When major rock artifacts hit the auction block, they tend to disappear into corporate archives or behind glass display cases. They rarely end up in the closet of a working musician who actually intends to sweat in them under stage lights. Olivia Rodrigo has revealed that she was the anonymous bidder who shelled out what she called an exorbitant amount of money to own the white vintage dress Meg White wore on the front of Elephant.
The garment, a vintage Gunne Sax design, is central to the visual identity of The White Stripes' fourth album from 2003. On that sleeve, Meg and Jack White sit on opposite sides of an elephant trunk-shaped rope against a stark red background, an image that remains one of the defining sights of the early 2000s garage rock revival. When Julien's Auctions put the piece up for bidding in May, house specialists projected it would fetch somewhere between $4,000 and $6,000, which works out to roughly £3,000 to £4,500. Rodrigo blew those figures out of the water, ultimately laying down $25,600, or about £19,000, to claim it.
Her plan was not simply to frame the dress on a wall. Rodrigo wanted to pull it out for a live appearance at her inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival, held under the California sun in August. High summer heat put a swift stop to that idea. Rodrigo admitted she abandoned the outfit change because the weather was simply too fucking hot, though she left the door open for another time, joking that if she ever stages a winter edition of Daisy Chain, the dress might finally make its stage return.
Her investment is grounded in a genuine fixation on the Detroit duo. Rodrigo met Jack White back in 2022, openly declaring him her hero of all heroes. The praise flowed both ways. White called Rodrigo very cool, very real, and very much a lover of music, while commending her for turning a fresh generation of young fans onto vinyl records.
That initial encounter developed into ongoing encouragement while Rodrigo was writing and recording her sophomore LP, Guts. During the sessions, White sent her a letter with a simple piece of creative counsel. He told her that her only real obligation as a songwriter was to make the sort of tracks she would actually want to hear coming out of the radio herself.
The bond was visible again at the 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, where The White Stripes were inducted. Rodrigo hailed 'Seven Nation Army' as the most iconic song of all time during the event. While Twenty One Pilots tackled that very riff during the musical salutes, Rodrigo took the stage alongside Feist to deliver a quiet, acoustic version of 'We’re Going To Be Friends'.
The purchase also mirrors Rodrigo's wider listening habits, which trace a clear line through guitar music. Having grown up on riot grrrl acts like Bikini Kill, she has spent recent stretches digging into the records of Joy Division, New Order, and The Cure. Paying five figures for a piece of garage rock history might seem steep, but it keeps a famous artifact in the hands of an artist actively drawing on its lineage.
