Stranger threads.
Amy Parris, who designed the costumes of “Stranger Things” in the final three seasons, said she knew Eleven’s look for the fifth and final season would get a “reaction.”
“It’s funny, because I’ve been starting to get comments from people that are like, ‘Shorts over sweats?’ And I’m like, it was absolutely a thing in the ‘80s! I knew this would be the reaction,” Parris exclusively told The Post.
Created by the Duffer brothers, the Netflix mega-hit premiered in 2016, and will end after nearly a decade with Season 5, which debuts on Nov. 26. The sci-fi show has followed characters living in Hawkins, Indiana in the ‘80s, as they deal with monsters from the sinister “Upside Down” dimension.
Among others, the group includes Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Joyce (Winona Rider), Hopper (David Harbour), Steve (Joe Keery), Robin (Maya Hawke), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), and Nancy (Natalia Dyer).
As seen in the trailer, Eleven wears an athletic outfit that includes a cropped sweatshirt, and shorts over joggers.
Parris explained that her inspiration was, “a mix of Josh Brolin from ‘The Goonies’ and then Punky Brewster, with her mish mash of cut up clothes that she just kind of grabbed as she went,” referring to the 1984 sitcom starring Soleil Moon Frye.
The costume designer looked through yearbook photos of “actual people, not just Josh Brolin” in similar outfits from the era.
Parris, who also worked on the Oscar-nominated Spike Jonze film “Her,” pointed out that the only other girl in the friend group – Eleven’s friend, Max (Sadie Sink) – is in a coma.
Because Eleven doesn’t have Max “to guide her,” now in Season 5, Eleven is “not thinking about fashion. Yet she’s made it as fashionable as she can,” Parris explained.
She noted that the layered clothing look “was a very specific ’80s moment that I knew might bring a little reaction.”
That reaction included Brown, 21, who was initially dubious about the clothes she’d wear in the final season.
“She saw the concept art originally, which I showed to [series creators] the Duffer brothers. And once we settled on an idea, we emailed it to her. I found out later that she had side-emailed them, like, ‘are you sure about this?’”
After the “Enola Holmes” actress came in for a fitting and put on the outfit, Parris said that Brown made a joke about the perception that it was unflattering, saying, “‘I’m so glad I’m married!’”
Brown tied the knot with rocker Jon Bon Jovi’s son, Jake, 23, in 2024. In August 2025, the couple announced that they adopted a baby girl.
Parris reflected that Brown’s less than enthusiastic comments about Eleven’s Season 5 outfit was “funny.”
But eventually, “I think she got into it,” she said.
“You know, once she saw how cute it looked on her. And it’s definitely a fashion risk for the time. She got into it, I think, once she realized how comfortable it was, and how easy it was to put on.”
Over the years, as Brown’s fame has skyrocketed, Parris said that the Duffer brothers’ input has involved requests for her to make Eleven’s outfits “less cool.”
“Millie Bobby Brown is kind of an entity in herself,” Parris explained.
“[They told me] to keep the audience from thinking about her as a celebrity. We want to remember that she is this character. So, we always pull back from keeping her a little bit too cool.”
For Eleven’s Season 5 outfit, “I think the balance of that has worked. So, she’s not such an ‘80s icon in fashion. It’s more just like those clothes are weird, but she’s pulling them off.”
Parris added that outfits like that were an ‘80’s “moment,” and that it was “fun” to “get to bring that back into the zeitgeist.”
“Also, I did it for the functionality of the actor,” she explained. “So, to go from winter into summer, back into winter, I knew these actors would be in extreme hot and cold.” Season 5 filmed for nearly a year.
Eleven’s threads were, “a mix of, not only was it a cute training outfit, it’s very comfortable. But then it’s not too hot and not too cold for the extremities of shooting in Atlanta during all seasons.”
As for some of the other outfits in the final season, Nancy is slightly more subdued, she explained.
“She’s still got her pink color, but it’s a little less girly. She’s wearing pants. She’s ready for battle. So it’s kind of nice to be able to see that the teens have grown into young adults.”
Clad in jeans, a sweater, and a leather jacket, Steve also looks slightly more adult in Season 5, which “shows a seriousness,” she said.
Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) has branched out from his nerdy friends to become a jock.
“We wanted to continue to lean into the jock vibe for Lucas, but he’s also still hanging out with his nerd friends. So as much as he’s influenced by the jocks, he’s not overly cool. He’s wearing Nikes, but he’s not wearing Air Force Ones.”
Aside from Brown, Parris said that Hawke and Ryder are the most vocal about the costumes.
The “Beetlejuice” actress is, “very specific about her looks,” Parris explained, adding that she likes that Ryder, “really wants to remind the audience that Joyce still is a single mother who does not have a lot of money…she really wanted to repeat clothes.”
Ryder wanted to “make sure” that it felt like “her closet was limited,” Parris explained.
“So, we did repeat a lot of outfits. And, I think that’s exactly what Joyce would have done.”
“Stranger Things” Season 5 will have 8 episodes, dropping on Netflix in three volumes, releasing on Nov. 26, Dec. 25, and Dec. 31.
