Shiv Roy’s Best Outfits on Succession, Ranked
It was the haircut heard round the world. Not since Jennifer Aniston debuted the Rachel on Friends has a chop caused such a frenzy.
During Succession's sophomore season premiere, Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) returns from her honeymoon with a new look. Gone is her loose, wavy, bordering-on-messy mane. In its place is a sleek, shoulder-length bob. Jasen Sica, the show’s hair department head, cut eight inches off Snook's hair and suddenly the Shiv, was born. The style was so popular, it may or may not have inspired first daughter Ivanka Trump to shed a few inches in homage. But it turned out to be small potatoes—because Shiv's real expression of her relentless ambition this season was best represented in her massive wardrobe overhaul.
They say dress for the job you want. And as soon as Shiv started to become a serious contender to take over Waystar Royco, she did just that. She traded in her dumpy, ill-fitting clothes from season one—those that felt more like an afterthought than any conscious embodiment of her desires—for her version of a power suit: high-waist pants and turtlenecks du jour. And we at Glamour, along with the show's legions of fans, were here for it.
When we first met Shiv, she was the family outsider—the lone liberal. She dressed like the kind of girl who didn't actually do the Peace Corps but talked about wanting to nonstop over family dinners. In season one, Shiv worked for a Democratic presidential hopeful, the Bernie Sanders–esque Gil Eavis, and her bland uniform helped her blend into the background. She was part of the team, not the star of the campaign, and her clothes fit the part. But that didn't mean her clothes had to be so…bad?
"It was confusing that someone growing up with that much money and access had such shitty taste. How many silk button-downs can one woman own, honestly? Even her wedding dress looks like an afterthought," says Glamour senior editor Anna Moeslein. "Then! Season two! Shiv has stepped up to fight for control of Waystar, and she’s got the structured pants and confident turtlenecks to match a woman coming into her own power."
Shiv's glow-up was no accident. With the second season focusing on her quest to become CEO of the family business, Succession's costumer designer, Michelle Matland, decided it was time to reimagine her aesthetic. According to an interview with Vox, Matland researched women from the 1930s (like actress Marlene Dietrich) to serve as inspiration for Shiv's new wardrobe consisting of high-waist pants and neutral tones in lieu of her formerly favored pastels.
While Shiv's outfits have become fan favorites, they're far from flashy—or newly trendy. "I appreciate Shiv’s style, but I don’t think it’s groundbreaking," says Glamour digital director Perrie Samotin. "I admire it more in the context of the show’s highly stylized environment: grand estates, obscene wealth, a perpetual state of cloudy-skied autumn. Essentially, women have been wearing turtlenecks and slacks and silk blouses since forever, so it’s not her pieces I’m impressed with, but more how they perfectly fit in to the very specific world the show has created."
Since Shiv is looking to quite literally topple the patriarchy (or at least the patriarchy she was born into), every single one of her decisions needs to be calculated, and that includes what she wears. Which means relying on a sophisticated stable of classics like trousers, turtlenecks, and blazers—while they don't feel out of place in a room full of men, they're so impeccably tailored, and made of such rich fabrics and clean lines, that they still make their mark. Because in the ultrarich and male-dominated world of Succession—replete with mansions, corporate suites, and more cashmere sweaters than I can count—it's Shiv's elevated take on chic yet conservative staples that help her wield her power from inside the lion's den.
And though her clothes favor modesty, they still don't shy away from accentuating her figure. This season we see the newly chaotically evil Shiv experiment with V-necks, hip-hugging pants, and even backless tops. And as our senior beauty editor Lindsay Schallon puts it, that's worth celebrating. "As someone who talks about body image for a living, I know the women I see on TV don't reflect a realistic range of body types. But I didn't realize just how much I'd internalized that expectation until Shiv and her paperbag pants came along," she says. "Nothing about her plot line is about her body—and that's exactly the point. Her curves don't define her. She just knows how to dress them. And damn well, might I add."
Here we breakdown Shiv's best looks of the season. The sublimely simple fits that, no matter what wicked dealings went down while she was wearing them, we couldn't help but cheer her on for their chicness alone.
