This story contains spoilers for the fourth season of Succession.
There can’t be too many instances in popular culture where a generic black hair tie can rival a $100,000 watch for headlines. But Succession isn’t like most television shows.
In the final season, the main characters have dealt with the grief of losing their patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the power struggle with tech billionaire Lukas Matsson (played by Alexander Skarsgard) and their own personal maelstrom. And, often, their costumes do as much talking as the razor-sharp dialogue, from Kendall’s $800 baseball caps, to Shiv’s suits and that scrunchie.
Dress codes ... (from left) Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy, Sarah Snook as Shiv Roy, and Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy.Credit: Foxtel/HBO
And it all seems to be building up to one event: Logan’s funeral, which will take place some time before the show’s finale. So, how did the show’s head costume designer, Michelle Matland, design for an event with such anticipation? Without giving away too much, she says it was her team’s “biggest stretch” of the series.
“It takes a lot of homework to find out what these [events] really look like, to make them authentic, [from] the right cassock and the right headdress, to the choir boys, the whole nine yards ... The pomp and circumstance of it was great fun, it was a great learning curve, and I think it will be super beautiful to look at [on screen].”
Matland, whose credits include Cold Mountain and The Stepford Wives, says each character’s arc has resonated through their wardrobe, but Shiv’s wardrobe has carried particular weight as the show nears its finale.
Tom’s (Matthew Macfadyen) love of suits and money is a source of bickering with wife Shiv in season four.Credit: HBO / Binge
The ups and downs of her wardrobe through the season show “she’s not a quitter; she is going to battle this to the end”, Matland says. “Just like any of us, you have good days and bad days … we have to balance the humanity of these characters with the tales we’re trying to tell about them.”
In earlier seasons, when Shiv was pursuing her Democratic political aspirations, she chose “very middle-American, mainstream clothing”. But, after she returned to the family business, Matland says Shiv had to abandon labels such as Theory and Ted Baker.
It’s the same for Tom, who was raised middle class and has risen from being Shiv’s handbag, to dropping insults about the “ludicrously capacious” bag carried by Greg’s date in episode one that once would have been beyond his budget.
“In the same way [as Shiv’s style has evolved], we couldn’t have Tom staying in [US mass-market suit brand] Hickey Freeman after he’d come through, and now he’s in his Canalis and his versions of the [Brunello] Cucinelli world that he tries to emulate,” Matland says.
Each character uses fashion to fetishise their idols – Greg of Tom; Tom of Logan; Kendall of the ‘tech bros’ such as Lukas Matsson. But regardless of each character’s station, their mimicry often falls short, hence Tom’s faux pas in buying Logan a watch, or Kendall thinking Lanvin sneakers will impress some start-up founders.
“A lot of these costumes are armour to help these people get through the day,” Matland says. “It’s why people like [reality TV stars] the Kardashians are so un-relatably fascinating to everyone – we want to know why they do all that, why do they dress like that, what are they trying to say about themselves? Looking into the Roys is an upscale version of that ‘enamel factor’.”
So, when it comes to the costumes on Succession, what comes first: the wardrobe or the dialogue? Matland says the script often contains certain “nuances” where she and her team can inflect a scene by opting for a particular item of clothing, such as Greg’s ill-fitting shoes from an op-shop in the show’s first season.
While all the actors on Succession had input into their costumes – “I get texts at 3am!” – Matland says Jeremy Strong, who plays Kendall, had “very strong opinions” regarding wardrobe.
“He’s almost always right, and his instincts are good ... A lot of money goes into Kendall’s wardrobe ... For him, a $6000 coat is appropriate. A lot of the stuff is very elite in price point, but it’s almost an imperative in making these people authentic.”
But Matland and her team nearly came unstuck trying to source Kendall an $850 Loro Piana baseball cap, which has helped revive the popularity of the style. After chasing it for months, including having one blocked at customs, Matland had almost given up, when she happened to be in one of the Italian brand’s New York boutiques, and a sales assistant spotted one while getting Matland a bottle of water. “She said, ‘oh, you might be interested in this – I heard you guys were looking for it.’ And it was the hat. It was a miracle.”
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