Why Teenagers are Obsessed With the Euphoria Aesthetic and it’s Not Because of the Drugs and Alcohol
euphoria; a feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness
In mid-2019, HBO released its short teen drama series, Euphoria, starring Hollywood trailblazer Zendaya. Written by Sam Levinson, the originally Israeli show was adapted by HBO. The show follows a group of teenagers through their experiences with sex, drugs, partying, finding one’s identity, and trauma. The show recently was nominated for 6 Emmy’s, including Zendaya being nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series award.
Although the show was released last summer, it’s popularity truly peaked this summer as many teenagers found themselves watching the show during quarantine, amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
While the show has been under heavy criticism and even faced the wrath of the Parents Television Council, by being told that the content was too graphic for its target audience, the show remains near and dear to its loyal viewers.
The show is visually a masterpiece, with its dramatic lighting, busy parties, and biking montages that capture the youth of the characters. The series reveals the personal confusion and experience of drug-induced euphoria. Mostly the scenes in which the character escapes into a high is portrayed by Zendaya’s character Rue, who suffers from addiction. The show makes sure to show both ends of drug use, the euphoric sensation, and the crippling effect of the addiction.
Euphoria also showcases it’s a fair share of teen angst and partying. This component of the show has received the most criticism from parents and non-Gen Z’ers. Although it’s one of the most prominent elements of the show, it isn’t what teenagers are necessarily taking away from it.
Rather than, teens are taking their favorite characters’ style and adapting it to their own.
Heidi Bivens is the head costume designer on Euphoria, and her job is a lot harder than just picking out cute outfits. When creating each character aesthetic, she drew inspiration from real people she knew herself. Bivens mostly worked on film projects. To transition from film to television was a challenge for her. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly Bivens states “It was interesting to work where we would be surprised by story developments and then be able to build on the characters [with the] new information we’re getting. There’s this limbo in trusting the story, trusting the director, and the writers. That was a new experience for me because I’m used to working on features where I know what the ending is and I can visualize it,” she says.
For example, when piecing together Barbie Ferreria’s character, Kat, Biven made sure to add latex pieces to Kat’s wardrobe after a certain episode which reveals Kat’s extracurricular activity.
As for Sydney Sweeney’s character, Cassie, finding her aesthetic was more difficult. In the same interview, Biven says “Sam [Levinson] and I had a meeting, we were trying to come up with an idea of who to model Cassie after. And it occurred to us that the reason why we’re having trouble nailing Cassie was that she’s kind of floating…[Cassie] I think represents a lot of what we’ll see on Instagram which is teens trying on lots of different personas in trying to find themselves.”
Today’s teens are a lot like Cassie, trying to figure out who they are when everyone else is expecting them to figure out what they should be. The most common way teens express and identify themselves is with their style. As fashion evolves, so will they.
Instead of being influenced by the drug use in the show, teenagers would rather take away the shows vibe, fashion, lighting, and of course the youth of the show.
