When costume designer Natasha Newman-Thomas joined HBO’s “Euphoria” for its long-gestating third season, she had a gigantic set of Chuck Taylors to fill.
No show, after all, has better captured the chaotic, mash-it-all-together style of Generation Z.
Beginning with the first season in 2019, the characters’ trend-overload mélange — translucent tops and navel-revealing shirts, tie-dye and argyle, angel wings and Dickies work pants — became its own blogged-about trend. Much of the show’s cast, some of whom had previously been idling in young-adult fare, were suddenly lifted to the heights of high fashion. Zendaya (who plays Rue) sat front row at Louis Vuitton, Jacob Elordi (Nate) inked a deal with Bottega Veneta. Hunter Schafer (Jules) modeled in Prada campaigns.
In 2023, the show’s then-costume designer, Heidi Bevins, published a coffee-table tome, “Euphoria Fashion,” immortalizing the show’s look in a sort of high school yearbook.
But Ms. Bevins has exited stage left this season. Ms. Newman-Thomas, who also worked on “The Idol,” the largely panned pop-star opus that was also created by the “Euphoria” showrunner Sam Levinson, has assumed the role.
She insisted that the show’s reputation as a fashion influence didn’t daunt her. (Ms. Newman-Thomas will be better known to movie buffs for her memorable performance in the “The Wolf of Wall Street” as a sales assistant who gets her head shaved in exchange for $10,000, a gig the Los Angeles native got through her “dear, dear family friend Leo.”)
Still, Ms. Newman-Thomas was thankful for a yearslong narrative leap between the second and third “Euphoria” seasons.
“Because there’s such a significant time jump, there isn’t too much carry-over,” she said.
The characters’ past wardrobes have mostly been left in the lockers at East Highland High School, with the exception of Zendaya’s Rue, the turbulent supernova around which “Euphoria” orbits. She is stuck and looks it. She’s still lacing up the same high-top Cons she has since junior year.
The other characters are advancing, haltingly. Some are wiser, some have day jobs that require more buttoned-up attire, and a lucky few are wealthier, as reflected in their Jimmy Choo heels.
In a recent interview, Newman-Thomas elaborated on how post-grad identity crises influenced each character’s clothes, a standout patchwork coat that appears in the first episode and whether Nate wearing Bottega Veneta on the show had anything to do with Mr. Elordi’s real-world Bottega brand deal. This conversation has been edited and condensed.
The first episode opens with Rue (played by Zendaya) wearing what looks like a famous Abercrombie & Fitch jacket identical to one that the writer Hunter S. Thompson wore. Was that a real vintage jacket?
When Sam and I first started talking about Season 3, he was like, I really love this Gonzo journalist aesthetic for Rue. So for that opening scene, we really did want that reference, but those Abercrombie jackets are way out of our price range. My dear friend Cali DeWitt has a brand called Saint Michael. They had remade that jacket. He was so generous and sourced two of them and gave me his personal jacket.
In the trailer, people noticed that Jacob Elordi’s character, Nate, was wearing Bottega Veneta, which some saw as a stretch for a man so young. He’s wearing a $2,900 denim jacket in one scene. Was that part of Mr. Elordi’s brand deal?
No, I reached out to Bottega about it before I ever talked to Jacob about it.
So how did those clothes fit that character, then?
Nate is simultaneously performing as this construction guy, who’s a foreman, and also as a super-successful man trying to gain the trust of investors. His employees don’t know that it’s Bottega. They’re just like, Oh it’s like a flannel. But the investors are like, Oh, I see that woven leather belt, they see the Rolex, they know what’s up.
This season catches the characters in that awkward moment between graduation and adulthood, when many people are just finding their identity. Is there a character that captured that tension particularly well?
Lexi [played by Maude Apatow]. I’m imagining she went to a liberal arts college and made friends with people who rejected fast fashion because of the environment. She really leans into the uniqueness of her identity and embraces vintage fashion, so other people can’t go out and buy the same thing. She’s like, This is one of one, baby.
And Maddy (played by Alexa Demie) works in PR, so she’s able to fake it ’til she makes it. She’s wanting to give off this aura of success. So she’s pulling Jimmy Choo shoes from PR, and maybe her boss is throwing out her Gaultier suit that she had in the ’90s and Maddy’s like, I’ll go take it to get donated, and then gets it tailored.
This is a show that elicits strong feelings from viewers. Will you read the comments?
It’s tough to avoid. Vogue had some post they made on Instagram that someone sent me, and everything was like neutral to positive except for one thing. And I definitely was like, I should quit social media.
Jacob Gallagher is a Times reporter covering fashion and style.
The post Shaping the New Look of ‘Euphoria’ appeared first on New York Times.
