On this episode of DTB’s “Stage Threads”, Charity Rose Thielen, violinist/guitarist/vocalist of the indie folk band, The Head and The Heart, shows you their stage outfits and discusses how their style connects to their music and the stories behind the clothing they wear during performances. The Head and the Heart is currently supporting their newest album, Aperture.
VIDEO INFO: Film Date - August 8, 2025 Location - The Salt Shed in Chicago, IL
ABOUT DIGITAL TOUR BUS: Digital Tour Bus is your backstage pass to your favorite touring artists! With daily video releases, we cover all genres, and have had the pleasure of featuring the likes of Matchbox Twenty, Twenty One Pilots, Megadeth, MGK, Papa Roach, AJR, Pierce The Veil, Simple Plan, A Day to Remember, and thousands of others over the past 15 years. "Bus Invaders" takes you inside an artist's home on the road, "Cooking at 65mph" showcases the culinary skills of artists on tour, "Gear Masters" unveils the equipment musicians use on stage, and "Stage Threads" dives into the meaning and inspiration behind the clothing artists wear during their performances.
I will never wear these on stage, Grace, but you're the best.
It's a KKCO, like, harness, essentially.
You know, it's like a classy clown.
Hey, this is Charity from The Head and The Heart,
and we're currently on our Aperture tour,
our new record that we just put out,
which has felt amazing,
and just simply the process of making the record
harkens back to how we formed
in the process of making our first record.
So in many ways, Aperture feels like
a new chapter and a rebirth for the band,
and it's been incredible to play these songs out
and have the live, real-time exchange
with people who have been listening to the new record
and also those who don't even know it yet,
but having that live exchange has been powerful and amazing,
and it's been awesome to be on the summer run.
It's been really hot, which has affected, you know,
wardrobe choices, of course,
but it's been really amazing,
and you can come check out my wardrobe.
So some of my go-tos for just summer tour
have been obviously lighter-weight pieces,
and I love Cordera.
It's like a Spanish label.
They have kind of one-size-fits-most
sizing for their pants,
and it's unisex, typically, too,
and these are kind of like more
a balloon-style kind of wider leg
and a little cropped,
so you see the full ankle,
and these are pretty lightweight.
I have so many different Cordera pants,
including wool and linen,
and a lot of, like, drop crotch.
I really like the kind of that silhouette,
and that's why I have a lot of Miyake pants
that have a similar kind of drop crotch
that feel breezy, too,
but my tour hack,
my recent summer tour hack
is basically putting these in the wash
and then putting them on right before a stage
and having wet pants,
but you can't tell
because of the perfect material that these are.
I mean, it's just probably 100% cotton
and how it's not lined,
but I love Cordera pants,
and then as far as tops go, my go-to,
so I discovered this amazing
originally Berlin, L.A. designer, Desiree Klein,
and she made these Doran jackets,
and this is a very, like, well-worn silk version
of the Doran that she custom-made for me,
and I had her make,
I've had her make so many pants,
kind of matching pant Doran jacket suits,
and I sourced all the buttons and materials,
and this was years ago.
It was really inspired by organza material,
and so I had her make a lot of those,
and then also taffeta,
so here's some other versions,
and there's even one of these jackets
that she used to have on our set
called the Charity Jacket after me,
but I was really into two-tone for a while.
You can just see it's the same silhouette
and have matching pants,
which I have rarely worn,
just for, I don't, like, love the fit,
and it's a lot of taffeta sound,
but I used to have two-tone hair
for a period of time,
so yeah, this is, I mean,
this is like a well-worn summer silk jacket
that I've used, you know,
venue laundry, cold, quick wash,
but you can tell the silk is like,
it's getting really worn.
Yeah, I mean, I think just having
really breathable, lightweight,
and really, I tend to wear black off,
it's either all black or crazy bright colors,
and I really love monochromatic,
so black, if you're sweating,
can't really, you know,
it doesn't really show up on stage,
and it can get really intense,
just, you know, performance.
Another go-to summer,
summer top is actually this by Trois Voilons,
which is like a young contemporary designer
based in L.A.
I think she's still making things,
but I actually have,
I wear it backwards,
so the ties are in the front,
they're supposed to be in the back,
but that feels even more breathable,
and it just, it still has the same kind of,
you know, sleeve, silhouette,
princess sleeve, I guess you'd call this,
and I love the kind of Edwardian collar,
that's what you, I love collars,
and we'll get to my collar,
my collar drawer,
and the last kind of fun go-to piece
is a little, a little heavier-duty cotton,
but this is by this incredible actual visual,
she's actually a visual artist,
she's Persian and German,
Maryam Kahani, I believe is how you pronounce it,
and we've become friends just, you know,
via online, she custom-made some pieces
like this Piero top,
it's also matching pants,
you know, it's like a French clown,
which I think there's,
I just love the kind of over-the-top,
exaggerated nature of this,
you know, it's like a classy clown,
and I love how it crops,
I really, you know, enjoy the kind of
high-waisted balloon pant,
drop crotch pant with a cropped,
relatively cropped top,
those are many of my go-tos,
I, for summer, I also have
my collar drawer,
it's, as you can see, it's so stuffed,
K.K. Co. is like, speaking of organza,
make amazing collars,
that I feel like just that exaggerated accessory,
I also have two little kids,
two little girls, and I
will always put collars on them,
and since they've discovered
the wardrobe collar drawer,
they basically, you know,
put them on as dress-up,
this is a taffeta,
so as you can see, I kind of like,
and this is silk, this is from Desiree Klein,
I had her custom make some
of these collars for me,
that tie in the front or the back,
which I'm realizing I need to use pins
or fashion tape,
because when the movement on stage,
it will kind of move the, you know,
to the wrong segment,
it will no longer be centered,
so I still have to troubleshoot that,
and then this is a K.K. Co.
like, harness essentially,
which has come in handy
when I wear dresses on stage,
because without a belt,
I need to be able to put my monitor pack
on something,
so this way you can put, you know,
yeah, so this is the shoe drawer,
which is kind of shared,
these are amazing campers,
that are like Barbie shoes,
and I've seen Solange use these,
but I just love the exaggerated,
you know, they look like pretend shoes,
these are Grace Potter's shoes,
which she was,
she put on a festival in Burlington,
and she's so lovely,
and that was our first time meeting actually,
I will never wear these on stage,
Grace, but you're the best,
and they're awesome,
and then my literal,
like I have such a boot collection,
typically, but my go-to
are just these Reebok kicks,
that are very well loved,
and then I love,
I have Darner socks,
that are, you know,
these kind of see-through,
shiny metallic silhouettes,
I have so many different kinds,
and Marie Mecco,
I love just squiggle patterning,
thank you so much for spending time,
I wish we had more time,
there'll be maybe a to be continued,
but check out our new record,
Aperture, and I've got to run.
