The outfit odds have definitely been in her favour.
It’s not every day that we see an emerging Hollywood star master the art of method dressing, but Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer is doing just that with her Hunger Games press tour style.
To promote the latest installment of The Hunger Games series, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, every one of Schafer’s fashion choices has been a showstopper — and looks like it was plucked straight from Panem’s Capitol (IYKYK).
With the help of stylist Dara Allen, who is also the fashion director of Interview magazine, Schafer has been channelling her Songbirds & Snakes character Tigris Snow through a series of artful and inventive looks. In the film, Schafer’s character is the older cousin of Coriolanus Snow (a.k.a. the future President of Panem and the series’ main antagonist) as well as a fashion stylist apprentice whose love for clothes is a key facet of her personality.
With style playing such an important role in Tigris’ storyline, it’s fitting that Schafer and Allen have been channelling creativity through her press tour outfits, which kicked off with a bang at the film’s Berlin premiere earlier this month.
To walk her first Ballad of Songbirds red carpet, Schafer wowed in a Schiaparelli couture dress that looked like it was painted directly onto her body. With a variety of mosaic-style, hand-painted pieces, the midi-dress stopped just below her knees in a tattered hemline and featured exaggeratedly long sleeves that covered Schafer’s hands entirely.
The unconventional and almost animalistic elements of this dress call to mind Tigris’ changing appearance in the original Hunger Games films.
When the audience meets a much older Tigris in Mockingjay Part 2 (2015), she has dramatically altered her appearance with tattoos and surgical enhancements to resemble an actual Tiger. Though the exact reason for this dramatic change in appearance is never explicitly stated in the books, there has been speculation that Tigris used these artful methods to transform herself in retaliation against her cousin’s increasingly tyrannical ways.
For her next Ballad of Songbirds red carpet at the film’s London world premiere, Schafer wore a two-piece Prada ensemble that made it look as though she’d been dipped in liquid gold. The outfit’s bra top, bolero jacket and maxi-skirt were embellished with long, dangling black ribbons that contrasted the bright gold hue.
The over-the-top opulence of this outfit can once again be linked back to Tigris and the overall eccentric style that many Hunger Games characters are known for.
In The Hunger Games, the rich live in a futuristic, utopian city called the Capitol that’s isolated from the rest of the country and thus never has to deal with any of the issues (such as poverty, poor working conditions and the yearly threat of the Hunger Games themselves) that plague Panem’s twelve districts. As such, it’s commonplace for Capitol citizens, one of which Tigris once was, to display their wealth with audacious outfits and extravagant accessories, like Schafer’s gold outfit.
And this wasn’t Schafer’s only look that included a direct nod to Panem’s Capitol. In fact, her latest red carpet outfit was quickly recognized by many original Hunger Games fans as an ode to another beloved character.
For the film’s New York premiere on November 15, Schafer wore a blossoming floral Marni dress from the designer’s Spring 2024 collection. The structured minidress was adorned with 3D flowers that jutted out in all directions, reminiscent of the iconic 2011 Alexander McQueen butterfly dress (which happens to be crucial to next year’s Met Gala theme) that Capitol citizen Effie Trinket wore in an original Hunger Games film.
While this foray into the art of red carpet method dressing is a first for Schafer, the actress is no stranger to serving up head-turning red carpet outfits.
Schafer, who is best known for playing Jules in Euphoria, made headlines last Oscar season when she hit the Vanity Fair after-party in a daring top from Ann Demeulemeester comprised of a single white feather across her breasts. Paired with an extra low-rise white silk skirt, the star’s look was all anyone wanted to talk about at last year’s event.
After opening with a $98 million global release at the box office during its first weekend, The Ballad of Songbirds is off to a strong start. As the cast embarks on their last few press stops, we’ll be keeping an eye out for more stellar red carpet moments from Schafer and her costars, such as Rachel Zegler, who has also been channelling iconic Hunger Games characters with her premiere looks.
Check out the gallery below for more of Schafer’s exciting Ballad of Songbirds’ press tour outfits.