The Euphoria effect: Why "club kid" cool is back in fashion

We blame Heidi Bivens. The costume designer of Euphoria – the show dominating the zeitgeist – has fashion in a chokehold; injecting glitter, colour and a smattering of Y2K raunch into our wardrobes with aplomb. The Gen Z show has taken a bite of early noughties fashion and dragged it into 2022 with an assured sexuality, but the trend was already gathering pace long before season two of the hit show began to live rent free in our heads and online shopping baskets. The SS22 catwalks were awash with club kid cool. Fashion, in short (and yes, sometimes very, very short) is FUN again.

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This bold new aesthetic is speaking to our mood post the height of the pandemic. This is anti-normcore. Comfort is not key here, so throw off your stretchy pants and loose tees, this is all about flesh-baring, risqué dimensions in zesty colours and sheer fabrics. Harkening back to the Crayola brights of Gianni Versace’s heyday in the 1980s, this is not the time to shy away from colour – be that eyeshades, nail polishes or clothing. Opt for the zaniest hue – sunburst orange, lime green, hot pinks and electric blues. Abandon temperance, and pick up lemon-yellow separates like Shang Xia’s mini skirt, or the fuchsia and satsuma stripes of Mimii’s lyrca top. Take your cues from the vibrant catwalks this season- tropical cocktail shades at Huishan Zhang, vivid emeralds at Brandon Maxwell and lime-green bodysuits at Gucci.

This look, like any self-respecting Y2K trend, features a playful mix of sportswear and party attire. Don pieces like Paula Canovas Del Vas’s citrus green sports jacket, the check taffeta hooded top from Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood or Nina Ricci’s swimsuit-body, and layer with sequin crops, crystal-mesh minis and bejewelled heels. Play around with fabric, and pair them with unexpected mates, like Courréges’s woollen trousers with stretchy Lycra and shining polyesters or cheeky spandex and durable neoprene with taffeta and tweeds.

The rave culture aesthetic also demands a middle-finger to prim decorum. This new brand of sexy is defined by sheer fabrics – like KNWLS’s Argyle-print bodysuit- and risqué cuts. The go-to brands are Nensi Dojaka and Supriya Lele, whose signature aesthetic of barely-there fabric and elevated, deconstructed lingerie has left an indelible mark on the style set. This season saw the look adopted by countless brands, from Ludovic de Saint Sernin to Rejina Pyo and Koché; everyone, it seems, is stripping back.

But whilst you dare to bare, be silly with it, for the Euphoria-brand of raunch is audaciously sexual, but also playful. Take ShuShu/Tong’s irreverent tweed bralette and Ashley William’s bouclé mini; a daring reinvention of the classic skirt suit, or the cropped shimmer of Vivienne Westwood’s barely-there top and Loewe’s cut-out sequin skirt. Go full club kid, and don Chet Lo’s purple, spiked monster munch bikini top and skirt co-ord - a zany and sexy combo that wouldn’t look out of place on the cult show’s Hunter Schaffer or Alexa Demie, both of whom made appearances on and off the runway, this fashion month. Because remember, this is fashion for the club, or for a day when you want to feel like you’re heading to one. Brighten up, loosen up, have a little fun.

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