Nate in Bottega?! Euphoria designer addresses season three’s controversial outfit choices

HBO fever dream Euphoria is back, this time jumping five years into the future and somehow managing to look both more expensive and more confusing than ever. Gone are the glitter tears and mall-core fits of East Highland High.

HBO

Nate in Bottega is the hill we’re dying on

Let’s start with the most cursed glow-up: Nate Jacobs. Once the king of angry teen minimalism (jeans, T-shirt, emotional repression), he’s now swanning around in full Bottega Veneta, including a shirt that costs $6,800.

According to new costume designer Natasha Newman-Thomas, this wasn’t just a random rich-boy rebrand. Speaking to GQ, she explained the logic behind Nate’s sudden luxury pivot: “His character is simultaneously trying to present as this worker – a contractor that’s getting the job done – and he’s building this [senior-living] community and also has to try to appeal to these really wealthy investors and signify his own success through his wardrobe.

“I felt like the Bottega pieces that we chose really do both in a beautiful way. It’s performative workwear [and] Nate’s whole career in this show is based on performance.”

“Performative workwear” is one way of saying £5k shirt to pour concrete, but okay!

HBO

Rue’s £1k hoodie is somehow less shocking?

Even Rue isn’t safe from the budget inflation. At one point, she’s spotted in a $1,090 hoodie, which feels bold for someone who is basically homeless.

Newman-Thomas said they switches up Rue’s look: “We appropriated a lot of Levi’s menswear for Rue, a lot of menswear in general for Rue.”

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Which tracks, but also doesn’t fully explain why that menswear now costs more than most people’s rent.

HBO

New era, new team, new identity crisis

Part of the whiplash comes from behind the scenes. Long-time composer Labrinth is out, and iconic costume designer Heidi Bivens has been replaced, big shoes to fill when you basically defined a generation.

Newman-Thomas admitted she was wary: “I absolutely adore Heidi’s work on seasons one and two, and I was a little bit hesitant to step into an established aesthetic.”

Honestly, you can tell. The DNA is still there, but it’s been put through a five-year time jump, a luxury rebrand, and maybe a slight identity crisis.

So… is this still Euphoria?

The show that once felt like heightened teen reality now feels like a surreal Pinterest board of wealth, addiction, and corporate cosplay.

Yes, it still looks incredible, but between Nate’s Bottega era and Rue’s designer depression hoodies, something about it feels a bit off.

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Featured image credit: HBO