How Olivia Rodrigo Pulled Off Her Dissolving Unraveled Tour Dress, According to the Designer

One of the most talked-about moments from Olivia Rodrigoes opening night on the Unraveled Tour was how one of her outfits unraveled on stage.

Starting out as a simple collared dress with a pleated skirt, the look debuted as the pop star sang her Billboard Hot 100 No. 5 hit “The Cure” at PeoplesBank Arena in Connecticut on Friday (Sept. 25). She stood beneath a curtain of artificial rain that broke down the clothing in a matter of minutes to reveal a red one-piece underneath. Three days later, designer Hussein Chalayan explained how he pulled it off in an article published by WWD.

“I had previously made dissolving dresses for my SS2016 collection, ‘Pasatiempo,’” he said, revealing that he was “approached by Olivia’s team to design a piece in response to her song ‘The Cure,’ exploring the idea of revealing a sense of vulnerability as the upper layer dissolves.”

“This seemed very poetic and compelling to me,” Chalayan continued. “I designed a mini range, from which one design was selected, and we then went through a number of iterations to make sure the dress would be practical for the performance, including how it would look and function before the dissolution took place.”

Noting that Rodrigo was involved in “approving each step of the process,” the designer shared that keeping the outer layer “simple and pure” was intentional to make the reveal of the interior layer “more powerful.”

“It is made from a special paperlike material that dissolves when it comes into contact with water,” he added. “The timing was definitely a challenge, as Olivia also has to be able to sing while under the water. There has therefore been a lot of back and forth and testing to get the timing and dissolution to happen in the right way.”

Supporting her Billboard 200-topping album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, the Unraveled Tour continues through North America and Europe through mid-May next year. Following the two opening nights in Hartford, Conn., her next stop is in Pittsburgh at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday (Sept. 29).

In addition to “The Cure,” the setlist includes the No. 1 Hot 100 hit “Drop Dead” as well as songs from her previous two albums, Sour and Guts, such as “Drivers License,” “Good 4 U,” “Vampire” and “Bad Idea Right?”

See before and after photos of Rodrigo’s dissolving dress on the Unraveled Tour, and watch it melt away below.