In her Saturday Night Live debut, Chappell Roan performed two songs: “Pink Pony Club” and “The Giver,” a new country-tinged ode to how “only a woman knows how to treat a woman right” (wink). She also filmed a promo with host John Mulaney and cast member Ego Nwodim while wearing an elaborate outfit designed by Project Runway alum Gunnar Deatherage.
The look was originally going to debut at one of Roan’s music festival dates, but “as we kept building and the look kept evolving and getting cooler and more complex, it was apparent that this look needed to be seen in a more stationary moment, rather than jumping around on stage,” Deatherage explained to People. “Because the last thing we wanted to do is prohibit Chappell from being able to be Chappell on stage — prohibit the magic.”
Deatherage reckons it took around 500 hours to complete the ensemble. “It’s actually the most complex look that we’ve done,” he said. “I think a lot of that was because… we were originally thinking that it had to hold up to an hour-long performance. So we really took those precautions to make sure that everything was made really beautifully.”
You can watch Roan’s SNL promo above.
