Olivia Rodrigo addresses controversy surrounding babydoll dresses

This is a really well thought response. You can tell it got to her. While I can see both sides of the story, she should be able to wear what she wants and not get backlash for it.

I still can’t believe people were actually criticizing her for wearing babydoll dresses, like wtf 😭 

Idk how to say this nicely but my biggest problem with her babydoll dresses is I’ve never seen her wear a really cute one. Like this flowery dress in the vid looks old school nightey, and the one in the Versailles vid was boring beige and baby blue. 

I’ve seen better baby doll dresses, and tho she really likes the style idk if it fits her, she doesn’t look that tall but she is leggy

they will never make me hate this girl

From a fashion POV, because Olivia makes a good point here, is that babydoll dresses were popularized during the punk and grunge era as counter culture that’s juxtaposed by the messy aesthetic of Courtney love and Kathleen hannah. Like chain smoking, Smokey eyeliner, messy unkept hair, heavily tatted, etc.

Where Olivia misses in the aesthetic is she looks TOO clean that it looses the point on why it was more impactful when punk/grunge/rebelgrrrl predecessors wore them.

Edit: I’m getting some downvotes but I urge those to research the rebel grrrl fashion history, specifically “kinderwhore”. There’s a [Bazaar article on this very topic with Olivia.](https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a71284349/olivia-rodrigo-babydoll-history-riotgrrl/)

Below is a good quote on the message of the aesthetic:

The babydoll returned with a vengeance in the 1990s as female rockers paired vintage dresses from Goodwill with loads of red lipstick, bleached blonde hair, torn stockings, plastic barrettes, and Mary Janes. Known as “kinderwhore”—a term attributed to British music journalist Everett True and Babes in Toyland’s Kat Bjelland—the aesthetic emerged from the look Bjelland and Hole’s Courtney Love originated as roommates in Portland, and functioned as a subversive gesture. It sought to pervert and reclaim the fetishization of youth by the patriarchy by turning the archetype of the innocent and fragile young girl into a wicked and powerful creature who wields an electric guitar and screams.

Now Olivia makes an excellent point about her wearing whatever she wants, but on the other hand the messaging and history of why rebel grrls were wearing those dresses, with Olivia using Courtney and Kathleen, as examples is not there in Olivia’s aesthetic. But also, maybe she doesn’t want the messy look, that’s okay too. Just highlighting that the messaging can get disjointed with the two examples she used.

Edit 2: it’s Kathleen! Not Katherine.

This response makes no sense.

First, the [designers of her vintage looks](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/27/style/runways-robbing-the-cradle.html) themselves acknowledge that they look like little girl’s clothing.

Second, she said she was inspired by Courtney Love et. al. How is that possible without wearing looks inspired by little girls as well?

Third, the issue wasn’t the babydolls alone. No one commented when her album cover came out. It was behaving sexually in them during her spotify concert and showing off her bloomers underneath that started the discourse.

I am 36 and have a couple doll style dresses, I love them, I wanted to get into Lolita style dresses too (is that how you say in English?), no I don’t mean to infantize myself, I just found them to be so damn cute

it must be especially alarming to have this public discussion around your adult body when you’ve been in the public eye since your early teens. like if they talk about me like this now, what were they thinking when they *actually* had access to my image as a child?

i think we’ve become very comfortable commenting on women lately for “the sake of children” for just about any sin we perceive. what they wear, who they date, their perceived health, so on and so forth. it’s like the new culturally acceptable way for tearing women down or bullying people for doing something we just don’t like, and the bullying is justified because we have a grand moral reasoning behind it.

I like Olivia but the picture of the babydoll used as example  in the video doesn’t help her case at all because not only is ugly, is also very childlike with the tiny ribbons and square desing. She also lift her skirt showing her matching undies, so I dont know if people are really to blame about sexualizing her in this context. 
Is a shame that women are constantly being put under a microscope about her outfits ( ariana grande was critized for the same thing) but we cant play dumb an ignore the implications of the asthetic they chose with their team for the album. Someone must have said something but they went with it anyways 

The fact that she is wearing babydoll dresses is not the problem it’s the fact of how the dresses were designed it was a top and then shorts at that point it is not a dress

She knows what she’s doing

can anyone give me an actual good reason why she can’t wear whatever the fuck she wants to? it doesn’t matter that she isn’t “messy” enough, she’s wearing clothing she wants to wear who gives a shit?

I know this thread will be a mess