Three years ago—2019—biker shorts, tiny sunglasses, slip dresses, and bucket hats were all the rage. Along with these unconventionally fashionable pieces, the undeniable color palette of this year were bright pops of color—such as red, yellow, orange, and blue. In a nutshell, 2019 was all over the place with what was expected from the media, so when Euphoria came out, the world was taken by storm. 

On June 16th, the first episode of the drama show was released to the public on HBO Max, and this show single-handedly portrayed 2019 in a way that was so out of the ordinary. While this series touches on a lot of sensitive topics and can unintentionally glorify issues in the media, the most uplifting part of Euphoria is the visuals.

While viewers follow the storyline and character development of multiple teen girls in their junior year of high school, Euphoria doesn’t exactly portray society’s true standards of seventeen-year-old women, and maybe that’s what people find so stylistically pleasing. The audience’s ability to fully immerse themselves in the world of their new favorite show is directly related to the unworldly dress-up that can help people with feminine wardrobes feel inspired to be more unique. 

While individuality seems to be a recurring theme throughout the episodes, one of the main characters to take this to the next level is Jules Vaughn, portrayed by Hunter Schafer. The first time we ever see her is in the first episode where she’s wearing a purple buckle dress, mesh long sleeve shirt, and sparkly fishnet tights. To an uninterested viewer, her striking fashion choices may seem insignificant, but in the end, these outfits show how developed Jules already is in her identity while other characters strive to develop that.

At the beginning of Euphoria, main character Kat Hernandez, portrayed by Barbie Ferreira, struggled with feeling confident in her own skin, and it isn’t until three episodes in and a life-changing experience where she finds herself. When she used to wear loose-fitting tops and skinny jeans to conceal her figure, Kat eventually realizes her self-worth and begins to dabble in corsets, chokers, red lipstick, and shocking pieces—all to rebel against society’s expectations for her.

Played by Alexa Demie, main character Maddy Perez has always been bold in her fashion statements that match her exuding confidence. Usually seen wearing matching sets with short crop tops and bell bottom inspired pants, Maddy makes a point to highlight her curves and the feminine parts of her body. But also, the seventeen-year-old matches her outfits with pops of color in her makeup. 

The costume designer of this hit show, Heidi Bivens, obviously matches the girls’ character development and confidence with their outfits and designated color palettes. Surprisingly, the forty-five-year-old perfectly encapsulates the loss of innocence but also the gain of strong influences through something simple like a pair of pants—that’s pure talent. 

For season two—first episode released on January 9th, 2022—Bivens still styles these young women, but this time, in a more simplistic and refined way to match the change in not only the character’s evolution but trends in real-time. 

Now, the media influences young women to wear pieces such as denim on denim, small corsets, and neutral tones; Bivens is fully aware of these fashion predictions and shows this through these, still, iconically flamboyant outfits. 

While it’s more common to see all black ensembles out in public, it was something I definitely wasn’t expecting to take over the usual vibrant detailing in each episode. While Bivens tells Vogue that in particular, “[Maddy’s] vibe this season is definitely darker…is feeling more grown up…she’s a little bit more mature than her age in this season.” This was one of the most shocking changes. Starting with perfect purples and brilliant blues, Maddy was the last character that I would have bet on to change into a more subtle glam approach—almost reminding me of if Kim Kardashian put her spin on the 1920’s glamour girls.

Similarly, Jules visually matured into a dominantly black wardrobe. From mismatched, neon outfits that were something only she could pull off to only a few striking pops of color here and there, this change was the most obvious. Along with this, Jules cut her long, blonde hair off into a shorter bob. This is one of the most popular styles right now, and again, this seemed so far-fetched for her character.

While just based on the first episode, Jules’ story between the seasons isn’t fully explained, you can tell that she’s grown a lot from the drama in 2019, and her clothes portray this perfectly. It’s understandable that viewers might not like this growth because of the charm found in Jules’ previous individuality; I think that her sudden conformity will help to foreshadow a lot about her experiences, past and future.

On the complete other end of it, Cassie Howard, portrayed by Sydney Sweeney, first was seen wearing light blue, basic cropped tops and shorts since the very first episode. Unfortunately, Cassie kept a similar style and didn’t change much throughout the first season; it was almost like her baby blue signature represented an almost innocent knack for being gullible throughout all of Euphoria. She just didn’t seem to match the other characters’ take on the world.

However, this season, I was hoping and half-expecting for her to change completely with the rest of the show, representing that she let go of the pain from season one, but that didn’t happen. She first talks about wanting to focus on herself because “I’m making a lot of mistakes and not learning from them.” While this is a completely valid reason, her soft makeup and signature color makes it easy to predict that she’s still as lost as she ever was.

Most shows that I’ve seen do not put this much depth into every single character’s wardrobe, so I applaud Bivens for doing something so different. While the audience members might love Euphoria for the drama and pull, I feel that people will be looking to this season for inspiration for the rest of 2022.