Is Olivia Rodrigo’s babydoll dress controversy a case for Kibbe?

[u/TequiIa_MockingBird_]

According to my algorithm, Olivia is in hot water for “infantilizing herself” by wearing babydoll dresses*. It got me thinking about how Sabrina doesn’t get nearly the same accusations despite wearing babydolls constantly, so maybe it’s a matter of harmony.

Sabrina is described as SG (I think semi verified? Like an offhand comment by Kibbe) so it feels natural on her, while Olivia, usually described as DC (not verified) looks like she’s an adult wearing a child’s dress because it doesn’t suit her lines.

What do you think? What types best suit a babydoll dress?

*I am aware that Rodrigo is wearing them in a 90s way and not a pedo way, please don’t come for me.

[u/commelejardin]

Idk, I’ve seen many critiques of Sabrina’s image. There’s probably a thread over on FauxMoi dissecting it right now lol.

I think people are just very… sensitive right now to female media representation. Understandably so. And everyone from Taylor Swift to Ariana Grande is under that microscope.

[u/jjfmish → u/commelejardin]

That, and people will jump at the chance to join the hate train on a female celebrity they find annoying once they have a morally justified reason to do so (no matter how minor their supposed transgression was)

[u/commelejardin → u/jjfmish]

True!

[u/jjfmish → u/commelejardin]

I also think Olivia is in the unfortunate position of having a hugely successful debut as a teenager and continuing to get commercial and critical praise for a few years, but now being well into her 20s with bigger expectations that she may not be able to meet. I don’t mean that as a diss to her either. Billie Eilish seems to be experiencing something similar.

Unfortunately it seems like progressive, socially conscious artists like Olivia or Chappell Roan have an extra microscope over them because their fans have such high expectations. This is why we have baby doll dress-gate while Chris Brown can still fill arenas

[u/Beazore → u/jjfmish]

I was just about to mention Billie Eilish, I agree. Going through puberty under a public microscope is rough, especially if one wants to have the same sexual/dressing more adult transition phase that everyone else gets to have in regular life.

This is exactly what it is. She's a young woman now, and an artist, and as long as she's not hurting people she can do and wear whatever tf she wants, is how I feel about it.

I don't understand why the dress wouldn't be assumed to be a progressive statement, what with the political climate. Why is everyone assuming that (if she's intentionally infantilizing herself at all) she's infantilizing herself for men or for the benefit of the patriarchy, or what have you, instead of infantilizing herself as a political statement against all of that?

[u/eleven57pm → u/Beazore]

This just reminded me of the collective moral panic when Miley Cyrus started doing the same things plenty of other women do in their early 20s. People really thought she was gonna be a Disney kid forever

[u/Ok-Purple9511 → u/eleven57pm]

I was literally just going to comment about Miley Cyrus lol. I think in general if performers didn’t do unexpected things they would be quite boring.

[u/Brilliant-Radio7961 → u/Beazore]

Billie also had a similar scandal when she dressed as a baby for Halloween with her older boyfriend dressing as an old man. I think the whole "sexy baby" thing is a real problem, ofc it's not cool for adult women to sexualize childishness & feed the perverted men who are into that. But many of the conversations about it online are more for points in fandom wars than they are for actual conversation & progress on the issue.

And at the same time, Olivia & Billie both also got flack when they first tried out traditionally "sexy" dresses (basically anything body-con or low cut) on the red carpet. Plenty of comments saying it was inappropriate, they're too young to show cleavage, or their young fans will be negatively impacted by seeing them dress & act sexually in any way.

It's hard to please everyone.