The conversation around Olivia Rodrigo’s love of babydoll dresses continues. The discourse began a few weeks ago, when the singer-songwriter released her song “Drop Dead.” In the music video for the first single off her forthcoming third album, Rodrigo hangs out in bed in the palace of Versailles, staring at her flashing computer screen. As she plays guitar and frolics through the halls singing along to the sweeping song, we see that she’s wearing a short, off-the-shoulder minidress-slash-tunic with a pair of matching bloomer shorts and knee-high socks—something Marie Antoinette would have worn, perhaps, if she’d been a pop star in 2026 and not a queen in the 1770s.
Rodrigo’s music video outfit—a look from Chloé’s pre-fall 2026 collection—has sparked some conversation, with some saying the babydoll silhouette is infantilising, inappropriate, too Lolita. And that conversation has continued since the video made its debut, as Rodrigo has made the style part of her overall aesthetic for the you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love era. The star also wore a mini babydoll for her Spotify Billions Club performance in Barcelona, and even told British Vogue that she’s obsessed with the look. “My Pinterest is all babydoll dresses and ’70s necklines,” she said of her inspiration for the album’s overall vibe. “I want it all to feel fun and laid-back.”
Spotify brings Olivia Rodrigo to Barcelona for Billions Club Live Concert.Getty Images for Spotify
Not long after, Rodrigo told Vogue about why she was so drawn to the babydoll silhouette in the first place, including the set she wore in the “Drop Dead” music video. “I just remember being younger and having pictures of Courtney Love and Kat Bjelland from all these riot grrrl punk bands in their babydoll dresses, just owning it,” the star explained. “I always thought that that was really cool, and so I like that there’s an element of that. I also like that it kind of feels a little pajama-y,” which, she notes, worked well in the fairytale, otherworldly Versailles setting. “Like, oh, I just woke up and I’m in Versailles, I’m traipsing through the halls in this outfit that I maybe could have just woken up in. That was sort of the nexus of it, and I think the colours went really well with the beautiful gold backdrop and then tied into my album imagery as well.”
She also noted the difference between what she wears in her personal life and while performing. “I think everything that I wear on stage and in videos is a really heightened version of how I feel in my day-to-day life,” Rodrigo said. “… It’s really nice to express myself through clothes and tell stories through clothes because I think that that’s a huge part of an album rollout. I always try to keep that in mind when I’m picking out stuff for videos and for tour.”
