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 collectsion 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 collectsion, and thought of Levinson’s work on Euphoria straight away.
“Star power is one thing, but at its core, Euphoria’s success is powered by its social lore,” says Louise Yems, strategy director at The Digital Fairy. “Fandoms and creator communities present a mostly untapped opportunity for brands to show up at the heart of the cultural heat of Euphoria or any entertainment IP.”
Even before Euphoria’s all-star cast hurtled into mainstream fame, the show boasted impressive numbers. It’s the second most-watched series on HBO, after Game of Thrones. Season two episodes averaged 16.3 million views, up from season one’s 6.6 million average. The season three trailer, meanwhile, garnered almost 100 million views in just two days, indicating strong, sustained interest in 2026.
Now, the Euphoria generation is growing up. Just as the clothes in season two illustrated how the cast of characters had evolved from season one, judging by the season three trailer, we can expect a similar shift. Maddy has graduated from cut-outs and bodycons to a sheer shirt that wouldn’t look out of place on Haider Ackermann’s Tom Ford runway. Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie has swapped her pastel pinks and blues for silk robes and bikinis. And Nate’s in Bottega. Perhaps those watching will be keen and able to buy a piece or two, too.
The business of aspiration
The aesthetics of Euphoria have always been fantastical and exaggerated, from the glittering glam to the high-fashion, stylized looks in the school hallways. This unreality sets up a premise that enables the show to integrate and dress the characters in brands they may not be able to actually afford. Because what matters is the vibe and the feeling the look elicits, not the labels, which are never overtly acknowledged in the show. “The aspirational and exaggerated nature of Euphoria’s styling and costume design has been one of its selling points, so luxury connections do feel like the right move, especially as the audience has continued to grow up with the show,” says Katie Devlin, fashion trends editor at trends intelligence business Stylus.
In an interview with Vogue about season two’s costumes, Bivens recalled a conversation with showrunner Levinson: “I pulled him aside one day and I was like, ‘I could do this, and it would be more realistic, or I could do this other thing that’s not as realistic.’ He said, ‘I don't give an eff about reality.’”
It’s the ethereality of the Euphoria characters’ clothing that drives the level of attention and chatter that it has. “The aspirational nature of the costuming is a huge part of what drove online conversation around the show in the first place,” Devlin says. She expects that, given how much method dressing and ‘everyday cosplay’ have ballooned even since last season, audiences will be more keen than ever to tap into the aesthetics of the show.
Devlin also makes the distinction between a runway look that can (to the untrained eye) look at home in a scene, versus a character carrying a logo-laden designer bag that they wouldn’t realistically own in-universe. “In this case, these luxury pieces are operating more like costume design rather than explicit brand placement,” she says. “It’s all about picking and choosing pieces that fit the aesthetics of the world, rather than what the brands themselves explicitly say about the character.”
Ambassadorships: From carpets to the screen
While some called out the fact that seeing the Euphoria kids in luxury feels inauthentic; others wondered if, in the case of Elordi, a Bottega ambassador, it was a contractual requirement. This is unlikely, says one agent who works on brand deals, and notes that clauses requiring that talent wear a specific brand in a film or show are rare, unless the brand is involved at a more senior or creative level, like Saint Laurent producing and outfitting Emilia Pérez, Chanel doing so for ambassador Kristen Stewart’s Chronology of Water, or Jonathan Anderson designing costumes for Challengers and Queer.
In fact, contracts typically involve the opposite safeguards, allowing actors to wear brands that they would usually be prohibited from wearing as costumes. Elordi wearing Bottega Veneta in the show is therefore more likely down to his close relationship with, and access to, the brand, rather than down to the ambassadorship agreement itself. Natasha Newman-Thomas, who is the costume designer for season three, also worked with Levinson on The Idol, in which she also put Chanel ambassador Lily-Rose Depp in the brand’s accessories and beauty.
Either way, appearing in a show — especially on an actor with whom they’re associated — will make luxury brands money. Already, in the first three days since the trailer launched, conversations around Jacob Elordi’s Bottega Veneta looks for Euphoria season three generated $949,000 in media impact value (MIV) for the brand, according to Launchmetrics. “Euphoria is part of pop culture, so it’s no wonder brands such as Bottega Veneta are leaning in to capture the zeitgeist and connect with audiences,” says Launchmetrics CMO Alison Bringé. “Jacob Elordi has become synonymous with the brand beyond the show, making it a natural fit.”
It’s a wider reach than a red carpet often achieves. At the 2022 premiere of season two, Alexa Demie’s Balenciaga look generated the highest MIV of the cast at $422,000; Sydney Sweeney’s Miu Miu generated $410,000 in MIV; and Hunter Schafer and Zendaya both drove $298,000 in Prada and Valentino, respectively.
The difference in MIV proves the value in online chatter derived from a show like Euphoria. For brands wanting to tap into the cultural conversation, getting on-screen — especially in a series that has cultural cachet with young viewers — is a smart move, when done right. “We know that while not being key purchasers of luxury, youth culture and internet discussion can help supercharge a brand’s relevance (e.g. the Loewe tomato),” says Eloise Gendry-Hearn, senior talent and digital specialist at The Digital Fairy. “For the majority of Euphoria’s audience, the shirt is just a shirt. For those eagle-eyed, fashion freaks who spotted the brand immediately, it’s engaged them in discourse and discussion online, which builds buzz.” That fashion looks can prompt organic social conversation is powerful, Yems says — more so than ad spend or product integration.
“If anything, there’s something exciting about the fact that the jeans and flannel were trompe l’oeil leather on the runways,” Delvin says. “It adds to the feeling that they’re not clothes, they’re costumes — and seeing them used on screen as storytelling tools rather than as product placement or brand deal extensions feels fresh.”
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