The Clothes Make the Man(ic TV character)

They say you should dress for the job you want. But perhaps we’re all dressing for the character we want to be instead. What else would explain the spike in Google search queries for “The Bear sweater” during the Season 2 premiere of FX’s hit? Not to mention the #quietluxury mania of the final two seasons of Succession. I know I’m not alone in admitting that nothing about Carmy’s kitchen rage makes me want to throw on an apron and slice some onions. Nor does Kendall’s “eldest boy” energy have me considering a crack at managing a media conglomerate. And yet, we’re drawn in to the totality of these characters. Not just the well-written complexities, but also the styles we see darting across the screen. Costuming is the subtle (and sometimes capacious) silent character lurking in every scene.

Devised by the largely under-credited costume designers, these styles are the result of painstaking efforts to align the narrative truth of a character with the brand ethos and aesthetic appeal of the clothing. A byproduct of their craft? While nothing about The Bear imbued abject product placement, I somehow find myself in desperate need of Dickies work pants and a pair of Birkenstock slides.

Please join me in my exploration of the styles that make the stories we see on screen.