Stylish Films: Succession (2018-Present)
Stealth wealth, a wasted Patek, so much swearing.
HBO's breakout cult hit, Succession, began filming its 4th season recently - news that felt like a breath of fresh air after what feels like a long hiatus from prestige television. Succession is about an American dynasty family, the Roys, whose father, Logan, founded a media conglomerate, WayStar RoyCo. It's Fox News in an alternate reality, but a reality that is closely synched up with our own, and the Roys are as close to the Murdochs as it gets. The short premise of the show, which you should have definitely heard of by now, is that the family's patriarch, Logan, has turned 80 and is gearing up to hand down his empire to his addiction-recovering, second eldest son, Kendall. When he goes back on his promise, it sets off a chain of events within the family and the other three adult-children, Shiv, Roman & Connor. The show is full of family drama, greed, and betrayal. There's a ton of wealth and lifestyle porn and enough money being thrown around to make a pro athlete feel broke.
One of the more underrated aspects o the show is fashion. The pieces worn on the show feel like they're carefully selected from a pre-approved list of brands and styles by a costume designer. That isn't meant to be a bad thing though. It does feel as if there is an unspoken code being carried out in the world of Succession, where they wear their wealth on their sleeves, but refuse to be ostentatious about it. The men on the show generally wear suits. Kendall and Tom wear them every episode. They wear them with and without ties, with pocket squares to match. What separates their suits from the run-of-the-mill suits that you'd find at Macy's or Men's Warehouse, is the fact that all of those suits that they wear cost thousands of dollars. Tom, Shiv's husband who runs the news network, wears suits from the likes of Brioni, Zegna, Kiton, and Loro Piana. I'm sure Kendall's fashion sense doesn't deviate too much. Kendall likes to dress it down a little bit, electing to wear Lanvin sneakers to a business meeting with his suit.
Roman, the youngest son, wears slacks and shirts with the sleeves rolled up. He never wears a tie, but everything he wears is still expensive. At the same time, he rejects and conforms to the code. Connor, the eldest son, is widely out of the picture from the family business perspective, choosing to live on a ranch with his playwright wife. He wears denim and sweaters, but we don't exactly know where they're from. I'd guess RRL or something along the lines of that. Shiv might be my main character. Her power dressing is sexy as well. She loves a turtleneck sweater, wearing a backless turtleneck dress in one episode in the second season. The knitwear choices on the show are impeccable! Turtlenecks, cable knits, cashmere, cardigans galore! It's a fall/winter dream come true.
So what links all of the characters and the way that they dress together? They all throw on an unbranded display of excess. This is a family that has had wealth for as long as they can remember, so it's nothing new to them. They don't feel the need to wear louder brands like Gucci or Louis Vuitton. They all wear very simple clothes that just happen to be made with the best materials on the planet from some of fashion's most elegant names. The characters are perpetually in a state of business casual, so there is a loose dress code at all times, but you never see them wearing anything that's too recognizable outside of the occasional Patek Philippe & subtlety branded Moncler puffer. There are no logos on the show, something that I love. This is because the Roys have generational wealth. They control the national conversation. They have power. The idea of using a logo as a vehicle to communicate your wealth to society is for the people who just stumbled into money. The Roy's are above that.
The Roys have no lack of appetite when it comes to nice things. They just don't rub it in your face. Succession is a masterclass in subtle power dressing. I'd be lying if I said I didn't plan by cold weather wardrobe around the fashion on Succession. It's not avant-garde. It isn't even trendy. It's timeless, or rather it's seasonless.
Peace and love.
