When Euphoria returns next week, set five years on from season two, a lot will have changed. Both Lexi and Maddy are working in Hollywood. Jules is in art school. Cassie’s an OnlyFans creator. And Nate wears Bottega Veneta.
The latter development caused quite the stir online last week, as eagle-eyed fans spotted Nate — played by Jacob Elordi — in look six from Bottega’s Spring/Summer 2023 fashion show. Originally worn on the runway by Kate Moss, on-screen, Elordi is in the full leather fit on a construction site, where his character, Nate, appears to work. What construction or development job would afford an outfit that retails for over $12,000? Perhaps that’s not the point.
Euphoria’s fashion has drummed up attention since the series first aired in 2019. In 2023, A24 published a book on the show’s fashion by costume designer Heidi Bivens, who led the costume design for the first two seasons. (She did not return for season three.) In Euphoria Fashion, Bivens dissects each of the characters’ aesthetics and wardrobes, in conversation with many of the actors, and gets into fashion’s central role in the show’s storytelling, and how it both borrowed from and helped to inform the youth culture of the time.
This season, it seems, Euphoria is leaning into luxury. It’s not an entirely new premise; the kids at East Highland High School are no strangers to labels. Last season, Maude Apatow’s Lexi Howard wore lots of Miu Miu, a nod to the brand’s intellectual tilt, which, in turn, helped characterize Lexi. Alexa Demie’s Maddy has worn brands from Dior to Chanel, while Nate put on an Amiri rugby shirt. Even Zendaya’s Rue has donned her share of (vintage) designer pieces, including a Jean Paul Gaultier vest and vintage Roberto Cavalli pants.
Ahead of this season’s premiere, Balenciaga’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection included a video collaboration with Euphoria director Sam Levinson. This signaled a more overt embrace of luxury, extending beyond the world of the series.
Levinson alluded to his keenness on juxtaposition — like, for instance, featuring Elordi in an all-leather Bottega look on a building site — when discussing how he uses fashion to shape his characters with Balenciaga creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli and Vogue. “If someone is dressed up in a space that is dressed down, for instance, there’s humor to it,” he said. And as luxury looks to capture younger audiences, linking up with a show like Euphoria is a no-brainer on the brand side. Piccioli told Vogue ahead of the show that he wanted to “take a picture of this generation” with the collection, and thought of Levinson’s work on Euphoria straight away.
