WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Olivia Rodrigo’s white dress dissolved under artificial rain during the opening night of her “Unraveled Tour” in Hartford.
- The reveal exposed a red corset bodysuit and micro miniskirt while Rodrigo performed “The Cure.”
- Hussein Chalayan created the water-reactive dress concept for his Cuba-inspired Spring 2016 collection.
- The Hartford concert featured six looks, five costume changes, and seasonal chapters moving from Spring through Winter.
Olivia Rodrigo opened her “Unraveled Tour” with a costume reveal designed to disappear in plain sight.
The singer, 23, watched her white dress dissolve around her while performing Friday at People’s Bank Arena in Hartford, Conn.
The surprise transformation unfolded during her performance of “The Cure.”
Artificial rain began falling on Rodrigo, causing the sleeveless white dress to gradually break apart while she continued singing.
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Fan filmed footage showed Rodrigo standing beneath the artificial downpour as the material separated from the rest of her outfit.
A red corset bodysuit and micro miniskirt slowly emerged underneath the dissolving outer layer.
Rodrigo stretched out her arms as rain poured around her, allowing the costume change to unfold across the stage.
Pieces of the white dress appeared to melt directly onto the floor during the carefully staged reveal.
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The visual also connected directly to the song and the tour’s title.
The transformation played off the “The Cure” lyric “I’m unraveled,” turning the costume change into a literal interpretation of the words.
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Rodrigo celebrated the opening concert in an Instagram post shared Saturday.
She included several images from the performance, among them a photograph capturing the melting dress.
“First night of the Unraveled Tour was magic!!!! Been planning this show out in my head for the last year and seeing it all come together was a dream come true,” Rodrigo wrote alongside the collection of concert photographs.
“Thank you to everyone who came and showed so much love … Can’t wait to see more of yall on the road!!!!” she added.
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The unusual dress was created especially for Rodrigo by Cyprus-born British designer Hussein Chalayan, according to Vogue.
Chalayan first produced the water-reactive concept for his Spring 2016 collection, which was inspired by Cuba.
Chalayan spent six months developing the original dress design.
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The dissolving, uniform-like outer shells were intended to reflect changes in the country’s political and cultural landscape while revealing new possibilities underneath.
The dramatic rain sequence was only one part of an elaborate collection of fashion moments during the Hartford concert.
Rodrigo’s set included six distinct looks and five separate costume changes, according to the Blast.
The production was arranged into seasonal chapters, beginning with a colorful Spring setting inspired by a garden.
The concert then continued through Summer, Autumn, and Winter, with the rain-drenched performance of “The Cure” serving as the centerpiece of the Winter section.
Later, the production moved into a purple twilight setting for an acoustic section. Rodrigo wore a purple leather dress for that portion of the concert.
Other outfits included a white babydoll dress and a cropped graphic shirt worn with hot pink micro minishorts, according to InStyle.
Those looks added to the series of visual changes threaded throughout the opening night performance.
The North American tour is scheduled to visit Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, North Carolina, Chicago, Boston and other cities.
Rodrigo is expected to finish the run in February with 10 performances at Barclays Center in Brooklyn from Feb. 11 through Feb. 28.
Rodrigo has previously addressed criticism surrounding her babydoll dresses.
She said she found it “really disturbing” that people were sexualizing an outfit that left her fully covered.
“I didn’t think that I looked sexy in that at all. I was like, this is so cool. I feel like I look like Kathleen Hanna or Courtney Love, all these people who are my heroes,” Rodrigo told the New York Times’ “Popcast” in May.
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