In late March, Olivia Rodrigo's fans — Livies, as they're called — were sent all atwitter on Twitter by new single "So American," the 21-year-old singer's first out-'n-out love song. Its subject? Rodrigo's boyfriend, British actor Louis Partridge.
This is basically the most public affirmation to yet come from the radically low-key couple, who're relative rarity in an era of overwhelming connectivity. And an always welcome one.
“Dating probably shouldn’t be done in the public eye," Partridge correctly affirmed in a recent interview.
The implication here is that Rodrigo and Partridge believe in their relationship and want to keep it to themselves. Fair enough.
So instead of peering into their private lives, let's step back to behold their public personas, where clothes speak louder than words.
There, we can recognize perhaps the truest adage in the history of love: opposites attract.
Rodrigo and Partridge are objectively stylish individuals in their own right, to be clear. It's merely that they're coming at the whole fashion thing from entirely opposite perspectives.
The past 12 months, in particular, has reflected a period of dramatic stylistic reinvention for Olivia Rodrigo. She's since elevated her personal style from quintessential Gen Z to young avant adult.
Her defiantly feminine style is intact but its core components are sharpened, heightened by an awareness of the sort of tasteful fare that stirs even the oft-cynical depths of Fashion Twitter.
We're talking about the archival designer gear of one's terminally online dreams: vintage Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace, Chanel, Moschino, and Miu Miu, all collectible, all rare, all cutely on-trend and ahead of the curve.
In this way, Rodrigo continues to epitomize the tastes of today's fresh-faced and fashionable.
She's developed a trained eye for classic clothes that're both contemporary — good taste never goes out of style, hence why archival pulls dot today's red carpets — and eco-conscious.
Rodrigo could wear new stuff, sure, but why not recycle some of the great looks of yesteryear?
In this way, Rodrigo is textbook Stylish Young American Woman. Her beau, meanwhile, is the picture of Prada's Milanese Man.
Louis Partridge is a hardcore Prada-ite, sitting front-row at all of the house's most recent menswear fashion shows and flexing its triangle-logo'd layering pieces at VIP events the world over.
He was affiliated with the Italian luxury label before he was ever connected to Rodrigo and he's still repping Prada's crisp cardigans and trim slacks even as she digs into the archives. And why not? Prada's always a wildly good look and has only become that much more vital as of late.
Rodrigo and Partridge's stylistic disparity is a case study in soft clashes of the stylish variety. They've each mastered their own distinct wardrobe without dipping into the other's realm; but their distinct personalities clearly only pull them closer.
That's how you can tell it's the real thing. Imitation isn't really the sincerest form of flattery, y'know. Sometimes, it's just being yourself.
