Sex Education costume designer talks show's "timeless, period-less" style

While the new episodes do represent a "step forward", as the former Moordale students migrate to Cavendish Sixth Form, Pearman was careful not to immediately stray away from the show's distinctive look.

"I always say taking a show over is the hardest because it’s keeping that continuity, keeping what people love, but also moving it forward," she told RadioTimes.com.

"So I think Sex Ed being Sex Ed, it was such an amazing opportunity to do that… because I always say that there's kind of no rules to it. It is timeless, it's sort of period-less, it’s its own world."

Pearman continued: "So, what I wanted to do was obviously not go in and totally redesign it, because that would be too jarring to the audience and wouldn't be right – we're telling a story… it’s not been that long [since the events of season 3].

"So what we wanted to do when we originally went in was have them very much the same, so when they go into Cavendish, they'll look alien to this new world that they're in."

However, don't interpret that as the Sex Education team resting on their laurels, as you can expect each character's wardrobe to "evolve" with them – most notably, Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa) undergoes quite the transformation.

Read more: Sex Education costume designer: 'Ncuti Gatwa's the best person to dress'

Over the years, Sex Education has inspired many of its fans to experiment with their own dress sense, with Pearman offering some tips to those wishing to look like they've wandered out of Moordale.

"The beauty about Sex Ed is that it is a mismatch of different periods and fashions," explained Pearman. "And I think the decade we're in now is basically influenced by every other decade of fashion there's been. Things always come back into fashion.

"So, I think the main thing is to use more vintage shops, use more thrift shops, use more secondhand charity shops, and enjoy putting that stuff together - because that's what we've done on this. Nothing is essentially bought off the peg in the shop."

She added: "If people want to recreate it, they can in their own way. I don't think it's hard to recreate.

"You might not be able to get the exact same thing, but that's the beauty of it, because you can't have the exact same thing as something else. It's quite nice that it's then individual to you."

Sex Education season 4 is streaming on Netflix from Thursday 21st September 2023. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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