Olivia Rodrigo Fans Went All Out in DIY Outfits for the 'Guts' Tour in Nashville

Lindsay Thomaston

March 14, 2024 at 9:00 AM·5 min read

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On the corner of Sixth and Broadway in Nashville, Tenn., a purple feather catches in the post-rain wind. Its downy underside hovers and plummets, a violet flash lost to the bustling estuary of aural crossfire that becomes Bridgestone Arena on Saturday night. To the left, Music City's famed promenade of neon honky-tonks rattles with whooping bachelors and Pat Benatar covers. To the right, there's a snaking catwalk of several thousand teens adjusting butterfly clips and marabou boas, their phone cameras flipped frontward for a final face-gem inspection before snapping selfies in front of Olivia Rodrigo's "Guts" World Tour bus.

Beneath a sea of chunky platforms, the stray fronds of loose plumage are stomped and forgotten. But for the modern concertgoer, the resurgence of attire-signaling is here to stay.

"This is what I wish I could be every day," Adriana Montalbo, 25, tells Fashionista, gesturing to her rhinestoned fishnets and matching fingerless gloves.

Montalbo's crocheted top — "a children's shirt" she specifies, laughing — is hand-cropped. Her cheeks are flecked with purple glitter that matches that of her college best friend, Edwin Arce, 25, who flew in from Puerto Rico for their first reunion in two years.

"I don't normally put this much effort into my everyday outfit," she admits. "That's why I love concerts, because you can go all out and it doesn't matter."

Adriana Montalbo and Edwin Arce.<p>Photo: Lindsay Thomaston/Fashionista</p> — Adriana Montalbo and Edwin Arce.
Photo: Lindsay Thomaston/Fashionista

From Taylor Swift to Beyoncé, "all out" is an apt description of the costumed craze that's descended upon concert venues post-pandemic.

Though music's influence on the way we dress is certainly far from new, platforms like Instagram and TikTok provide an accessible means of sharing outfit vision boards and Get Ready With Me (GRWM) clips, where fans can connect, bookmark inspiration for their own ensembles and, if particularly lucky, even catch the approval of their favorite artist. In the age of rapid trend cycles and overnight Amazon orders, though, going "all out" for a single event can invite the same wasteful ephemerality of prom or Halloween, with peeling pleather and metallic fringe left to tangle on thrift store racks crammed with off-season Shein.

It's refreshing, then, to see swathes of Zoomers and Gen Alpha taking note from self-proclaimed vintage enthusiast Rodrigo and excitedly showing off DIY'ed accessories and repurposed garments while waiting in a crowded queue.

London Fluegel, 14, sports her first embroidery endeavor to the show: a lyrical nod to Rodrigo's song, "Pretty Isn't Pretty," stitched with purple thread.

"I did some practice, but not much, because I like to go straight into things," she explains. "My mom does a bit of sewing, so she helped, but I did most of it. My mom just tied them off because I'm extremely bad at tying knots."

Fluegel is accompanied by her friends Karin Arnett and Cora Riggs, also 14 (all pictured at top of article). They push back their hair to show me custom earrings Riggs fashioned from clay, reminiscent of the Lisa Frank-inspired motifs featured throughout Rodrigo's album visuals. Their sunglasses are hot-glued with letter beads, and their wrists bear song-title friendship bracelets to match, personalized keepsakes from a craft party held the night before.

"We had really specific ideas of things we wanted to make, and they're not all things you can buy," says Riggs. "The three of us all love making crafts, so we thought it'd be really fun to do some stuff ourselves, so that we could add those details."

London Fluegel, Karin Arnett and Cora Riggs show off their friendship bracelets.<p>Photo: Lindsay Thomaston/Fashionista</p> — London Fluegel, Karin Arnett and Cora Riggs show off their friendship bracelets.
Photo: Lindsay Thomaston/Fashionista

From maxi skirts belted into dresses to safety-pinned ribbons (a reference both to the song "Lacy" and a current trend so easily-managed, it has outlived the thinkpieces damning coquette's saturation), many outfits rely on resourceful customization rather than wasteful fast-fashion shopping.

Allie Clouse, 25 — who wears bedazzled cowboy boots recycled from a Taylor Swift costume — cites indecision (she's a Libra) amid trend cycles as a major factor in her consumption choices. Most of her ensemble is from Nuuly, a subscription-based clothing rental service.

"I feel that it's more of a sustainable fashion cycle than fast fashion, and it's great for events," she argues. Next up on Clouse's outfit-planning calendar? The tour for tonight's opener, Chappell Roan, whose meteoric rise has been accompanied by costume themes on each night of her tour. "I'm gonna up my game because I saw some middle-schoolers who were dressed way cooler than me," she remarks as she scans the crowds of adorned fans.

Keep scrolling to see some of the best outfits Livies wore to the singer's Nashville, Tenn. show.