Kaia Gerber and Hayes Warner embrace ’80s excess in ‘The Shards’

‘The Shards’ Turns 1981 Los Angeles Into a Glossy, Dangerous Coming-of-Age World

Activelifezero.com – FX’s “The Shards” places its young characters in a version of Los Angeles where immaculate styling, social hierarchy and personal ambition are inseparable. Set in 1981, the series follows a circle of wealthy prep-school seniors entering their final year while a killer known as The Trawler lurks at the edges of their privileged world.

The threat of violence gives the story its suspense, but the show is not constructed as a conventional crime drama alone. Under Ryan Murphy’s direction, “The Shards” also revels in the decade’s music, pop culture and unapologetically heightened fashion. Shoulder pads, dramatic hair, bold makeup and carefully chosen vintage looks are central to the mood, reflecting both the era and the characters’ need to project control.

An extended midseason dance sequence, set to Rick James’ “Super Freak,” captures that sensibility. The main cast members dance, toss their hair and embrace the theatrical energy of the early 1980s. Even as reports of missing teenagers circulate, their characters remain absorbed in the immediate pressures of popularity, romance and Homecoming Court status.

A highly specific period look

Kaia Gerber, who plays class president Susan Reynolds, said the production’s visual research helped make the period feel convincing. Costume designers Joshua Marsh and Lou Eyrich assembled elaborate mood boards and sourced vintage garments that helped distinguish the characters’ personalities.

“The attention to detail is what makes it so incredible,” Gerber said. “It’s such a specific moment in time.”

Gerber’s Susan is outwardly flawless: a high-achieving student with an exacting sense of presentation and a football-star boyfriend, Thom Wright, played by Graham Campbell. Her precision makes her a natural focal point within the school’s social order, though the character’s apparent perfection also carries emotional pressure.

Hayes Warner plays Debbie Schaffer, the girlfriend of aspiring writer Bret Easton Ellis, portrayed by Igby Rigney. Debbie’s platinum-blond hair and vivid red lipstick evoke the visual influence of Blondie, giving her an unmistakable place in the show’s stylized ensemble.

The story is told through Bret’s perspective. Named for the author of the 2023 horror autofiction novel that inspired the series, the character is a Joan Didion-loving senior at Buckley prep school with literary ambitions. Bret’s tightly connected friend group is disrupted by the arrival of Robert Mallory, a new student played by Homer Gere, the son of actor Richard Gere. Robert’s presence unsettles the balance between Bret and Debbie, and Susan and Thom.

Style that followed the actors off set

Gerber and Warner became close during production, often spending more than two hours together in the makeup trailer each morning before running scenes. The daily transformation into carefully polished 1980s students left an impression beyond the soundstage.

Warner has recently leaned toward structured jackets with shoulder pads, including pieces from Gerber’s closet. Both performers have also found themselves returning to side-parted hair, a small but distinctive nod to the period. For Gerber, the show’s maximalist visual language was enjoyable even if it differs from her routine away from filming.

“Post-pandemic, effort is very minimal, which I love,” Gerber said. “I don’t want to spend two hours on my hair for my everyday life, but I appreciated that teenagers in high school in 1981 were actually getting ready. We now have pimple patches on our faces.”

The contrast highlights one of the series’ broader pleasures: its willingness to treat preparation as part of the drama. Hair, makeup and clothes are not background details. They communicate who has power, who wants attention and who is hiding behind a carefully assembled image.

Gerber’s connection to Susan Reynolds

Gerber, a fan of the original book, joined the project early in its development. Still, she did not allow herself to fully believe the series would move forward until shortly before camera tests began.

“I was in such denial that it was going to happen,” she said. “I didn’t fully celebrate until we all got drinks a week before we did our camera tests.”

Across the show’s nine episodes, Susan’s perfect-student persona becomes more than a surface trait. Gerber connected with the character’s effort to recognize her own desires beyond outside expectations. Having worked for years in fashion, where polished appearances can be treated as an ideal, Gerber sees a distinction between doing what looks right and choosing what feels meaningful.

“Just because something is on paper the perfect thing to do, does not necessarily mean it’s the thing that will make you feel fulfilled and happy,” she said. “I relate to her journey in figuring out what her desires are outside of that pressure.”

Gerber’s interest in literature also informed how she considered Susan’s inner life. The actor is a bookworm and co-creator of Library Science, a book club project launched in 2024. She imagines that Susan might have kept Scott Spencer’s 1979 novel “Endless Love” by her bedside in 1981. The book’s turbulent teenage romance offers a plausible echo of Susan’s eventual relationship with Thom.

“The Shards” uses its lavish period surfaces to heighten the uncertainty beneath them. Its characters may arrive at school dressed with precision and focused on the next social event, but the world around them is becoming increasingly unstable. That collision between teenage excess and looming danger gives the series its particular texture: glamorous, campy and uneasy all at once.