25 April 18 - 24, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents The one characteristic these responses had in common was that they were intended to be supportive. Olivia Rodrigo’s recent stop in Dallas was a sea of teens dressed in her signature shade of purple. Some outfits at the show were recognizable as ones Rodrigo had worn be- fore. The rest looked like something she might wear in the future. We talked to some fans on Rodrigo’s offi- cial subreddit about this trend and why young music fans are upping the ante on concert fashion. “I do plan on buying a whole or mostly new outfit,” says an anonymous user who’s attending an upcoming Rodrigo show. “This is not a normal thing I do for every concert. I’m treating it as a costume event.” Did this fan feel pressure to dress up from social media? They say no. Kind of. “Not pressure, [in my opinion], but inspi- ration,” they say. “Like, seeing people go all out for a masquerade. I wanna participate at the same level.” Of the questions we put forth on Reddit, this fan chose to skip one: “Do you plan on re-wearing your outfit?” That’s another snag in the concert cos- tume phenomenon, the risk of overcon- sumption. As fans keep buying entire outfits just for one night, the sustainability of this trend has been called into question. The Eras Tour, The Renaissance Tour and last year’s Barbie movie have been linked to an increase in fast fashion con- sumption. Fast fashion refers to inexpensive clothing produced rapidly in response to fleeting trends. Brands like Shein, Zara and Fashion Nova have been quick to pump out new products to meet the demand of these events. If you look up “Eras Tour” on Shein, for example, you’ll find pages of copies of out- fits that Swift has worn onstage the past year. Swift’s costumes were custom-made for her by Roberto Cavalli and Christian Louboutin. The Shein knock-offs typically go for about $25. Fast fashion is often linked to questionable supply chains, including unregulated over- seas factories, and there’s concern about the environmental impact of mass-produced clothing that is largely seen as disposable. “It requires natural resources, takes a lot of water, energy, trees and land to make our clothes, and sometimes we aren’t thinking about that when buying fashion,” says Elizabeth Cline, a professor of fash- ion policy and consumerism and sustain- ability at Columbia University, in a statement to USA Today. “That might not be front of mind when going to see their favorite artist.” Lexy (whose last name is being with- held for privacy reasons) is a concert fa- natic. Her favorite bands are Fall Out Boy and Waterparks. She’s seen them each 18 and 45 times, respectively, and loves to dress on theme for their shows. “I definitely have found myself shopping specifically for shows before, and it does make me feel wasteful,” Lexy says. “I try to combat that by wearing pieces that I could otherwise wear either to other shows or in daily life.” When Fall Out Boy toured in support of their album So Much For Stardust, Lexy covered herself in stars. She also mentions a fandom inside joke involving Water- parks having a one-sided beef with Metal- lica as inspiration for one of her show outfits. “I paid homage to that, I guess, by wear- ing a big Metallica shirt and Waterparks booty shorts,” she says. “Business in the front, party in the back.” Despite buying it as a joke, Lexy says she frequently wears the Metallica shirt to bed. She also clarifies that it’s easy to stay on theme when you’re seeing multiple shows on the same tour. Truscan is also a big believer in reusable and sustainable concert fashion. Her Eras Tour costume, which was itself repurposed, has already found new life in the year since she wore it. “A girl messaged me on Instagram asking where I got my outfit from and we chatted for a bit,” Truscan says. “Long story short, I ended up mailing it to her in Florida so she could wear it for a later date of the Eras Tour.” “It absolutely can be sustainable,” she says. “Never underestimate the power of bor- rowing something from a friend’s closet.” Carly May Gravley Dallas fans of Chappell Roan were “Pink Pony Girls” at her Halloween show.