s3s costume design symbolism rant

there’s something to be said about the costume designs and how they communicate certain things about the characters and their arc for said season. it’s something euphoria have always done but tbh s3 bts and outfits have been intriguing me so much that i wanted to make a post on it. i’ll use maddy as an example first, we saw her transition from very pink, blue, and almost pastel outfits to a VERY dark palette in season 3. so much so that almost every new picture and outfit we see from maddy contains black, darkish browns, and an occasional colour. i think it will be interesting and could be telling of her arc throughout the season. Maddy started out as a girl who was somewhat rowdy but still led with her heart, then in season 2 as she continued to be wronged by the closest people around her, her outfits darkened. blues got darker, so did most of the colours and makeup she wore. now in season 3, it’s completely dark! i think that it has a lot to do to what she could be potentially up to this season. black representing elegance, authority, dominance, and power—aligns with her supposed storyline as a madam of a strip club and manager of cassie’s influencer career. potentially could be a corruption of her own morality, with one of her lines stating she has to have a moral code.

the same could be said about Jules, who started EXTREMELY pastel, glitter-ish, and almost infantile with the way she dressed and presented herself as. now in s3 she’s seen wearing a lot of designer, darker colours mixed with some colourful looks. The elegance and maturity in her style probably could symbolize her transition into her sugar baby hustle, which she has to present herself with elegance because she’s been seeing men of wealth and status.

or cassie who is seen with much more bolder looks than she did before. throughout season 1, cassie’s palette and style was very soft, almost hidden, as if she didn’t have a sense of identity of her own outside of being the girl that many men have desired or slept with. throughout season 2 she has her identity surrounded around nate and his desires, experimenting with different styles that resembled women he has liked in the past. in season 3, many of her sightings have been much bolder than before, as every single colour she wears is much STRONGER, and the makeup is much more glittering than in the past. i think it could symbolize cassie’s transition into trying to discover what she desires outside of Nate and her past, from someone who would do anything to please her partner to someone who seeks something higher. i think the boldness also translates to her new career as OF creator/stripper/influencer.