Euphoria led the way with Gen Z dressing: The best fashion moments from season one

More than 18 months after HBO dropped Euphoria’s first episode, the high-school drama has returned with a second season. For those yet to watch, the show follows the life of a recovering drug addict, Rue Bennett (played by Zendaya), who attends a high school full of dysfunctional teenagers – each with their own problems and vices.

While the storyline could be described as a caricature of teenage life – imagine the height of your rebellion during high school but played out every single day – it’s the show’s endless fashion looks and beauty moments that really caught our attention. Each character is as bold as the last, with a wardrobe that perfectly encapsulates their personalities.

Euphoria’s costume designer, Heidi Bivens, previously told Love magazine that most of her choices had been inspired by “real teens”, the cast themselves, and each character’s affinity to fashion. “There is a kind of filter I come up with for each character, i.e. what inspires their personal style, which colours do they prefer, what brands do they gravitate towards, how much attention do they pay to what they wear, how much money do they have to spend on clothes.”

Take Maddy (played by Alexa Demie), a feisty, bold cheerleader who finds herself in an abusive relationship with the school’s most popular football player, Nate (played by Jacob Elordi). Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 2019, Bivens said Demie’s own personality had informed Maddy’s style choices.

“She has a fierceness to her and in terms of how she lives her life. She’s a badass and she has specific ideas about what Maddie should wear,” she said. Similarly, Bivens worked closely with Hunter Schafer, who plays the ethereal, fairy-like Jules who has recently moved to town. “She had very specific ideas about what could work for Jules. So she would DM me any, ideas and I picked up the ball and ran with it,” she said.

Here are our favourite fashion and beauty looks from season one of the show.

In the months after Euphoria aired, TikTok was awash with people copying the show’s most popular beauty looks – most notably those seen on Jules.

Jules’ makeup is anything but conventional. She’s not afraid to play with colour, or add both glitter and sequins.

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There was her golden eyeliner, that scene where she has clouds drawn around her eyes, and this highlighter-orange eye shadow, with matching mascara.

And not forgetting these lashes, which were nothing short of iconic.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the show’s makeup artist, Doniella Davy, said each look serves to portray part of a character’s personality.

“How I use makeup on the show is not only to illustrate who the characters are but who they need to be in that moment, who they want to be for their own emotional well-being, whatever they’re going through,” Davy said.

“So, I’m not supposed to be here right now because I’m dressed like a hooker and none of you like me.”

If you’ve seen the show, you’ll instantly recall the outfit Maddy was wearing the night she confronts Nate in front of his family.

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It’s the deep purple I Am Gia co-ord – comprised of high-rise straight leg trousers that are cut out around the hips and a matching crop top. The set quickly went viral, with the brand bringing it out in several colourways.

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No high school drama is complete without a coming of age moment. Kat finds her calling becoming an online dominatrix, which transforms her from a body-conscious teen to confident and outspoken.

This comes to a head in episode three, as we see Kat arrive at school in a black corset, “kitty” choker and red lipstick.

Her private life continues to bleed into her fashion choices throughout the series as we later see her don a harness and red leather dog-collar style choker for a casual trip to the mall.

One look which took social media by storm in 2020 was the smokey, cat-eye look worn by Maddy on multiple occasions. The eyeliner was so popular that Vogue later invited the actor to share her routine in a YouTube video.

There was also the time Maddy adorned her eyebrows in rhinestones.

“This makeup is supposed to be a costume,” Davy told Vulture. “She’s going all out, it goes with her cheerleading outfit.”

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If you found comfort in TikTok during the many lockdowns of the last two years, you’ll recognise a money piece when you see one. For the uninitiated, this is when the strip of hair at the front of the head is a noticeably different colour to the rest of the head.

It’s fair to say, this trend might owe its roots to Euphoria. While Jules’ platinum blonde hair changes countless times throughout the series, our last look of Jules in season one shows two thick blocks of dark brown framing her face.

Bivens told Entertainment Weekly that Maddy’s winter formal look was inspired by Rose McGowan’s appearance at the 1998 MTV VMA’s, the sheer dress which has been recreated by countless celebrities over the years.

While Rue’s relaxed aesthetic is galaxies apart from her counterparts, it reflects her character perfectly.

We regularly see her in shrunken tank tops paired oversized cargo trousers – a look which went on to dominate style trends in the two years after Euphoria aired.