It's 2026, People. Let Olivia Rodrigo Wear the Dress.

The Outrage Over Olivia Rodrigo Was Never Really About A Babydoll Dress

Olivia Rodrigo's babydoll dress has sparked vitriol online. But beneath the outrage sits a vey real cultural anxiety — it has simply been aimed at the wrong target.

It's 2026, people. Let Olivia Rodrigo wear the dress.

Olivia Rodrigo isn't doing anything particularly daring or different. The babydoll dress has been subversive since its creation in the 1940s.

Bad idea right? How the babydoll dress became spring’s most divisive fashion choice

Everyone from Olivia Rodrigo to Alexa Chung is reaching for the short style this spring. Lydia Spencer-Elliott charts how the effortless outfit became a symbol of rebellion and left the internet in a pearl-clutching frenzy

It’s Not About the Babydoll Dress

The freak-out over Olivia Rodrigo’s babydoll dress and bloomers worn at Spotify’s Billions Club Live concert in Barcelona is another example of how quickly pop-culture history can be forgotten.

Opinion – The outrage over Olivia Rodrigo’s dress is disturbing

Criticism over the singer’s babydoll-style dress is a projection of misogynist and perverted hypersexualisation. But the women targeted by this kind of backlash are still framed as the villains.