The first two seasons of Euphoria delighted fashion fanatics with iconic vintage pieces and other Easter eggs. Newman-Thomas says fans can expect even more.
There’s a Levi’s jacket Rue wears that was custom made for her. (The brand provided several replicas, which were needed because of the amount of action she goes through.) There’s also a vintage Roberto Cavalli jacket, and some Dior by Galliano, plus vintage Prada and Saint Laurent Newman-Thomas “trolled The RealReal for.” The costume designer also worked with Jackson Wiederhoeft, the New York-based designer, on Cassie’s wedding dress. “He really is a master of his craft,” she says.
The reception of Euphoria’s early costumes was top of mind for Newman-Thomas, but she says that her take is different. “That was such an iconic moment for what high school looked like then, but my approach tends to be to aim for something a little more timeless.”
In a way, it needed to be. In high school, every moment feels big and consequential. As we get older, we stop living summer to summer and school year to school year. Time and life compress, and moments become less defining.
This is why going viral or spawning trends was less of a priority for Newman-Thomas. It would have also been harder to accomplish: high schoolers respond to micro trends; adults are, perhaps, less susceptible. Instead, she wanted to be true to the reality of young adulthood.
“When you’re a teenager, you live in this insular world in which if someone wears the same thing you do at school, you have a visceral reaction,” Newman-Thomas says. “But then you get older, and you find truer forms of self-expression. You no longer want to be trendy, and that’s what becomes cool.”