HBO1/77: The Turtleneck Makes Its Debut
While turtlenecks would soon become a staple of Shiv's season-two wardrobe, this ribbed gray one was particularly memorable, if only because it was the first. Something I love about the Roy family is that they never dress for warmth. Because they're way too wealthy to ever have to feel a chill or temperature drop. Hello, door-to-door chauffeur service. So in lieu of jackets, they wear vests, and while it appears to be a brisk autumn day in this episode, Shiv's turtleneck is so impossibly thin that there's not a shot it's keeping her toasty. But it's giving her understated cool girl energy, and making her look like a viable candidate to succeed Logan at Waystar Royco (which is what she's discussing with her father in this photo).
HBO2/76: The Pants That Would Put Katharine Hepburn's to Shame
While my eyes were fully on Shiv's trousers—which seem ripped from the wardrobe of an early Hollywood talkie star, in the best way—our senior culture editor, Mattie Kahn, spotted an overlooked Shiv accessory. "I love her thin gold necklaces. It’s so sixth grade in a way that strikes me as so chic, I must own," she says. The Roys aren't flashy people. Shiv would never be caught dead in some giant diamond monstrosity. Instead she favors simple, delicate jewelry. The kind of understated look best worn by someone who doesn't need to show off.
HBO3/75: The Take-Down-Rhea-Jarrell Power Suit
In episode eight, Shiv means business. She's been crossed by Rhea Jarrell (Holly Hunter) and is out for blood. Shiv experiments a lot with suit-like pieces—trousers, the occasional blazer—but this is one of the few times we see her in a full-out monochrome power suit. The blazer is oversized (as we're currently seeing them worn) and is in keeping with Shiv's fresh, modern spin on universal classics. Add in the the aviators, and the whole look screams "Don't fuck with me."
HBO4/74: The Fit-to-Her-Body Silk
As I mentioned, the best thing about Shiv Roy's glow-up is that she's finally embracing her curves. Gone are the slouchy, loose dresses of yesteryear. Instead she's owning the room in form-hugging black silk that shows off her assets—quite literally. As Glamour staff producer Khaliha Hawkins puts it, "The first thing I noticed about Shiv Roy was how great her ass looked in everything. Shiv will definitely be everyone’s fall fashion inspiration, but her butt is definitely my forever inspiration." The all-black ensemble is—in classic Shiv style—both simple and understated. But the fit of it on her body is what makes it really pack a punch.
HBO5/73: The Double-Breasted Blazer Dress of Our Dreams
Oh, Siobhan. I am so, so, so mad at you for the misdeeds you committed in this dress, yet I still can't help but stan how well you wore it. In episode nine, the Roys go to Washington, and Shiv is tasked with stopping a woman from coming forward about the abuse she suffered while working on their family's cruise line. Shiv behaves…abominably. But all I could think was, Look at the tailoring! And how perfectly the belt cinches her waist to stop the dress from looking too box-y on her frame! In a room full of political men in their congressional hearing's finest, Shiv couldn't pass up the opportunity to assert her power through dress. But it's such a modern, feminine take that she sparkles.
6/72: The Meghan Markle Wedding Dress, Redux
When Shiv wore a turtleneck-adorned gown for her father's surprise soiree, all I could think was: Do we have a secret royals fan on our hands? The dress is strikingly similar to the silhouette of Meghan Markle's Stella McCartney wedding reception dress, turtleneck and all. While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Shiv still managed to make this look all her own, both with the coloring (hers is black) and with the sky-high slit up her right leg. It's a bit sexier than we usually see her dress, but she works it.
HBO7/7The 'Business in the Front, Party in the Back' Sweater
When I first saw Shiv's outfit I thought, Sweaters? For Shiv Roy? Groundbreaking. But when she turned around and revealed that it was backless, I knew I'd found the winner of my power ranking. This season was all about Shiv's taking risks, both with her power plays and her power looks. While at times her maneuvers to become the successor were questionable, she always looked the part—and this bare-backed navy cashmere sweater was no exception. Here's to more of this in the already-picked-up season three.
