Concert Fashion: Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan, Cowboy Hats, Battle Jackets, & More

If you’ve ever dressed as a musician to see them in concert, dutifully sewn metal band patches onto a "battle jacket," or decorated a cowboy hat to wear to a show, you’ll feel personally seen by this episode. This week, we discuss modern trends in concert fashion and how the threads we choose to brandish can display our fandom. Through the lens of pop and metal culture, we converse about early displays of fan merchandise and debate which fan base may have originated the cowboy hat decorating trend. Most importantly, we ask the age-old question: Are you a poser for wearing a band t-shirt to a gig? We shall see…
Links:
Pinterest Board: pin.it/4pVnLfnBA
Carrie Brownstein, “Concert Outfits: A Brief History” (NPR): www.npr.org/sections/monitorm...
Lauren Alex O’Hagan, “'My Musical Armor': Exploring Metalhead Identity through the Battle Jacket” (Taylor & Francis Online): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...
Madeleine Schulz, “Did the arena tour kill festival fashion?” (Vogue Business): www.voguebusiness.com/consume...
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Timestamps:
Intro 00:00
Did the arena tour kill festival fashion? 00:17
Fan-Artist-Fan Connection 01:48
Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour 02:44
Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts Tour 05:17
Carrie Brownstein’s "Concert Outfits: A Brief History" 06:02
Early Concert Fashion and Fan Merchandise During Beatlemania 08:52
Madonna Lookalike Contest 11:13
Chappell Roan’s Concert Themes 12:15
Battle Jackets in Metal Culture 13:13
Cowboy Hats 16:23
Band T-Shirts 21:42
Are you a poser for wearing a band t-shirt to a gig? 23:39
Rave Culture 26:14
What artist do you own the most merch for? 27:17
Outro 28:35

[@shewashissister]

So fun and entertaining to listen to!

[@salweststudio]

As an Ohio girlie, I def had to get the camo Midwest Princess hat

[@swanily]

This was so much fun to watch, you guys are all so articulate and interesting! Loved the point about how going to concerts is a ritual that goes far beyond the one night/artist themselves. I immediately thought of when I went to eras with 6 friends and we all bought tickets together, planned outfits, went out to eat, and got ready together. I made so many bracelets to trade, for a couple of weeks I would do 2 or 3 every night before bed like a prayer lol. I also felt like over half of the experience of the night was watching the crowd and feeling the joy in the stadium.

[@CommunityVertigo]

Live music can be such a special way for people to connect🫶