How Gen-Z’s Values Shine Through in Euphoria’s Costuming

By: Annabel Adams, Senior Writer Edited by: Rezi Ubogu

The final season of Euphoria premiered on April 12th, 2026 on HBO Max. Even seven years after Euphoria’s initial release, the show’s effect on fashion and makeup can still be seen. Between glittery eye makeup, matching sets, and eye-catching jeans, Euphoria’s impact on and representation of Gen-Z cannot be understated. When the show debuted in 2019, it changed the generation’s fashion and makeup forever. In an interview with Buzzfeed News, Euphoria’s costume designer, Heidi Bivens, revealed her intentions with the show’s style. “I always like to create visual interest and for it to be exciting visually, so that's part of my motivation… [and] to serve the story and to not pull people out of the story by making things visually interesting just for the sake of it.”

Euphoria’s characters explore androgynous clothing, bright colors, and flamboyant makeup, testing the expectations of teenage fashion. In an interview with Time Magazine, fashion historian and curator Darnell-Jamal Lisby discussed the show’s costuming, representing Gen-Z's “trademark freedom and fluidity.” 

One of Euphoria’s most influential characters is Maddy Perez, played by Alexa Demie. Maddy often sports face and hair gems alongside colorful outfits. Even after seven years, fans of the show still dress up in Maddy’s iconic Season 1 cheerleader look, featuring aqua winged eyeshadow and black eyeliner, face gems under the eyebrows, and hair gems leading back to a half-up-half-down hairstyle. Fans also opt for her two-piece matching lilac sweatset. The set features high-waisted lounge pants and a tie-in-the-front crop top, accessorized with heels, a handbag, and a high ponytail.

Rue Bennet, played by Zendaya, has a different style than the rest of the women on the show. Rue dresses more androgynously, with baggy clothes like jean shorts and t-shirts with graphic designs. She’s not usually shown wearing makeup unless her face is covered in glitter during party scenes. Similar to Maddy, Rue’s outfits are also often used for inspiration and Halloween costumes, and are easily recognized. 

With the help of Rue’s styling and character design, Euphoria helped shape queer and body-diverse fashion for Gen-Z. In emphasizing queer fashion, Jules Vaughn, played by Hunter Schafer, leans into her creativity, trans-identity, and femininity through her fashion. Early in the series, she wears lots of skater skirts, bright colors, and overall hyper-feminine clothes. However, once she starts to detach from the men in the series and lean into her relationship with Rue, she sports darker colors along with black streaks in her hair. In the episode focused on her character, Jules describes how she’s built her womanhood around men, and how femininity has conquered her. In an interview with Them, Schafer discussed Jules’s journey. “She’s starting to explore a new part of her life that is void of toxic masculinity; continuing that would be great,” Schafer said. Through her styling, the audience can see how she’s redefined and reclaimed her femininity. 

Similarly, Barbie Ferreira’s character, Kat Hernandez, challenged the media stereotype as the “fat friend” through makeup and fashion on the show. “For the first third of [season one], Kat didn’t wear [much] makeup. When she started doing the more goth-dominant looks, that was a statement…That was her way of announcing to everyone that she’s no longer this person who you can walk all over,” Ferreira said in a 2020 interview with Vogue India. 

However, Gen-Zers aren’t feeling as accurately depicted with the premiere episode of the new season of Euphoria. The episode is centered around drug-running and sex work, with one of the most notable costumes being Cassie Howard, played by Sydney Sweeney, dressed up as a dog to film OnlyFans content. “These scenes seem to relish in the dehumanising potential of sex work—and it’s not shot from the position of the sex workers, but from the men who are employing (and enjoying) them,” a Dazed article by Jenny Jane reads. “The sex workers are not humanised or empathised with; we don’t hear their stories and understand their motivations.” Jane calls Cassie’s arc “infantile” and finds the new episode to be “a celebration of female degradation.”

While Euphoria’s provocative costuming and sexuality used to push boundaries, it’s now being seen as ignorant, with the new plot lines being distasteful and the general political climate’s treatment of women. Since Gen-Z started to reach their teenage years, they’ve been labeled as a political generation, leading the country into a new wave of equal rights activism. According to the CT Mirror, “Women…are now the force pushing Gen-Z towards the left politically and socially,” with only 26% of Gen Z women supporting Trump. Euphoria’s new lean into female degradation may not be the representation Gen-Z has been striving for.

“When it premiered in 2019, Euphoria was seen as a cunning reflection of a generation of Gen-Z teens,” Stephanie McNeal wrote in a Glamour article. “[But what], exactly, is Levinson trying to say by making Cassie degrade herself in more and more humiliating ways to, ostensibly, pay for her floral budget for her wedding to Nate? Is the juice of this degrading imagery worth the squeeze of whatever that message is?”

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