Succession Season 4 Episode 3 Best Fashion Moments
Well, thanks, editors, for all of two seconds of wedding dress footage!
***I assume this goes without saying in a TV recap but major spoilers lie ahead! I don’t know how you avoid them on the internet anyway but I needed to say it today for a clear conscience.***
When Tom first made the call about Logan not breathing and having chest compressions, I thought it was a move straight out of the dark arts of corporate fuckery and the writers wouldn’t actually kill Logan. But my husband, who was watching with me, informed me that actually it had been widely predicted that he would die and the remaining season would focus on the kids battling, so I either live in a bubble or he secretly consumes even more Succession content than me.
Brian Cox, who plays Logan, is brilliant and his character feels like a loss for all Succession fans. Everything I’ve read about Cox makes him sound like he doesn’t have patience for any sort of bullshit, as evidenced by his comments on Method acting, which is widely associated with his costar Jeremy Strong who plays Kendall (to be clear, Strong told The New Yorker he doesn’t consider it Method acting, but rather “identity diffusion”). While Strong helps the costume team pick out Kendall’s clothes down to the socks and underwear, Cox has said, “I don’t hold a lot of the American shit, having to have a religious experience every time you play a part. It’s crap.” He also made a spoof of Master Class for The Tonight Show in which he said, “Just fucking do it! Say the fucking lines, and don’t bump into the fucking furniture.” So while I’m tempted to suggest we’ll see Cox in a Bottega Veneta ad or on a runway or something like that (see: Ian McKellan opening the S. S. Daley fashion show), it seems unlikely. But I’m sure someone will AI that pope-in-a-puffer style before we know it.
Here are the best fashion moments from the third episode of season four.
Shiv’s Black Suit
When this episode first started, many of us probably thought that everyone looked like they were going to a funeral instead of a wedding. The last time this crew attended a family wedding (in Italy for their mom), Shiv wore a white dress that costume designer Michelle Matland told W was meant to evoke her defiance of the marriage. Before we knew the writers were killing Logan, I assumed this was another look meant to symbolize her defiance of Connor’s wedding, to illustrate her disgust that she has to spend time attending it. But you don’t need an English lit degree to quickly grasp that it was funereal for entirely other reasons. And that her sad, frazzled ponytail was sad and frazzled on purpose.
Shiv looked fabulous in her chain-neck halter top and blazer, which had a lock for a clasp, by Tom Ford. As the episode progresses and more of her outfit comes into frame, we see that she’s wearing wide-legged trousers, which gave her look a party on the top, business on the bottom vibe. She surely thought she would get to spend this day as only a Roy would want to: conducting business from her brother’s wedding, dipping out after the salad course to make phone calls and stress out.
The Tie-less Men
Roman, Kendall, and Cousin Greg were among the only dudes at the wedding not wearing ties because Connor’s betrothal didn’t rise to that level of importance for them. Logan was also tie-less and we can assume if he had planned to attend the wedding, he would have slobbed it up in, like, a cardigan and loafers. I wrote in my notes that Ro and Lo had the open collars and jackets of men who are GOING PLACES. Literally — Ro to a wedding and Lo to Sweden — but also, I suppose, symbolically.
When Kendall appeared tie-less and with shades on, it seemed abundantly clear that they were all determined to take this wedding as seriously as they might a vacation. Roman even described it to Gerri as “a sham marriage and the death of romance.” I’m not sure I would call this marriage the death of romance. That said, did you clock the curtains on the boat? Those were the death of romance.
Still trying desperately to be Roys themselves were Tom and Cousin Greg, who attempted the nonchalance of the no-tie look while most other non-Roy men had chosen neckwear. But tie or not, they pull off nonchalance as well as Willa shows genuine affection and love for who Connor is as a human being.
Willa’s Wedding Dress
Her wedding dress moment was confined to all of, what, three seconds? I downvote such brief exposure! First we saw it on the hanger, then we saw it on her body when she and Connor decide to wed without anyone around, which was actually kind of a clever move on their part — the only clever move they’ve ever made on this show. Of course she chose full lace — one of the most expensive kind of wedding dresses you can buy — and of course it had cutouts in homage to her tackier former self. In case you don’t remember, this is what she wore in the second episode of the show when she was visiting the family at the hospital after Logan’s stroke:
Prior to putting on the wedding dress, she wore a tailored white look that sort of resembled her rehearsal dinner pantsuit from the previous episode, only sleeveless. Like she’s trapped in this stealth wealth existence when all she wants is to be the girl who wears sexy see-through lace stuff and the occasional Versace Medusa pump.
Gerri’s Perplexingly Colored Dress
As I type, someone somewhere is writing their dissertation on what color Gerri’s outfit is and what this says about humanity, Trump’s indictment, the gig economy, the evils of artificial intelligence, and other world-altering issues of the day. I’m joking but: would you call it dusty lavender? Gray? Greige? Brown-gray, which we may as well call bray? Gray-purple, which we may as well call grurple?
Seeming to illustrate her deference to the family/company, she showed up with a formal-corporate dress, formal-corporate round-toe heels (not the trendy kind, she leaves those for thirsty strivers like Kerry), and a daytime hat! Kate Middleton most certainly has notes.
Kerry’s Brown Suit and Shiny Gold Accessories
Kerry was brilliantly costumed in another trendy look — this time a brown suit — with the flashy accessories of someone who grew up middle class. The costume team cleverly juxtaposed Shiv’s gold accents — those of a true Tom Ford woman — with Kerry’s — those of a Reformation shopper.
After Logan dies, Kerry bursts into the room where executives who have worked there much longer are planning next moves and says, “That’s so fucking weird, Jesus, wow. You guys OK?” Of course that’s the reaction of a woman who probably learned about waist belts from watching Sex and the City. The writers gave Tom one of the best lines of the episode when he described Kerry’s unhinged reaction to Logan’s death: “Judging by her grin, it’s like she caught a foul ball at Yankee stadium.” Tom’s writers: upvote!
I love Gerri. Even though her outfit wasn’t great, I appreciate the shoutout to her. I also think it has a “lots of things mixed together” vibe, but Gerri herself can be like that so I guess it makes sense. She’s often playing the mysterious one.
The women’s fashion was very 80s in this episode. Kerri also wears an off white satin top with a band around the neck and deep V (under a blazer) that matches exactly a top I wore to clubs in NYC in 1986/87. Mine was sleeveless.