Why Are Olivia Rodrigo’s Dresses Sparking Outrage Online?
As Olivia Rodrigo prepares to release her third album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So In Love, her dresses have been getting a lot of attention online. While many fans have praised the looks, others have taken issue with them. A number of people have stated that they find it strange that Rodrigo is wearing babydoll dresses.
Olivia Rodrigo’s babydoll dresses are getting negative attention from some people
On the cover of You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So In Love, Rodrigo wears a short pink dress while tipped upside down on a swing. In a number of recent appearances, she has rocked similar babydoll dresses. In the music video for her song “Drop Dead,” she wears a blue dress with frilly shorts underneath. The looks blend the highly feminine dresses with edgier accessories.
Rodrigo’s recent fashion choices have sparked fierce discussion on social media. A number of users believe it’s inappropriate for her to be dressing this way, as they believe she is infantilizing herself.
“We have to talk about the weird trend of heavily sexualised pop stars dressing themselves as little girls,” wrote one X (formerly Twitter) user, referring to photos of Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter.
One viral post reads “maybe i’m too woke,” as the caption on a clip of Rodrigo performing in a floral dress and matching bloomers.
A defense of Olivia Rodrigo’s dresses led to more controversy
After the conversation about Rodrigo’s babydoll dresses picked up steam online, several articles in defense of her looks began appearing. An article from Rolling Stone points to recent bot-led smear campaigns against Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan, and wonders if the discourse about Rodrigo could also be bot-driven.
This has only led to further conversation online. People have accused the articles of coming from Rodrigo’s team.
“Why does it feel like every outlet has released an article defending this (and completely missing the point) in the past 24hrs…smells like pr,” one Reddit user wrote.
“The influx of (obviously pr) stories defending olivia wearing a babydoll dress is crazy,” another person added. “Not everything is bots, i witnessed in real time fandoms start up this discourse which has gotten us to this point. a lot of it IS fandom wars.”
This also led people to proclaim that they are not bots, and that they dislike Rodrigo’s style choices.
“Raise your hand if you’re not a bot and you don’t like ‘sexy baby’ fashion,” wrote one person.
She releases her new album in June
Rodrigo’s dresses are a key to her styling as she promotes You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So In Love. This is her follow-up to 2023’s Grammy-nominated Guts.
“My third album ‘You seem pretty sad for a girl so in love’ is out June 12th,” she wrote on social media. “I am so proud of this record and I can’t wait for you to hear it.”
