Wearing a hand-me-down prom dress: relatable! Seeing a global music superstar rocking a hand-me-down prom dress: unexpected! But that’s just what Olivia Rodrigo did during the press tour for her new album, GUTS.
For the red carpet opening of her SPOTIFY x AMERICAN EXPRESS PRESENT: GUTS Gallery Pop-Up Experience in New York City in September, Olivia wore a black embroidered Betsey Johnson dress that was at least 20 years old. Page Six reports that the look was the handiwork of Carlos Alonso-Parada and Mary Sze, who run a curated fashion showroom that many stylists hit up when they need looks for their clients.
Alonso-Parada tells Page Six that the dress came from one of the vendors for the duo’s booth at an antique mall in Dallas, Texas. “She said she was bringing in a lot of her personal dresses from when she was in high school and college,” he explains. “[We] hit the jackpot with several Betsey Johnson dresses.”
The duo got a message from Rodrigo’s stylist’s assistant, who needed something last minute.
“We stayed up all night photographing everything we had that looked like their mood board,” Alonso-Parada says, adding that they sent over 28 outfits. The Betsey Johnson dress ended up being Olivia’s choice.
As Page Six notes, the dress looked familiar to many fans, with one TikToker sharing that she’d worn the same dress to her eighth-grade graduation. In fact, the Page Six writer says she also rocked it back in the day.
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