Olivia Rodrigo's Dress Dissolves Mid-Song on the Unraveled Tour: How It Works

Olivia Rodrigo opened the Unraveled Tour on Friday, Sept. 25, at PeoplesBank Arena in Connecticut, and one moment from the night took over every feed. During“The Cure,”her collared, pleated dress dissolves under artificial rain and reveals a red one-piece underneath. It happens in real time on stage, which is exactly why the clip spread so fast.

The dress comes from designer Hussein Chalayan, who told WWD it is made from a special paperlike material that dissolves when it comes into contact with water. Chalayan built on his SS2016 collection“Pasatiempo,”where he first explored dissolving garments. He said the biggest challenge was the timing, since Rodrigo has to keep singing while the water hits her. The design went through multiple iterations and rounds of testing, and Rodrigo approved each step of the process.

The Unraveled Tour supports her album“you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love”and runs through mid-May, so this likely won’t be the last viral moment. If you were in that arena on opening night, we need to know: did the dissolve hit harder in person, or does the video do it justice? Tell us in the comments.