Euphoria fans who noticed Sydney Sweeney‘s character, Cassie, suffering from several nip slips during her wedding episode may be surprised to know that it was done on purpose.
During the Sunday, April 26, episode of the hit HBO series, Cassie and Nate (Jacob Elordi) got married in an extravagant ceremony with lots of highs — and some serious lows. The wedding special showed Cassie wearing a custom corseted gown designed by Jackson Wiederhoeft. The plunging neckline resulted in several instances where Sweeney’s pasties could be seen peeking out of her dress.
“Sydney kept having nip slips,” costume lead Natasha Newman-Thomas told InStyle on Monday, April 27. “And I was like, ‘Okay, we’re not going to tape her in. We’re going to embrace it.’ And I was like, ‘We’re going to make custom pasties out of the same hand-beaded fabric and embrace the nip slip because that’s so Cassie.’”
Newton-Thomas pointed out that the custom wedding gown reflected “Cassie’s psychology” and her desire to be “a princess,” adding, “And we really wanted her to feel special. And I wanted to make the most beautiful, sexy wedding dress with just the slightest touch of tackiness because it’s Cassie.”
Wiederhoeft a.k.a the designer behind the dress referred to the gown as “the type of dress where the bride wants all the s***” such as “the high slit, the beading, the huge 15-foot train.”
“Best case scenario, I think you’re dressing as a form of self-expression [for your wedding day], but there is a scenario in which you’re dressing as revenge and as a form of trying to outdo everyone,” he continued. “It was more about doing the most.”
Season 3 premiered earlier this month with Cassie coming back as chaotic as ever. In an episode ahead of the wedding special, Cassie explored the possibility of being an OnlyFans model, which resulted in Sweeney, 28, filming a topless scene.
Sweeney, for her part, has reflected over the years about her decision to go full frontal on the show.
“I don’t think as many people took me seriously in Euphoria because I took my shirt off,” she told Cosmopolitan in February 2022. “When I saw The Voyeurs for the first time, I wondered if I’d done too much. I researched celebrities who have done nude scenes, trying to make myself feel better.”
Sweeney continued: “There are hour-long compilations of world-famous male actors with nude scenes who win Oscars and get praised for that work. But the moment a woman does it, it degrades them. They’re not actresses, they just take off their tops so they can get a role. There’s such a double standard and I really hope that I can have a part in changing that.”
More recently, Sweeney said she didn’t get nervous about stripping down.
“I don’t get nervous. [I] gained so much confidence and self-awareness on Euphoria. I think that the female body is a very powerful thing,” she noted. “And I’m telling my character’s story, so I owe it to them to tell it well and to do what needs to be done.”
Euphoria airs on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
