TikTokers Are Dressing Like Euphoria Students & There Are No Backpacks In Sight

At Euphoria High, HBO’s fictional doss of a school – a place of education blissfully void of teachers, timetables or backpacks viably large enough to hold a textbook – it’s safe to say that its yassified students would never be caught dead in any semblance of appropriate school wear. 

Think boob-spilling crop tops, cut-out co-ords (all! the! bare! hips!) and thigh-grazing leather miniskirts – basically anything that wouldn’t look amiss in your local kink shop. And since the first episode aired back in 2019, the show has become synonymous with its extra AF aesthetic.

With the return of Rue, Jules, Maddy and co. for season two of the hit show earlier this week, the dial has noticeably been turned up even more on the outrageous and unrealistic outfits the students get away with wearing to school. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed by TikTok, with a new trend emerging whereby users are highlighting the ostentatiousness of some of the students' ensembles.

Under "Euphoria High School", which has 10.3 billion views, in the before-and-after videos – soundtracked with a niche audio clip from SpongeBob SquarePants where Squidward scolds: "And why aren’t you in uniform?" – the TikTokers change from conventional high school outfits into the kind of looks only worn by students attending the high school in Euphoria. 

Puffer jackets, hoodies and jeans get swapped for snatched looks ranging from ripped spandex dresses, fishnet tops and platform heels to even just straight-up imitations of some of the more iconic outfits from the show.

Comments range from appreciation of homages to Hunter Schafer’s character “julescore <3” to “that bag would fit an almond” – with the TikTokers spoofing tiny drawing board clips as their school bags, riffing on the show's reluctance to show any of its students carrying a normal school backpack.

One of the videos puts a twist on the trend with the caption, “You’re a teacher but forget you work at Euphoria high school”, and the TikToker simply disappears in the next scene, alluding to the lack of teacher presence in the HBO show. Fenty Beauty commented: “They really said high school minus the school”.

Some of the transformations go for the comedic effect, mocking the absurdity of the cast’s 'school uniforms' (if wearing crop tops held together by safety pins to maths class is wrong, then we don’t want to be right). While others give satisfying, aspirational main character energy with the trend also giving queer creators a chance to just show off their fire, ready-for-the-club outfits. When school dress codes tend to place an emphasis on strict uniformity and can veer into oppressive, some TikTokers are using the trend to showcase what they would wear if they were given the freedom. Hashtags on some of the TikToks include #lgbt, #dragtok and #gaypoc, with one comment reading: “Men in these loud outfits hits me in a way I didn’t expect”.

Ridiculous? Yes. Iconic? Yes. Will we continue to ignore the fact that these Gen Z students have the deepest pockets in the world for their daily $4,000 designer looks? Absolutely. As season two continues, we expect to see more wild looks – and the show just wouldn't be right without it. So bring on the Miu Miu feathered looks and Roberto Cavalli leather pants. At Euphoria High, they all understood the assignment.