Lukas Gage Is Embracing His Inner Y2K Kid (2025)

It’s time to give Lukas Gage another look. Sure, we’ve had our eyes trained on him since his White Lotus and Euphoria days, but recently something’s shifted. The twenty-nine-year-old actor, who says he’s “a complete contradiction when it comes to my style,” has started to embrace the idea that getting dressed with intention isn’t as intimidating as he once thought it was.

“I played it safe for so long,” he tells me over the phone from Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport. “I had a little nineties Hugh Grant thing I was trying to do for a while, but now I’m mixing it up. And now it’s all about the early 2000s, baby.”

If any doubt remains in your mind about the vibe shift, just take a look at what he wore to the Stella McCartney Spring/Summer 2025 runway show during Paris Fashion Week, where he sat front row with a bevy of boldface names, including Thomas Doherty, Cole Sprouse, Tom Daley, and Kathryn Newton. With a heavily textured shirt jacket, a sliver of white tank peeking out, and a pair of baggy, paneled jeans, he’s bringing Y2K right into 2024.

But what makes the actor so compelling—dare we say it—might not be his sense of style. It’s his sense of self. My conversation with Gage carried him through CDG’s corridors and terminals, taking twists and turns before coming back full circle like a luggage conveyor belt. Before he hopped on his flight home, here’s everything he had to say.

On-Brand

I was always a fan of Stella’s work and her philanthropy. So I hit up my people and was like, “If she ever has an opening, or if she ever has an opportunity, that is a brand that I can really get behind.” She’s just fucking cool. Then we got the call while I was filming in Spain that she wanted me to come to Paris. So I was really honored and decided to be a part of it.

The Show

I loved it. I thought it was just so fresh and fun and exciting. And it was a lot bigger than I expected. Not that I wouldn’t expect anything big from the brand, but it just felt massive. There were so many incredible styles, and I just didn’t want it to end. I loved every single bit of it. I wore the “It’s About Fucking Time” tank, which I’m obsessed with. It’s such a good nod to the early-2000s printed tees that I’m bringing back. I personally am wearing a hat right now that says “Sue Me.” So I’m really happy to see that Stella’s incorporating that. And then I wore a knitted top on top of it and, obviously, the iconic shoes. Listen, if people can walk in heels, I can walk in these shoes. I can walk 1,000 miles in the Stella McCartney Adidas shoes.

It was really cool to see the coed design on so many different fits—like seeing my friends, both female and male, pull it off. Some looks were a little bit more like nightwear, and then others were super casual but still sexy and innovative and fun. It was awesome. I was sitting next to all these talented singers and Olympians, and we were all rocking the same shoes. It mirrored the juxtaposition of what we’re all doing in all different walks of life.

A Throwback

A 2000 trend I’m not into? I don’t know if I’m into—remember those jeans that had to be laced up? Like sneaker jeans. Yeah, sneaker jeans I’m not really into. But I do love “Sneakernight,” by Vanessa Hudgens—one of the best songs ever made. So I couldn’t really get down with that, but I do love a low-rise jean and a high-rise jean. We don’t ever need to go back to the fedora, though.

Being Straightforward

Something that irks me is when people can’t make up their mind. Like if it’s something so simple where I’m just like, “What do you want to eat?” And they then just ask me what I want. I’m just like, fucking tell me what you want and be straightforward. Or tell me if I piss you off. I’m really into being told things that I need to work on. So if you have a problem with something that I’m doing, I’m really into trying to better myself and being like, “Why do I do that?” But what I don’t like is when people are passive-aggressive and just don’t tell me. And I find out a month later that they’re pissed at me. Like I find out a month later you’re mad at me for that dinner? Come on.

In Another Life

I’d be an ayahuasca healer or a master Reiki healer doing energy work in Costa Rica or something. That would be the dream.