‘I’m okay with being provocative’: ‘Euphoria’s costume designer on styling the show

The drama series which has been all the rage around the world, Euphoria is one of the most talked about shows of this year. Starring Zendaya and breakout talents Sidney Sweeney, Angus Cloud, Jacob Elordi, Hunter Schafer, and Alexa Demie, one of the many things that has been a conversation starter when it comes to the show is its unrealic high school fashion which is a key element in establishing its twed, complex characters.
Extremely aesthetic driven, fresh from the runways and picked from designers’ archives — the fashion in the show is one aspect of the many things that has made it a pop culture rage. And it’s courtesy of the show’s costume designer Heidi Bivens.

In an interview with Dazed, Bivens said, “Euphoria is its own world. East Highland High does not ex. It’s not a real place.”
She added that she was interested in “the psychology of how friendship groups form and then start to dress alike. It’s all about exploring style tribes among young people”, referring to the characters Rue, Elliot and Jules. “Their silhouettes ended up being super similar, as if they were constantly sharing or swapping clothes.”

She also explained Maddie and Cassie’s looks in the show as per their character arc: “She’s in love, confused, and all these different looks just underscore how little she really knows about herself.” She dressed Maddie in “a little darker, more vampy and mature” which “signifies her mourning her relationship with Nate while having shifted elsewhere.”

Talking about the teenage characters’ salacious outfits, Bivens said, “I’m a woman putting a female in something sexy so, to me, it’s the female gaze. Free the nipple. I’m okay with being provocative.” She also clarified that while in the first season they held back and toned down the clothes, for the second season “we realised that the audience were just ready for us to push all the boundaries – we were all energised the positive response of the first season and went from our gut.”
As for all the trolls and memes questioning how these characters got their hands on such expensive, designer clothing, Bivens didn’t pay heed to any of that because “in the second season of Euphoria I was just like ‘Come on, this is not reality’.”
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