Followers of the Styles desk’s discussions of the clothes worn on “Succession” (as well as a number of social media accounts) know how obsessively fans have followed the characters’ vests, caps, shoes, watches, and sometimes hapless handbags and parse .
With the show reaching its finale on Sunday, it looks like a final check-in with Michelle Matland, the Emmy-nominated costume designer responsible for crafting a 21st-century version of Machiavellian chic and inadvertently fueling the “stealth-wealth” fashion genre , in it’s place. . In an edited interview below, accomplished on the set of a new series, Ms. Matland — whose credits include “The Girl on the Train” and “Angels in America” — spoke about dressing up some of the most troubled, despicable and compelling characters on television.
Looking back, could you have predicted where this show would take you?
You never do. Jesse Armstrong wrote an incredibly brilliant story, but I’m not sure he knew where it was going. I never asked him. The one constant was each character’s trajectory, and over the seasons they developed storylines and these inherent qualities that you couldn’t have foreseen.
And it must have been an unusual challenge for a designer, since the setting is contemporary and the characters’ wardrobes don’t read like costumes.
We weren’t doing “Wicked,” but it’s costumes. It’s clothes, but also costumes that create veneer for the characters. I’m just a small part of the story, but it’s job is to help highlight the characteristics of these characters. And the essence of that is starting with where did they live, where did they go to college, where did they go to prep school? Those are questions I ask at every fitting. I don’t care if you play the waiter. We don’t draw lines. We help authenticate the actors and that’s what makes them real to an audience.
How come?
I am under educated [the five-time Oscar-winning costume designer] Ann Roth, and what she does is help actors find their way into their characters. When we played “Julie & Julia,” Meryl Streep played this amazing six-foot-tall woman, a historical icon. When Meryl showed up for a fitting, Ann slipped on her seven-inch heels and immediately her attitude changed. Her chin and shoulders moved. She became Julia. In “Midnight Cowboy,” Ann took the heels off Dustin Hoffman’s shoes so he would have that walk.
But Julia Child was a real person. The Roys are fictional. The costumes fool us into thinking otherwise.
I’d like to agree, but my humility won’t allow me to. Between writer, actor, costume and prop people, there are so many who make the story happen. It’s not always organic, but essentially you’re there to help the actor develop a profile and inhabit the role.
Where do you start?
Always the shoes. Start at the bottom and grow the character from there. Shoes are the most important item of clothing on a human body. They tell you everything. It’s like once you fell in love with a man and then you see the shoes and realize: oh, this isn’t going to work.
I’m not sure I ever clocked the shoes. But no one missed Lukas Matsson’s bare feet – which is also a costume, I suppose.
The whole point of the Matsson character was to go against everything the Roys are pursuing. They represent money. They represent prosperity. They represent position and attitude. He goes shoeless because he thinks he’s super cool. He tries to stand out as this unique phenomenon. He’s money in sweatpants and no shoes, money in a top.
It’s a disorienting image. Conversely, Jeremy Strong, in his portrayal of Kendall Roy, changed as he began to inhabit the power he inherited when his father, Logan, died.
It’s about using the costumes in a way that doesn’t interfere with the storytelling. I don’t expect anyone to pay attention to what characters are wearing.
Considering the show is credited with fueling the “quiet luxury” trend, it hasn’t worked out too well.
I think the trend for “stealth wealth,” or whatever it is, was born out of someone’s… enthusiasm. I’m not so sure it’s real. However, when it comes to costumes, it’s fun to pinpoint the difference between the world’s Nan Pierces and the Roys. nan [the matriarch and head of a media conglomerate that rivals the Roy family’s Waystar Royco] it’s old money. She absolutely does not care [expletive] about clothes. She doesn’t know what Loro Piana is. She wouldn’t enter a Brunello Cucinelli store if you paid her. When Cherry Jones comes in as Nan with that striped thing and scarf, she looks like she’s just come out of the garden.
Her clothes are a “narrative” for her class.
The Pierces are the top. The Roys are just slightly below that.
Kendall became less and less casual as the season progressed.
Jeremy has a history of being very educated in who a character is. He inhabits it. Many actors do, but some know more about the nuances.
The famous $625 cashmere Loro Piana ball cap?
Our job is always to follow the actors and figure out what makes sense for the story. I am not there to prevent or dictate. And we didn’t always know where the storyline was going to go; I’m usually just as surprised as everyone else. I didn’t even see the funeral episode until yesterday.
An example of good costumes is when a viewer barely notices that the clerics in the show are not real.
It was great to get the chance to do all this incredible administrative research, which added so much delicacy. And we had to find sellers. Where do you go for this stuff? It’s not like we live in Rome.
All you had to do for Kendall was walk down Madison Avenue.
It’s great that Jeremy is very knowledgeable about clothes. And I really trusted him because Kendall is the last man standing.
Hold on. Should we issue a spoiler alert?
I don’t mean anything related to the plot or who’s taking over. I mean it as an actor who is on set and always last in front of the camera. Actors must own their character and their presence and their clothes.