There’s A Surprising Connection Between And Just Like That And Euphoria

At first glance the worlds of And Just Like That and Euphoria couldn’t be more different. Gloss v grit. Middle-aged Manhattanites v SoCal teens. Not having any sex v having sex with all the wrong people. Euphoria makes Brady Hobbes’ flavoured lube and weed smoking seem pathetically PG.

But look closer and there are parallels, not least in both shows’ unapologetic scrutiny of excess. In And Just Like That it comes in the form of 1% wealth, in Euphoria the relentless drug taking. Both of them give troubled, complicated women the spotlight. And both are, of course, supremely stylish shows that aren’t afraid of taking fashion risks.

And while we are only one episode into the second season of Euphoria, there is a brand that has already broken through as the secret weapon of both HBO shows’ costume departments: Batsheva. At Euphoria's New Year's Eve party, we saw Maude Apatow’s Lexi wearing a custom look that the designer collaborated on with costume designer Heidi Bivens. A puffed sleeve, saffron satin top and fuchsia trousers, with her braided hair she looked like a renaissance it-girl transported to TikTok. No wonder drug dealer Fez told her, ‘You’re, like, the coolest person in here’. We couldn’t agree more, cool is the girl who can make the King James Bible into sparkly party smalltalk.

Over on the east coast, Carrie Bradshaw also has a thing for Batsheva. Being trolled by a mystery beep in her new apartment, in the most recent episode of And Just Like That she wore the label’s ditsy floral Grace blouse with a semi-sheer slip and – what else? – a humungous hat. Paparazzi shots of filming reveal that she also has a pink gingham house dress (the designer’s alternative to sweatpants for comfort dressing) in her arsenal.

Off-screen it’s revealing that both Apatow (24) and Sarah Jessica Parker (56) are IRL fans of Bathseva. Since founding the brand in 2016, designer Batsheva Hay – a former lawyer – has made a name with her unexpected designs which subvert the codes of ‘traditional’ dress. Part prairie pioneer, part 50s housewife, part dark Victoriana she mashes historical references together in a irresistibly shouldn’t-work-but-it-does package.

Batsheva’s sweeping appeal for different types of women is testament to the fact that Hay always designs for women. ‘Real’ women sure, but more than that, multifaceted women who know themselves and dress first and foremost for themselves. As she told the Grazia Fashion: Why I Wear Itpodcast in December: ‘The male gaze is a bit foreign to me… Sometimes it just seems like this can’t be it, this is too simple’. It’s worth noting that the expansive size offering and not-insane prices (made even more accessible thanks to a recent collaboration with Laura Ashley) add further to the democracy.

Hay’s own approach to getting dressed resonates with the women who wear her own designs. ‘I don’t feel the pressure of rejection at all,’ she said on Why I Wear It. ‘The only thing I feel bad about is if I didn’t wear something fun’. Consider that attitude another connection between the worlds of And Just Like That and Euphoria.