What the Hell Happened: Hold Your Breath for Olivia Rodrigo’s Dissolving Dress

On the opening night of Olivia Rodrigo’s “The Unraveled Tour,” the audience watched as her dress fell apart.

On Sept. 25, the three-time Grammy winner kicked off the tour of her third album “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love” at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Connecticut. During “the cure” — a song Rodrigo has described as the “thesis statement” of the album — artificial rain melted away her white minidress to reveal a cherry red corseted bodysuit and micro mini skirt, mirroring the song’s refrain: “I’m unraveled.”

This dress was crafted by British-Cypriot designer Hussein Chalayan, who first debuted his dissolving garments at Paris Fashion Week as part of his Spring-Summer 2016 collection “Pasatiempo.” In collaboration with Rodrigo’s long-term stylists, the sister duo Chloe and Chenelle Delgadillo, Chalayan designed the dress to “reveal a sense of vulnerability” as it dissolves. The dress was made from a water-soluble material, layered with lace and tulle that fell apart strip by strip in time with the lyrics.

Rodrigo’s wardrobe has long been an extension of her music and her mind — a beautiful collection of her evolution into an unforgettable musical star. During the tour for her breakout studio album “SOUR” (2021), she mixed pastel clothing adorned in bows and ruffles with fishnets and combat boots. As she began leaning more into pop-punk teenage angst, the 2023 “GUTS World Tour” highlighted the aesthetic of punk — from 1990s metal mesh to silver letter rings.

Now, for Rodrigo’s latest album, her iconic babydoll dresses, pink microshorts, and cropped tees play into an addictive mixture of whimsy and defiance. At her inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival in August, Rodrigo performed in open-air southern California suburbia in a lacy white minidress, daisy accessories, and tan lace-up boots.

Throughout all her eras, Rodrigo’s aesthetic has been grounded in bringing to life a world where love permeates all her songs — even a “stupid song” — where listeners embrace the embarrassment, anger, and longing, and all of the other emotions involved in a head-spinning, whirlwind romance.

Rodrigo also introduces her audience to the world of experimental fashion. Fashion is a projection of the mind, and for Rodrigo, a medium through which her music can assume new meaning. Deliberately engineered by Chalayan to melt at the pace of the lyrics and pour of the rain, the pop star’s dress falls down right on cue. Her angsty vocals, pulsing lights, and unraveling costume create a sensory spectacle of coming undone, expanding on her lyrics. With this dissolving dress as a quick-change, Rodrigo takes the normal outfit change one step further.

Indeed, she follows along a lineage of artists who have capitalized on creativity, virality, and the shock factor to reflect themselves on concert stages. For example, Madonna’s partnership with Jean Paul Gaultier premiered a cone bra on her 1990 “Blond Ambition Tour,” transforming lingerie into a symbol of female power and control. Lady Gaga has also long collaborated with Alexander McQueen, performing “Bad Romance” with her signature 12-inch “Armadillo” boots. Rodrigo’s dress places her firmly within this inheritance of history-worthy fashion decisions, alongside history-making artists. With this dress, she adds to the catalogue of unforgettable tours defined by their stylistic daring.

Now, as ever, what female idols wear is both an artistic and political choice. Rodrigo’s decision to go rogue — to dissolve her own clothes on stage — speaks to her prowess as a multi-genre, multi-hyphenated artist. With an emotional unraveling projected on her very own skin, Olivia Rodrigo invites her audience to share in her vulnerability and to let their own defenses dissolve for a moment as well.

—Staff Writer Cloris F. Shi can be reached at [email protected].