Olivia Rodrigo performing live on stage, photo by Xavi Torrent/Getty Images for Spotify
Olivia Rodrigo has responded to the “disturbing” controversy around her new babydoll dress look, saying that it “shows how we really normalise pedophilia in our culture”.
In the clip, we see Rodrigo take over the Palace of Versailles in Paris while wearing an outfit from Chloé’s pre-fall 2026 collection. She has since replicated the look at her live shows, with some people deeming it to be “childlike”.
Teen Vogue characterises a babydoll dress as “a mini-length dress with a loose, body-skimming fit”, adding: “Babydolls are typically sleeveless or have short cap sleeves, and are short in length, generally hitting the mid-thigh or slightly higher.”
A DeuxMoi post on Instagram features numerous comments highlighting the divisiveness around Rodrigo’s new style choice. “Why the f are these Gen Zero pop stars wearing baby toddler dresses?” one person wrote. Others said it was “disturbing” and “creepy”.
Someone else criticised Rodrigo for “wearing clearly young girl-type clothes while she grinded on the stage floor”.
However, others have defended the controversial look. “She’s going for a Courtney Love ’90s look, it just doesn’t suit her well,” someone commented. On Threads, a user said: “STOP BLAMING WOMEN FOR WANTING TO WEAR WHATEVER THEY WANT. START BLAMING MEN WHO’VE MADE IT ‘CREEPY’ TO DO SO.”
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Another fan asked: “Why are people losing their minds over this?! Even without context it’s clearly a ’90s throwback look. It’s also an interesting play on her girlie rebel rock aesthetic. Men are disgusting and she shouldn’t be blamed for that. If this was a different artist maybe a discussion could be had but we know Olivia’s artistic POV.”
Now, Rodrigo has addressed the backlash during an appearance on The New York Times’ Popcast. “That’s been making me so upset. Not even for me – like, I don’t care. People can say whatever they want,” she began.
“What’s really, like, disturbing is I feel like I have worn outfits that are maybe revealing on stage. I’ve been on stage in a sparkly bra, little shorts, which is my right. That’s fun. I felt cool and comfortable in that.
“And that wasn’t ‘inappropriate’, but me, fully covered up in a dress that people deem to be, like, childlike was ‘inappropriate’. And I just think it shows how we really normalise pedophilia in our culture.”
Rodrigo continued: “And also it’s just this rhetoric that we’re fed as girls since we’re so little, which is, ‘Don’t wear that because then a man is going to sexualize your body and it’s your fault’. Like it’s so weird. And I didn’t think 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. And I felt cool and comfortable in it. I just think if we start dressing in a way that’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t want some freak to think that I am sexy like a baby’, or some crazy thing like that. I just think it’s like losing the plot a little bit.”
She concluded: “I’m just very protective of like younger women and girls, and I don’t ever want them to be fed that rhetoric, I guess. You shouldn’t be responsible for some guy sexualising you in a way that was never your intention.”
The Guardian recently questioned the validity of the “moral panic” surrounding Rodrigo’s babydoll look, reasoning that “the floaty, feminine aesthetic” had been “around since the 1960s”.
Elsewhere, The Independent spoke about the subject with rock music researcher and academic Dr James How, who said: “Rodrigo is engaging with these great 1990s rock stars, who were really alternative, but I don’t think she’s playing with the meanings that they were. She looks really good – that’s the difference.”
The publication also noted that babydoll dresses were first popularised during the Second World War’s materials shortage. How explained: “These shorter dresses were seen as a bright new version of femininity.”
Rodrigo released another single from ‘You Seem Pretty Sad…’ last week in the form of ‘The Cure’, calling it her “favourite” track from the upcoming album.
