juggernauts who use sartorial Easter eggs to tease new musical eras. While Taylor Swift often gets credit for popularizing the notion of era reinventions, artists have played with their visuals to communicate and market new album cycles for decades \u2014 just look at Beyonc\u00e9, Madonna, David Bowie and The Beatles.\n <\/p>\n

\n The broad genre of pop also gives artists room to experiment, said O\u2019Brien, adding that audiences these days are well aware of the concept of eras and understand artists will go through multiple ones throughout their careers.\n <\/p>\n

\"Olivia<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe easier you can describe something, the easier it is you can sell it,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cAmerica loves a teen pop star, and then we love ripping them to shreds when they have any sign of agency or autonomy\u2026 The times change, but there is that impulse to keep questioning the integrity of young female performers.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n If anything, the dichotomy between the pop star who prances around Versailles in a sheer nightie and the pop star who stomps onstage in knee-high combat boots feels completely authentic and intentional. Just like the two halves of \u201cYou Seem Pretty Sad,\u201d Rodrigo\u2019s wardrobe plays with the thin threshold between falling in love and breaking your heart.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s never easy for pop stars to introduce their next era. If they cling too closely to what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-760328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}