Alan Ruck as Connor Roy on Succession, Episode 4.02 (“Rehearsal”)
Vitals
Alan Ruck as Connor Roy, neglected millionaire heir and failed presidential candidate
New York City, Fall 2020
Series: Succession
Episode: “Rehearsal” (Episode 4.02)
Air Date: April 2, 2023
Director: Becky Martin
Creator: Jesse Armstrong
Costume Designer: Michelle Matland
Background
It’s four in the morning, the end of December…
By Succession‘s timeline, poor Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) still had two months to go until the end of December when crooning Leonard Cohen’s 1971 folk ballad “Famous Blue Raincoat” in the private room of a Midtown Manhattan karaoke lounge. I use the adjective “poor” rather loosely here as Connor’s the kind of guy who can afford to spare millions on a misguided presidential campaign merely to prove his own relevance to himself and his family, but that’s beside the point.
Connor’s campaign is merely the latest in the actual eldest son’s delusions of grandeur. The following day, he’s planning to marry to the unrequited love of his life, the erstwhile escort-turned-failed-playwright Willa Ferreyra (Justine Lupe)… and no one seems to care. Not the bride, not his father Logan (Brian Cox), and certainly not his three younger siblings—Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Shiv (Sarah Snook)—who arrive just late enough to Connor’s rehearsal dinner to catch a wasted Willa stumbling out. Though the Roys are hardly known for their sentimentalism, Connor’s dejected attitude is just pitiful enough that his half-siblings agree to join him for drinks.
As the night continues, Connor cajoles a sad impromptu bachelor party at Maru Karaoke Lounge from the three “needy love-sponges,” resulting in what Roman describes as “Guantanamo-level shit,” exacerbated by the surprise arrival of the estranged Logan, whom Connor secretly invited in the hopes of mending relations among the rest of the family. After decades of emotional and mental abuse from their father, Kendall, Roman, and Shiv hardly entertain their father’s seemingly sincere attempts at long-overdue apologies, resulting in his now iconic parting words to them:
I love you, but you are not serious people.
What’d He Wear?
Whether feeling festive in the spirit of his wedding or glum about his less-than-1% polling, Connor’s blue plaid three-piece suit and open-necked white shirt is one of his more interesting outfits during Succession‘s fourth and final season, a departure from the characteristically conservative navy suits and red ties he wears while on the campaign trail.
Connor’s handsome wool suiting is patterned in a navy-on-blue glen plaid. The single-breasted jacket has notch lapels that roll to a two-button front. The sleeves are roped at the shoulders and finished with four “kissing” buttons at the cuffs. The jacket also has double vents, straight flapped hip pockets, and a welted breast pocket that Connor doesn’t dress with a pocket square or kerchief.
The matching single-breasted waistcoat (vest) has five buttons, which Con correctly wears with the lowest button undone. The vest has two lower-slung jetted pockets on the front and a solid dark-blue satin-finished back with a matching adjustable strap.
The lower rise of Connor’s trousers are consistent with what many men wear today, though more classic proportions would dictate a higher rise so that the trouser waistband is completely covered by his vest and thus doesn’t reveal any of his white shirt between the vest and trousers. The trousers are held up by buckle-tab side adjusters, which Connor may have let fall lax over the course of the evening as he grows increasingly depressed about his emotional detachment from his fiancée and his family. Likely finished with turn-ups (cuffs), these tapered-leg trousers have gently slanted side pockets and button-through back pockets.
The inner label depicting a red/orange circle against a white square ground may help identify who manufactured Connor’s suit—though the label is unfamiliar to me.
Connor wears a white cotton dress shirt, styled with a semi-spread collar (worn open-neck), front placket, and two-button barrel cuffs.
As the evening devolves into Connor’s best(?) Leonard Cohen impression on karaoke, we see the unraveled details of his outfit, such as one of the two cuff-buttons undone on his shirt.
Connor’s brown leather brogues provide a jauntier sartorial contrast with his three-piece suit, appropriately dressing it down to contextually match the open-necked shirt. Only briefly glimpsed in a few scenes, the shoes have the unmistakably open-laced system of derby shoes and—despite the low light—appear to be detailed with pointed wingtip toes.
Connor doesn’t share his younger brother Kendall’s fondness for ostentatious watches, rarely sporting timepieces at all but here wearing a large yet minimalist dress watch. It’s almost certainly still an expensive model—I’d suspect IWC—though not as prohibitively priced as the six-figure Richard Mille that Kendall begins wearing later in the season.
The round white dial on Connor’s watch stretches nearly to the edges of the large stainless steel case, marked with elegantly simple single-line hour indices. Con secures the watch around his right wrist on a smooth dark brown leather strap.
What to Imbibe
By the time his half-siblings arrive at his rehearsal dinner, Connor is joylessly drinking Château Haut-Brion, one of only five prestigious wines from the Bordeaux region of France to be rated Premier Grand Cru Classé (First Growth).
Production of wine on the Haut-Brion estate grew in earnest through the 17th and 18th centuries while managed by the de Pontac family. Through the “First Growth” classification system wouldn’t be developed until 1855, Haut-Brion became the inaugural First Growth wine to be imported to the United States when Thomas Jefferson had six cases of the 1784 vintage shipped to his Virginia estate following a visit in May 1787, when the epicurean founding father described it to his brother-in-law as “the very best Bourdeaux wine.”
After Connor joins Kendall, Roman, and Shiv for a night out in Manhattan, he’s politically savvy enough to know that drinking $700 bottles of prestigious Bordeaux won’t do well for his populist campaign. “Uh, I’ll just have whatever a regular Joe would have: just a Belgian weissbier… not Hoegaarden.”
How to Get the Look
Alan Ruck as Connor Roy on Succession, Episode 4.02 (“Rehearsal”)
This one’s for the Conheads!
- Navy-on-blue glen plaid wool three-piece suit:
- Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, XXX-button cuffs, double vents
- Single-breasted 5-button vest with jetted hip pockets and adjustable back strap
- Reverse-pleated trousers with buckle-tab side adjusters, gently slanted side pockets, button-through back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
- White cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, and 2-button barrel cuffs
- Brown leather full-brogue wingtip derby shoes
- Stainless steel luxury dress watch with large round white dial (with non-numeric hour indices) on smooth dark brown leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the series, currently streaming on Max.
For fans of the show’s style, I recommend following the great Instagram accounts @successionfashion and @successionfits.
The Quote
The good thing about having a family that doesn’t love you is you learn to live without it.
The post Succession: Connor Roy’s Blue Glen Plaid Three-Piece “Rehearsal” Suit appeared first on BAMF Style.