See Unsee summary
Chappell Roan may have only one album under her belt, but she’s already redefining what it means to be a pop star today. With her Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things tour, she’s turned each concert into a dazzling mix of theatre, fantasy, and personal catharsis. Every performance unveils a new character, a new story, told through bold, intricate costumes that feel pulled from fairytales, folklore, and dreams.
An evolving visual fantasy onstage
Roan didn’t initially plan a U.S. tour, but in a surprise move, she announced a series of fall shows in July, popping up in New York, Kansas City, and wrapping up with a final performance in Pasadena on October 11. What made each show striking wasn’t just the music—it was the complete visual transformation she underwent on stage with each stop.
In Kansas City, she appeared as a “Pink Princess,” wrapped in pink satin and velvet, with a lace bodice, corseted waist, and a medieval hennin—yes, the cone-shaped hat from illuminated manuscripts. The look wasn’t just beautiful; it was deeply referential, playful and theatrical all at once. Fans live for this kind of moment, not just listening but watching and deciphering the symbols behind every fold of fabric.
Unlike pop heavyweights like Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga, who wear a standard wardrobe throughout a tour, Roan creates a new universe with each show. To do so, she’s teamed up with stylist Genesis Webb and the Broadway costume duo James Nguyen and Alexander Cole Gottlieb (you might know them as James + AC). Their previous experience on the Met Gala red carpet with costume design legend Paul Tazewell clearly sharpened their flair for pure spectacle. To read Gwen Stefani headlines magical 2025 Disney Christmas Parade
The process of costume as narrative
Each costume begins with an idea from Roan herself. She starts not with a dress, but with a story, a feeling, a figure from legend. Webb turns these concepts into richly textured mood boards drawn from fashion, mythology, and folklore. From there, James + AC draft detailed designs composed of three distinct wearable layers, allowing Roan to slowly strip back and reveal new versions of herself on stage.
To translate all this into reality, there’s what they call a “costume bible” for each look: pages filled with sketches, fabric swatches, and precise measurements. These are then sent to construction teams like Euroco Costumes, who build the pieces from scratch. Each costume is hand-crafted with both performance and spectacle in mind.
Highlights from the tour wardrobe include:
- “Pink Princess” — rich in embroidery and medieval inspirations
- “Cavalier” (nicknamed “The Pirate” by fans) — a swashbuckling, high-drama look that took more than 550 hours to complete
- “Bat” — likely a darker, winged silhouette born from gothic fantasy
- “Thistle” — possibly earth-toned, rooted in natural, thorny elegance
Truthfully, hearing this level of detail reminds me more of a Paris Fashion Week couture show than a concert series. There’s something joyful about seeing this kind of obsessive craftsmanship return to the center of pop performance.
A celebration of expression and community
What’s striking isn’t just how these costumes look, but how they’re received. Roan’s fans aren’t passive viewers; they engage. They dress up, echo her styles, and interpret the themes. And in doing so, the concert becomes a shared performance space, more like a costumed ball than a traditional tour. To read Toho expands into Europe with bold anime distribution moves
There’s a lovely contradiction here: all this effort, all this layered meaning—and yet Roan approaches it with a grin. On The Tonight Show, she laughed as she admitted she mostly just loves feeling hot in the outfits, even though fans read symbolism into every thread. In Pasadena, she told the crowd that she hopes her performances make people feel “free, like when you were 13.”
That line stuck with me. There’s something beautiful about watching someone take the pop microscope and use it to celebrate self-expression rather than perfection. Her theatricality isn’t about distance or artifice; it’s about delight. That’s rare in pop right now, and honestly, it’s refreshing.
Costuming as modern mythology
For those who follow performance design closely, Roan’s tour is more than spectacle. Costume experts are already praising her and her team for reviving a classical, narrative-driven approach to pop. The kind that’s less about trend-jumping and more about story-building through clothes.
In a landscape where visuals can sometimes fade into background noise, Roan’s work is unapologetically maximalist. Every thread tells a story. Every show feels like another chapter.
As a pop fan and a lover of bold creative risks, I find it thrilling to see an artist take this kind of care—as if each look could belong in a gallery, but instead comes to life under stage lights, in front of a cheering crowd. It’s not nostalgia; it’s reinvention.
