This article contains spoilers for episode 9 of the final season of ‘Succession’.
We knew it was coming: the funeral service for Logan Roy. After several episodes of planning and maneuvering, the Roy children finally have a chance to ceremoniously mourn their father. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Roy family gathering without some fuss, a surprise eulogy from Logan’s estranged brother, public relations schemes and the chaotic backdrop of protests in the wake of a disputed election.
The funeral guests wore black and the Roy children followed the dress code. Logan’s wives and mistresses dressed the part of widows, each in their own way, creating a fitting scene of the women knowing another side of the man who “made life possible.”
Jessica Testa: This week I wondered: Does Roman Roy read our style reviews? Because his immediate observation upon seeing Marcia at Logan’s funeral – “Marcia looks chic” – is something one of us would definitely say, if we hadn’t already said it during her one (one!) real performance this season. Although we wouldn’t be so rude about it.
Vanessa Friedman: Interesting that she and Caroline, Logan’s first wife, were the only ones with hats.
Guy Trebay: What was admirable about costume designer Michelle Matland’s work is the restraint.
JT: With all the powerful people in the room – and the writing tells us repeatedly that the most powerful people in the world are present – no one was very interested in peacocks. Maybe that’s the point. Real power means you never have to peacock.
VF: And then there was Logan’s brother, all alone in a turtleneck and blazer.
Anna Grace Lee: A subtle checkered blazer, of course.
VF: It really highlighted how he is different from what his brother has created.
JT: I loved Caroline’s return. Shiv’s mother registering her pregnancy immediately while her brothers either ignored it or knew nothing about it was perfect. And it was strangely nice to bring the wives and mistresses together for such an unkind character.
VF: She had quite an emerald pin. It was like a flag saying “I have a large settlement”.
GT: One of the things we often overlook is how important anatomy is to fashion. That’s been brought up time and time again on this series, where people are abnormally tall, from Roman’s 5-foot-6 to Greg’s geeky 6-foot-7 – as opposed to Hollywood’s median male actor of 5-foot- 10 . Likewise the state of artificial preservation. Caroline’s weathered face was a stark contrast to the poreless, wrinkle-free Botox faces that are now the norm.
VF: Marcia is also visibly “adult”.
GT: And the “adult” actresses weren’t born in America.
Stella Bugbee: The costumes of the four women who loved Logan worked best when they were all next to each other.
GT: The quartet in a church pew was an incredible imagery. It made Logan livelier than any word.
VF: Kendall’s speech was very special. When he said his father had “the will to be and be seen,” it seemed to reflect the tension within the children. They both want and don’t want to be seen (or seen in a specific way), and that’s a driver in how they dress.
JT: Kendall has never looked more comfortable, even in his grief, finally out of Logan’s shadow.
VF: Kendall’s brushed gray herringbone-tweed overcoat, with the collar standing upright in the graveyard, was a motorcycle jacket—a cloak to take on.
GT: The jacket didn’t seem right to me, stiff and ill-fitting, too rural (with the deep inverted back split) for a motorcycle jacket.
JT: Was anyone else surprised by Logan’s Stalinist mausoleum? The siblings seemed to be. It was more evidence that they didn’t really know him.
AGL: Lightly discussing the price of the mausoleum — a “good deal” of $5 million — was so morbid, and so was she.
GT: Was that Woodlawn Cemetery, does anyone know? The church was St. Ignatius of Loyola, where the burial of Jacqueline Onassis took place.
VF: Also the memorial of Oscar de la Renta.
SB: This was Roman’s episode of his opening monologue, where he looks in the mirror and strokes the beard he’s obviously growing because it resembles his father’s, until the very end, against the unruly stream of protesters in his suits .
GT: And dab on the moisturizer.
JT: You can’t imagine how hard I tried to zoom in on the brand.
SB: Hard to imagine Logan using a moisturizer or be punched in the face.
GT: Ms. Matland is slowly shrinking Roman, it seems, through his clothes. And the slightly over-waisted pants made him look even smaller, amplifying the poignant turn in the pulpit from warehouse rat to sobbing child.
VF: What did you think of how Matsson cleaned up?
AGL: There was something eerie about seeing Matsson in his suit disguised as a normal person.
GT: Universal truth. At key moments, you need to shave and put on hard pants.
Jessica Testa, Stella Bugbee, Vanessa Friedman, Guy Trebay And Anna Grace Lee reporting contributed.
