If she wanted to, Sydney Sweeney could sample any and every fall denim trend the moment it surfaces on the runway. Working with stylist Molly Dickson, the actress has tested McQueen matching sets and Miu Miu low-rises. But when she did some last-minute denim shopping the night before we connected for a July afternoon interview, she went back to an affordable brand that's been in her life since middle school. (At least, that's the estimate she gives me over the phone.)
With her pick of the mall renaissance directory—where recent crowd-favorite choices range from chic-ified J.Crew collabs to Abercrombie & Fitch basics and red carpet Gap remixes—the Euphoria star beelines for American Eagle jeans. "It definitely is my hometown staple, so rediscovering it in my twenties as well is such a fun thing," she tells me.
Of course, the Sweeney method of "brand rediscovery" is a try-on haul dialed up to its most elite degree. She's fronting the label's Fall 2025 denim campaign, designing "The Sydney Jean" whose proceeds benefit the Crisis Text Line, and curating her favorite pieces so even more women can get re-acquainted with their throwback favorites across 200 fits.
Sydney Sweeney was already converting her inner circle back to American Eagle jeans before the brand made their relationship campaign-official. She tells me she has to stock several of her favorite mid-rise baggy pair at home, because her mom, Lisa, can't stop wearing the actress's.
"I came back home and a bunch of my jeans were missing! I was like, Mom, where are they? And she's like, you're not getting those back. They're my favorite pair of jeans now," Sweeney laughs. Hence, the pre-interview restock.
In the campaign arriving online today, Sweeney poses in a range of light and mid-wash denim, never styled with more than a jean jacket (sans shirt underneath) or a tied-up tee. These outfits are the closest to the looks she wears at home—when she can keep her denim out of her mom's hands.
"I am such a jeans and T-shirt girl, so it encompasses who I am, like, off the carpet and, and who I really am, which I love," Sweeney says. "Molly and I were putting together the different looks, and it was honestly one of the easiest things and the quickest fitting I've ever done because it was my wardrobe." Having her puppy, Sully Bear, close by also helped.
The majority of the shots show the actress's all-time favorites styled up by Dickson. But the campaign allowed Sweeney to expand her denim horizons as well—temporarily, at least. She hadn't fallen for the jorts revival propaganda until Dickson dressed her in an extra-baggy pair with a tank top and knee-high boots. "Now, I'm more open to the trend," she says. "It was not my thing to begin with, but I'm more open to it now."
Still, she repeats it in our brief conversation: Nothing is more "her" than the mid-rise, full-length jeans she wears in several shots. So I ask if anything could make Sweeney branch out from her tried-and true template for good. Had any fall trends managed to make their way onto her mood board? The most she'll concede is swapping her tee for a "cute sweater" and a jean jacket like the one she wears in her campaign—no Celine skinnies are headed to her real-life closet.
I get the sense Sweeney's direct not only because we're nearing the end of our fifteen minutes together. Every styling project with Dickson has taught Sweeney a lesson she relays before we hang up: "Style is so subjective to each individual and if it makes you feel confident and happy, then that's your style."
"I think that I've really learned that over the years," she continues, "because I used to honestly think, Oh man, I don't have style. I just wear jeans and a T-shirt. Now I'm like, you know what? I do have style. I wear jeans and a T-shirt, and I feel really good." She doesn't need anything else. Except, maybe, one more of her favorite pair.
