During Sunday night’s season 3 episode of HBO’s Gen Z drama “Euphoria,” viewers found themselves watching yet another messy, disastrous and unhinged wedding unfold onscreen — which was probably inevitable considering that it centered on the wedding of the delusional Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and the toxic Nate (Jacob Elordi).
Before the ceremony, Nate experiences a panic attack. His ex-girlfriend, Maddy (Alexa Demie), tries to pull a power move by showing up to the event. The wedding dance is tacky and strange, and the night ends in an absolute nightmare. (Details will be spared to avoid spoilers.)
But perhaps what had the internet talking the most were the fashion choices of the wedding guests, particularly Cassie and Nate’s former high school classmates.
There was Maddy, Cassie’s former best friend, in a striking, revealing green dress with a beaded back, paired with a fur shawl. “We see a lot of power dynamics between Maddy and Cassie this season,” Natasha Newman-Thomas, the show’s costume designer, said in an interview. “And it had to be something equally powerful to Cassie’s dress if Maddy is going to show up to this thing.”
There was Jules (Hunter Schafer), who wore another revealing look — a dusty blue Acne Studios runway gown, which Newman-Thomas described as “a representation of her newfound status,” pointing to the character’s shift to a more elevated style since she began dating an older, wealthy man. Jules had her own reasons to show off at this wedding, where she was seeing many of her former high school classmates for the first time in over four years.
Jules was color coordinated with Rue (Zendaya), who picked a vintage men’s suit paired with, yes, dirty Converse. Her signature Chuck Taylors were a must at the request of Sam Levinson, the showrunner, who “really wanted Rue to be in her Converse throughout the entire third season to represent her lack of emotional development between the Season 2 and Season 3 jump,” Newman-Thomas said.
And there was BB (Sophia Rose Wilson), who arrived in a red minidress with a slit in the midsection that revealed her pregnant belly. It looked like a club outfit from 2019, when Season 1 aired. That, too, is reflective of her character: “She kind of just shows up in something maybe akin to what she would have worn in high school, in this kind of garish full stomach out, no-class outfit,” Newman-Thomas said.
Each fashion choice reflects both the character’s personal style and emotional state. And while some viewers have discussed how untraditional their ceremony outfits were, that’s exactly the point.
“These aren’t very buttoned-up characters,” Newman-Thomas said. “We’ve met them in the past, and we’ve lived with them.”
“It’s not a traditional wedding in the sense that it’s ‘Euphoria,’” she said, adding that “it should feel a bit surreal and exciting.” After all, the girls showed up to high school in previous seasons in mini skirts, crop tops, iridescent eye makeup and tiny purses (not backpacks).
But “Euphoria” also possesses a keen sense for capturing the mood and style of Gen Z, a demographic now entering its wedding era. And the characters’ fashion choices reflect more of an openness to veering away from traditional wedding dress codes.
There are plenty of real-life examples. Earlier this year, Amber Rose wore a deep plunge halter dress to the wedding of the Republican strategist Alex Bruesewitz. Kendall Jenner wore a very little black dress at her friend Lauren Perez’s wedding in 2021. On social media, some guests have even shared that they have attended weddings with a dress code to “upstage the bride,” where guests wear their most flashy and outrageous outfits. (Think hot pink suit with ruffles and lantern-like fringe headpieces that cover the face.)
“Couples are encouraging their guests to express more of their individual style,” said Corinne Pierre-Louis, a bridal stylist and fashion editor, of contemporary dress codes. “In the past, it used to be: black tie, formal, or semiformal.” But in recent years, she has worked with couples who have had dress codes like “seaside elegance,” “Mediterranean chic,” and “come as you are,” which was perhaps the code for Cassie and Nate’s wedding, she said, jokingly.
While the show’s fashion choices are naturally a bit inflated, they are aligned with the wedding culture of a younger generation, for which personal style and self-expression might take precedence over etiquette.
“It’s kind of poking fun at the fact that the wedding guest fashion is changing, and let’s see how far we can stretch it with this exaggerated cast,” Pierre-Louis said. “Gen Z, they’ve seen their parents and older generations get married and they see photos, and they think it’s stuffy and they want something unique and trendy.”
But, Pierre-Louis said she probably wouldn’t advise a client to wear a dress like the one that Jules or Maddy wore: “You don’t want to give the grandmother a heart attack.”
Sadiba Hasan reports on love and culture for the Styles section of The Times.
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