Some call the controversy over Olivia Rodrigo's recent clothing choices, babydoll dress, Olivia Rodrigo calls it “weird.”
The dress debacle began in early May when Rodrigo released the music video for “Drop Dead,” in which she runs through the Palace of Versailles wearing a pink and blue ruffled babydoll while singing about the intensity of falling in love. Then, on May 8, she wore a pink and white floral babydoll dress with knee-length Dr. Martens during a live performance in Barcelona.
Rodrigo was inspired by the subversive feminist and punk fashion of yesteryear, but Internet critics were quick to criticize the “déja vu” singer, saying the outfit was sexualizing children's images. In an hour-and-a-half interview with the New York Times Popcast that was published Thursday, Rodrigo staunchly defended the dress and called the criticism disturbing.
“I've worn outfits that are maybe revealing on stage, like I've been on stage in a sparkly bra and little shorts, which is my right, that's fun,” she said. “I felt cool and comfortable in it, and that wasn't inappropriate, but being completely covered in a dress that people considered childish was inappropriate, and I think it shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture.”
Rodrigo further criticized criticism as rhetoric that girls are fed from a young age, “which is 'don't wear that, because then a man is going to sexualize your body, and it's your fault'; it's very strange.”
Rodrigo said he didn't think he looked “sexy” in the babydoll dress; He was looking for a cool look in the style of Kathleen Hannah or Courtney Love, musicians that the pop star said are his heroes. Love appeared to defend Rodrigo on social media by sharing posts defending the singer-songwriter on expired Instagram stories.
“I just think if we start dressing in a way like, 'Oh, I don't want any fucking monsters to think I'm sexy as a baby,' or something crazy like that, I think we're losing the plot a little bit,” she said. “I'm very protective of women and younger girls, and I never want them to be fed that rhetoric. You shouldn't be responsible for a guy sexualizing you in a way that was never your intention.”
Rodrigo’s third studio album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” which includes the hit singles “Drop Dead” and “The Cure,” will be released on June 12.
