Hunter Schafer may be the perfect representative of a generation that sees no reason to commit to just one career or identity. At 27, she is a model, actress, artist and political activist, moving effortlessly between Hollywood, high fashion and the causes she believes in.
About a decade ago, she began her gender transition and gained public attention as one of the youngest teenagers to speak out against North Carolina's controversial "bathroom bill" (which restricted transgender people's access to public restrooms). At the same time, she launched a modeling career that bypassed the usual small shows and amateur events, taking her straight into the world of fashion's biggest names: Dior, Miu Miu, Prada and Marc Jacobs.
Hunter Schafer wearing a 16Arlington dress at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, 2025
(Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
Her journey to fame
In 2019, Schafer was cast in HBO's Euphoria despite having no previous acting experience. What she lacked in formal training, she more than made up for with charisma, natural talent and supermodel looks.
The series quickly became a showcase for a new generation of Hollywood stars, presenting wildly provocative, meticulously photogenic portrayals of beautiful, troubled teenagers. Its breakout cast included Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Zendaya and Schafer herself, all of whom helped define a new kind of screen glamour.
Hunter Schafer wearing Acne Studios at the Berlin International Film Festival, 2024
(Photo: Sebastian Reuter/Getty Images)
Euphoria launched Schafer's acting career. In 2024, she landed her first leading film role in the horror movie Cuckoo. This year, she appeared alongside Anne Hathaway in Mother Mary, and she is set to star in the much-anticipated series Blade Runner 2099. She also has a role lined up in Tom Ford's upcoming film Cry to Heaven.
Hunter Schafer wearing Prada at the London premiere of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, 2023
(Photo: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Lionsgate UK)
Hunter Schafer wearing Schiaparelli at the Berlin premiere of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, 2023
(Photo: Gerald Matzka/Getty Images)
In 2021, Schafer became a Prada brand ambassador, and in 2023 she was chosen as the face of Mugler's Angel fragrance line. Between those two milestones, she developed the distinctive fashion persona now associated with her: part goddess, part robot, sensual yet innocent, and above all, entirely unapologetic about taking up space.
Hunter Schafer at Prada's Fall/Winter 2025–26 fashion show
(Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Prada)
Hunter Schafer at a Prada event, 2024
(Photo: John Sciulli/Getty Images for Prada)
Her romantic life has also attracted attention. She briefly dated her Euphoria co-star Dominic Fike and was previously in a relationship with Spanish singer Rosalía.
Hunter Schafer wearing Marni at the 2024 GQ awards
(Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for GQ)
This October, Schafer appeared on the cover of Elle, where she revealed that she had completed her gender-affirming surgeries. She described the experience as "amazing" and declared that she had never felt more like herself.
Hunter Schafer wearing Armani Privé at the Cannes Film Festival, 2024
(Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
How does she dress?
A combination of striking looks, excellent taste and a dedicated, hardworking stylist, Dara Allen, has turned Schafer's every red carpet appearance into the kind of spectacle that leaves fashion watchers speechless.
Her preferred aesthetic revolves around clothes that seem part costume, part work of art, as though they were pulled from a particularly strange dream.
Hunter Schafer wearing Prada at a Vanity Fair and Instagram event, 2024
(Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
Hunter Schafer wearing Marni at the New York premiere of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, 2023
(Photo: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
She does not feel obligated to look conventionally beautiful at all times, and she seems perfectly comfortable appearing unusual, vulnerable or even alien. Femininity is central to her visual identity, but she refuses to be confined to a single interpretation of it.
One day she can resemble a woodland fairy, the next a futuristic creature or a Victorian girl. Anything that falls under the broad category of experimental romanticism is welcome.
Hunter Schafer wearing Bottega Veneta at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, 2024
(Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Hunter Schafer wearing Prada at the Golden Globe Awards, 2024
(Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
The look that secured her place in fashion history came at the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar party, when she wore the now-famous feather ensemble by Ann Demeulemeester. It consisted of a long white silk skirt and a top made from a single white feather.
Described as "poetic nudity," the outfit became one of Schafer's most recognizable fashion moments. Her influence on the red carpet has only grown since.
