A Look Into the Euphoria Wardrobe
HBO’s hit series Euphoria is finally back with a brand new season – bolder, darker, and with more stories to tell. The (sometimes slightly) depressing and disturbing, yet visually beautiful teen drama has become somewhat of a fashion statement. In the midst of the very raw and uncensored portraying of teenage troubles, one sees the characters show up to school extremely well dressed (or perhaps under-dressed). Each character is dressed in well thought through outfits, reflecting and representing their tone and personality: from Maddy’s (Alexa Demie) confident and fearless cutout sets to Cassie’s (Sydney Sweeney) sweet and girly mini dresses to Rue’s (Zendaya) relaxed and worn-out baggy sweats.
The fashion on Euphoria has gone viral on social media. Not only are people recreating the iconic looks left and right, whether they are buying the exact pieces worn by the cast or putting their crafting skills to the test, but fans are participating in numerous trends on TikTok. For instance, the ‘when you forget you go to Euphoria High’ outfit switch trend (if you know, you know). It’s almost as if it has become its own style of fashion – the ‘Euphoria style’.
“and why aren’t you in uniform?!”
Compared to last season’s colorful and light pieces, the color palette for the looks in this season has gotten significantly darker. Already in the season two premiere, some development from season one can be seen in the fashion. The New Year’s Eve party, however, takes place not long after the season one winter formal finale. Hence, costume designer Heidi Bivens explained how she was careful not to stray too far from the looks of the previous season while still exploring and experimenting with the character’s styles. As the character’s are growing up, the costumes are now revolving around much darker and bolder colors so as to fit the tone of the new season.
“Everything is done with such intention”, Zendaya says. “Even if I’m wearing an outfit that seems like it’s just a T-shirt and some pants, there’s a thought behind the colors and why she’s wearing it, and what she’s layering it with.” Bivens describes that, to reflect the heaviness and seriousness of what Zendaya’s character, Rue Bennet, is going through, she is never dressed in bright colors or anything that would be experienced as fashionable or trendy. Similarly, Alexa Demie’s character Maddy Perez went from wearing a lot of baby pink and purple last season, to mainly black in the new season. Jules, played by Hunter Schafer, has also seen some development in regards to outfits, her too leaning towards the darker side in season two. Schafer describes her own character’s style evolution as having moved from a “hyper-feminine, baby doll aesthetic, to something slightly in between by the end of season one. And then, where we’re picking up with her in season two is […] more androgynous”.
With the series being extremely well budgeted and all, it does not come as a surprise that the costumes are put together using high priced items. The costume department has worked with designers on a lot of the outfits, amongst others Marc Jacobs and Jeremy Scott Moschino. Bivens is very collaborative, working not only with designers, but with the cast as well, as a lot of the actors are often involved in their own costumes. Apart from the classic runway-known designers, there are also a fair share of other high-end brands in the mix, for instance Batsheva and Orseund Iris, as well as selected vintage items and period pieces.
With four episodes aired, and four left to go, the viewers have yet to discover the character’s fully evolved styles. One thing is, however, clear: everything is getting darker. There is no doubt that the fashion on Euphoria has been receiving A LOT of media attention, but the fun thing is, that the cast seems to be just as into the fashion aspect of the show as the fans are. Fashion aside though, if anyone out there is looking for a new series to dive into and hasn’t already binged it (or has), Euphoria is definitely worthwhile.