‘Succession’ costume designer Michelle Matland says Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy’s outfits reflect her turbulent life changes and psychology.
The move stylist, who has also worked on big-budget films including ‘Cold Mountain’, ‘Signs’ and the 2014 reboot of ‘The Stepford Wives’, has generated thousands of articles with her outfit choices for the characters on the hit HBO show about Logan Roy’s media dynasty – from Kendall Roy’s unbranded £415 Loro Piana hats, to the cavernous Burberry bag mocked by Tom Wambsgans in season four’s premiere and Shiv Roy’s choice of dress at her mother’s wedding.
Michelle told the Evening Standard about using clothes to chart Shiv’s character arc from a liberal political lobbyist to desperate CEO wannabe: “She is a democratic babe (at the start of the show.)
“She’s trying to live in a world that’s antithetical to her family, she doesn’t want to be identified as a Roy, or as wealthy or affluent, because that could be detrimental to her career – that could kill her.”
Michelle added about the character, played by Sarah Snook, 35, she is forced to morph into a woman in a man’s world when she goes back to her dad’s media empire.
She said about dressing her in pantsuits to reflect the change: “She dives into the boys’ club, she wants to fit in in the boardroom with the men.
“Then, in season three, we see her try to become her own person, so yes she’s wearing suits but they’re her own personal suits, we find a femininity to her, a subtlety to her, she has little nuances of the Shiv she wants to become.”
Michelle’s work on the show has generated Instagram accounts created to document each character’s fashion choices and articles with titles such as ‘How to Dress Like your Favourite “Succession” Characters’ and analysis by GQ of the different kinds of watches worn by the lead characters.
HBO bosses have also cashed in on the interest in her work by creating merchandise such as hoodies, gilets and coffee mugs.
