When Chappell Roan stepped onto that New York fire escape—Rapunzel-length wig cascading, hips swaying, sequins shimmering—she wasn’t just filming a music video for her new single “The Subway.”. She was unveiling a custom look that straddled the line between showgirl fantasy and Victorian ghost story. Designed by Connor O’Grady, an Australian womenswear and millinery designer now based in London, the hair-crafted ensemble was commissioned by stylist Genesis Webb for Roan’s “The Subway” video. And yes, that’s real human hair! Dyed, curled, plaited, and stitched into a bullet-shaped bra and matching skirt.
“I think it all really kicked off when Genesis mentioned me as one of her favorite emerging designers in an interview,” O’Grady recalls. “I was at my desk, in a gas mask, gluing padding onto headbands—normal behavior—when a Google Alert popped up. I was shook, shaken, and stirred.” A thank-you hat turned into some DMs. And eventually: hair.
But long before the rhinestones and resin-stiffened curls, O’Grady was just a Queensland kid obsessed with glamour. Growing up on the outskirts of Brisbane, his family vet clinic served as a kind of unexpected runway. “My first sewing teacher was a client at the surgery,” he says. “I always had one foot in the animal world and one in the fantasy.” He vividly remembers watching the 2007 Dior couture show as a six-year-old: Madame Butterfly on a tiny TV screen, fate sealed before snack time. “That was the moment. I knew I had to be part of that world.”
Later came an obsession with millinery, thanks in part to a museum show of Stephen Jones’ work that felt “like entering someone’s surrealist brain.” Since then, he’s cultivated what he calls a “full-look design policy”: everything from the tip of the cloche to the end of the kitten heel must tell the same story.
When the brief for Roan’s look arrived—big hair, fantasy hair—he went full Victorian mourning brooch meets burlesque bombshell. The result? A spiral-cone bra that looks like two giant curls frozen mid-twirl, supported by plaited straps and reinforced cups. The skirt? Draped wefts and sequin embroidery with red and gold tinsel glinting throughout. And yes, it moves. “I’m obsessed with antique hairwork,” O’Grady says. “I have a tiny collection of Georgian mourning jewelry. So this project really let me live out the dream of a particularly sentimental 19th-century widow.”
It’s execution wasn’t without drama. Cue a late-night panic run to Tesco for more hairspray, and a minor shipping debacle that nearly stranded the outfit in a UK parcel hub until O’Grady had to physically intercepted it and put it on a plane to New York. “It was giving Home Alone 2: Fashion Emergency Edition,” he says. “Very that.”
The final design also pulls from classic American showgirl references, like 1950s burlesque legend Lilly Christine. “She was Broadway sparkle and stalking-cat energy,” he says. “It felt right to channel that theatrical glamour, especially for something being filmed on a literal fire escape. It’s camp! It’s cinema!” As for how it’s all landed? “The paparazzi shots were surreal. The fan art is even better,” he laughs. “I hope people see the humor and the joy in it. That it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a love letter to camp, couture, and doing the absolute most.”