Hunter Schafer wearing Ann Demeulemeester's iconic feather ensemble at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, 2023
(Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
Hunter Schafer wearing Prada at the Independent Spirit Awards, 2025
(Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
In February 2025, she attended the Independent Spirit Awards wearing a seemingly simple floral Prada dress with prominent shoulder straps that appeared to float in midair. In September that year, she chose a more traditionally cut Alexander McQueen gown for the Emmy Awards, but its vivid red color made it anything but ordinary.
Hunter Schafer wearing Alexander McQueen at the Emmy Awards, 2025
(Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Hunter Schafer wearing Prada at the Met Gala, 2025
(Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
She closed out 2025 at Vogue World: Hollywood with perhaps her most dramatic appearance yet: an Elizabethan-inspired costume designed by Sandy Powell for the film Orlando, originally worn on screen by Tilda Swinton.
The connection was impossible to ignore. Orlando tells the story of a person who lives for centuries and changes sex over the course of that extraordinary life. Schafer's choice gave the historic costume an entirely new layer of meaning.
Hunter Schafer wearing Roberto Cavalli at the premiere of Euphoria's final season, 2026
(Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
Hunter Schafer wearing a period costume designed by Sandy Powell at Vogue World: Hollywood, 2025
(Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Vogue)
In April 2026, for the premiere of Euphoria's final season, she wore a Roberto Cavalli creation that treated the human body as a work of art: a tight, shimmering gold dress with a silver embellishment resembling a spine.
At New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala in May, she commanded attention in a Prada dress featuring torn fabric and flowers, inspired by Gustav Klimt's 1912–1913 portrait Mäda Primavesi.
Hunter Schafer wearing Prada at the Met Gala, 2026
(Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
Hunter Schafer wearing Steve O Smith at the Saint Laurent after-party following the Met Gala, 2026
(Photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Saint Laurent)
This October, during promotional appearances for Blade Runner 2099 at New York Comic Con, Schafer once again turned to Prada, her unofficial fashion home. She paired a pink-and-black pencil skirt with a mint-and-black top. Slightly graphic, a little strange and unmistakably Hunter Schafer.
Hunter Schafer wearing Prada alongside Michelle Yeoh at New York Comic Con, 2026
(Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Prime Video)
Hunter Schafer wearing a vintage Jil Sander dress alongside Michelle Yeoh at San Diego Comic-Con, 2026
(Photo: Araya Doheny/Getty Images for Prime)
A week later, at the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles, she stayed loyal to Prada but changed the mood entirely, choosing a black velvet strapless gown with a front slit from which white pleats emerged. It was classic Old Hollywood glamour in the best possible sense.
Hunter Schafer wearing Prada at the Academy Museum Gala, 2026
(Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Hunter Schafer wearing Prada at Vogue World: Milan, 2026
(Photo: Valentina S. Frugiuele/Getty Images for Vogue)
Before October was over, she had also conquered the November issue of American Elle, appearing in designs by Tom Ford, Prada and Marc Jacobs. Photographed in short wigs against surreal backdrops, she looked like an uncanny porcelain doll brought to life.
Hunter Schafer wearing Marc Jacobs at San Diego Comic-Con, 2026
(Photo: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Hunter Schafer sporting oversized sunglasses at a Grammy Awards after-party, 2026
(Photo: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for W Magazine)
What's next?
In her Elle cover interview, Schafer revealed that she dreams of starring in a romantic comedy about a transgender woman. After all the horror, drama and dystopian futures that have dominated her screen appearances, perhaps she deserves what everyone ultimately wants: love.
Hunter Schafer wearing Prada at the Cannes Film Festival, 2024
(Photo: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
Hunter Schafer wearing Alexander McQueen at the Los Angeles premiere of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, 2023
(Photo: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Lionsgate)
Applause or rotten tomatoes?
Schafer is no longer simply the transgender teenager who became a model and actress. She is a woman who uses fashion to reinvent herself, again and again.
Hunter Schafer showing off her legs on the red carpet, 2025
(Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Hunter Schafer at Prada's Spring/Summer 2024 fashion show
(Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Prada)
Hunter Schafer wearing a Carolina Herrera suit on the red carpet, 2023
(Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
She has become a genuine style icon, a symbol of a different kind of femininity and perhaps even the person who gives a face and a body to that tired old cliché: "the voice of a generation."