There’s Actually A Secret Message Behind Zendaya’s Costumes In Euphoria

If you've been arranging your weekly calendar around Euphoria, which drops an episode every Monday, you'll probably find yourself reeling for the rest of the week. Mostly from the visceral performances - searing enough to warrant watching some scenes with your head buried in your hands - but also because of the fashion.

Shoppers have already been responding to the show's most memorable looks - Maddy's keyhole minidress and faux fur-collared cardigan, for example - with related searches increasing by 345% month-on-month, according to Depop. And the looks - ranging from the aspirational (Lexi's Miu Miu plaid dress) to the affordable (Kat's flirtatious floral mini from Reformation) - have made it vastly more glamorous (and, at times, gritty) than our secondary school uniforms that's for sure.

Rue's costumes, however, are noticeably different: less vampy than Maddy, less playful than Kat, less directional than Jules. She still has a smattering of designer - who spotted the vintage waistcoat from Jean Paul Gaultier? - but it's mixed with beat up Converse, skate tees from Andrew, and printed blood red trousers from Aries. That aesthetic, explains the show's costume designer Heidi Bivens, was entirely intentional.

In fact, when they were filming the third episode, Bivens explained her reasoning to Zendaya, who asked about a darker outfit. ‘In that moment it became clear to me why I had made that decision. I told her Rue goes to some dark places this season and I want to be very careful about putting her in anything that feels fashionable because of viewers, young viewers, wanting to emulate her. I didn’t want to make her a fashion plate.’

Makes sense. And now there's only one thing left to say - give the woman an Emmy.