Stranger Things costume designer Amy Parris puts it best: Each season only gets “bigger and bigger,” and for the Netflix show’s fifth and final chapter, fans can only expect its biggest, baddest, and bloodiest. Parris, who has been with the hit series since season 3, warns that the final goodbye is darker and heavier, but that certainly doesn’t mean bland. “While we’re doing some more muted colors, we still have pops of fun fashion,” she chirps.
In the latest episode of Behind the Seams, Parris takes InStyle through the Stranger Things costume warehouse in Atlanta, Georgia. Cult fans were first dropped into Hawkins, Indiana, (and its malignant counterpart, the Upside Down), on July 15, 2016, and on December 31, 2025, creators Matt and Ross Duffer will wrap up their sci-fi-horror-fantasy universe. “Knowing that this is the end played into my decisions because I wanted [the looks] to feel full circle,” Parris says, standing among huge binders full of sketches and bins overflowing with fabric, each labeled with a character’s name. “We’ve seen this group grow, but as much as you grow, you still maintain your core values and your core style.”
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Season 5 places viewers in November 1987 (season 1 takes place in November 1983), meaning the core DnD four are now around 16 or 17 years old. “It’s that delicate balance where I want them to still feel like kids but they’re growing up,” Parris reflects, pointing to Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), who has traded his colorful striped shirts and drawstring shorts from earlier seasons for a gray bomber jacket and dark slacks. “Mike is in more serious tones. He’s more adult-looking while still looking youthful. …He’s there to help his friends, and I feel like the outfit reflects that.”
Similarly, Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), maintains his athletic, jock-type persona; McLaughlin even requested he display his muscular arms to show he’s “fighting for his girlfriend, [Max Mayfield, played by Sadie Sink].” Meanwhile, Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) is still mourning the loss of his friend Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), suited with a mullet, black trucker cap, and faded Hellfire shirt to prove it. “His colors are reflective of his emotions,” Parris declares.
Complex character is a descriptor best reserved for Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), however, who experiences a “big arc” this season. Will shows a real duality between vulnerability—fittingly expressed when he sheds his jacket and vest—and power: “When we see him at the MAC-Z, he’s in a shirt that almost was on purpose feeling a little powerful. It has a stripe that goes across onto the shoulder,” Parris explains.
Parris had some fun up her sleeve for Max, too, while staying true to her tough, tomboy personality. Max’s physical body may be in a coma, with that version of herself relegated to hospital gowns, but her “brain body,” as Parris called it, lives in Henry Creel’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) mindscape, sifting through his ‘50s memories and collecting pieces along the way. “The (Duffer) brothers wanted it to be a patchwork of clothes from the ‘50s. I tried to put a poodle skirt on her, but it just felt like pushing it too far,” Parris recalls, adding that the costume team made Max’s tops of various layered, mismatched patterns and complemented them with Levi’s denim. Parris also added an Easter egg for super fans: The patches on Max’s ‘50s pants are cut-up shirts from young Henry’s outfits.
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Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is back in training mode, preparing to kill Vecna (also played by Bower) for good, and she has the outfit to match. Parris put Brown in a cropped sweatshirt layered over a skintight henley to “show Millie’s figure,” paired with a “weird fashion moment in the ‘80s”: sweatshorts over sweatpants, inspired by Brand (Josh Brolin) in The Goonies.
Fashion influences for the season came from surprising places, including Princess Diana’s closet. She cozied up Erica Sunclair (Priah Ferguson) in a purple knit decorated with dogs, inspired by Lady Di’s Warm & Wonderful sheep sweater. “It was a little bit earlier than ‘87, but Indiana is a bit slower in fashion, so it would’ve been the sweater to have at the moment,” Parris adds. For Mr. Whatsit (also played by Bower), the Duffer brothers gave Parris the creative direction of a “creepy Mr. Rogers.” She gave Mr. Whatsit a “warm and friendly” color palette full of browns and creams, with a “pop of red” in his tie, pocket square, and socks. “I really think a gentleman in the ‘50s wasn’t wearing red socks, but I just like that. I like to stay true to the time, but I also realize this is a science fiction show and I think I get to have a little creative license to make some stuff up.”
Mr. Whatsit isn’t the only character with “bright pops of color”—vivid hues were specifically written into the script for Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher), who dons canary-yellow, candy-blue, and electric-purple. Holly’s costumes also show the lengths the costume department went to pull it all together: Her buttons are vintage, her fabrics are custom, her beaded bracelets come from Etsy vendors, her Boy Scout sash from eBay. It was especially important that they have extra supplies for Holly, as “any minute she could grow out of this,” Parris explains. “That is a specific challenge working with children because they’re gonna keep growing. That will not stop for production.”
It’s a challenge that subsides when it comes to the adult cast. In fact, Parris found characters like “classic, all-American” Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) especially easy to dress because his clothes, such as his signature Levi’s 501 jeans, simply “look so good on him.” She says Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) still looks eclectic, comfortable, and androgynous, and this season, they got to experiment with graphic T-shirts, which she hasn’t worn before.
Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) is a personal favorite of Parris’s. “Sometimes I’m asked, ‘What character’s outfits would you wear the most?’ I think Nancy,” she says. Nancy’s custom-made, raspberry-colored jacket harkens back to her season 1 and 2 outfits; it’s layered over an ombre sweater vest made by a traveling knitter. Acid-wash Guess jeans and Adidas sneakers pulls the whole vintage look together.
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Even Jonathan Byers’s (Charlie Heaton) “tried and true” silhouette and color palette expresses his steadiness. “Any time I try to give him too much color, the (Duffer) bros are like ‘I don’t see that for him.’ So as much as that might feel boring for the audience, there’s something comforting in seeing a character remain the same so much. Which is also interesting because him and Nancy have gone through some stuff this season, and it’s nice to know that he can still be solid for her,” Parris says. Jonathan’s mom, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), has become more integrated in the group but maintains her “classic look” of flannels, baseball tees, and corduroy jackets. But, Parris says fans can expect an exciting and unexpected “vibrant” moment from the matriarch.
The Hawkins gang might have fewer costume changes overall, but that certainly doesn’t mean less clothes; they needed “multiples” of each ensemble that could be dirtied during shooting. “We actually needed more pants [for Dustin] because as the scripts were released, I learned how much goo was gonna get on him. Sometimes we have to build more than we anticipated needing,” Parris explains.
The blood-soaked and dirt-covered garments might appear haphazardly tattered on screen, but, in true nerdy form, destroying each piece was a science. “They’re in this like gooey cocoon. …Nobody really knows what that is. It’s made up,” Parris says, explaining that they printed out photos of rotting fruit, rusty pipes, and corroded materials for inspiration. Parris’s team had designated “breakdown artists” who applied Baldiez (a liquid vinyl used for adhering bald caps) with alcohol to create “spindly, icky, creepy little bits” in a meticulous process that took two to four hours for each garment.
“You may feel like you have it, but if you have time to make it better, it always ends up working out in our favor,” Parris concludes. It was the only rightful attitude for Parris and her team to have for an award-winning and record-breaking show that has captured the world’s imagination for nearly a decade. She hopes streamers find as much satisfaction in the Stranger Things wardrobe as they do in its epic finale.