The "Succession" actors started to make fashion

In the past year, whatever series has come out on HBO has inspired a trend or sent the fashion industry into a frenzy. From the Targaryen blond inspired by House of the Dragon to the hegemony that the casts of The White Lotus and Euphoria have had over the last few fashion weeks, via even the American jackets and outerwear made famous by The Last of Us, the high-brow TV series of the last year have become increasingly tied to fashion imagery. With the debut of Succession's final season, however, things have taken a new turn. If we were writing in December 2021 that the series, now in its third season, had become the best interpretation of the concept of the "old money aesthetic," today things have gone even further: Jeremy Strong, who has become a kind of Daniel Day Lewis of the small screen, with his avant-garde and vaguely intellectualistic aesthetic manifested in the Haans Nicholas Mott signature outfit at the premiere of the new season, has announced a collaboration with Jacques Marie Mage for a pair of glasses made especially for the series; also in design is Adrien Brody, one of last season's main guest stars, who will sign several capsule collections for Bally; while Kieran Culkin, who plays Roman Roy on the show, has become the new face of Zegna's Triple Stitch.

The specific cases of Jeremy Strong and Adrien Brody are part of the broader trend of celebrities getting into design: from Beyoncé collaborating with Oliver Rousteing on the Renaissance couture mini-collection to Shawn Mendez again designing a capsule for Tommy Hilfiger to Alicia Keys signing a capsule for Moncler Genius and, of course, Pharrell Williams becoming artistic director of Louis Vuitton. The glasses designed by Jeremy Strong, by the way, sold out even before the first episode of the series was broadcast. Of course, if all the other collaborations listed above involved figures from the world of music, the fact that two actors associated with the series have made this leap from wearing fashion to producing and designing it seems to herald the beginning of a new era in which celebrities and ambassadors will have to demonstrate more agency in the realm of fashion collaborations, lending not only their face to a product but bringing their personal intellect and style to infuse a product with their personal aura and mythology.

The idea behind it, from what can be predicted for now of this nascent trend, is that the new stage of authenticity in celebrity-brand collaborations will come through the persona they have created for themselves, giving them a seal of authenticity and an unmistakable creative affiliation - sort of like if Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad were to design the same porkpie hats that Walter White wore, if Neil Patrick Harris were to create a collection of suits inspired by Barney Stinson, or Jenna Ortega were to collaborate with a brand on goth clothes that harken back to Wednesday. In a world where over-the-top marketing has revealed its tricks and ceased to have a grip on audiences, one must always raise the bar to show that there is something real behind a certain release and that, in short, by buying the product one is buying not something a celebrity wears by contract but something the celebrity has produced. The credibility of these products comes from the credibility of the people who inspire them - and of course also from the brand involved. No longer association, then, but true participation: a further sign of how brands and marketers want to explore market niches by moving not through subcultures but through the oceanic audiences of a certain show or singer and thus certain items associated with them in a personal and instinctive way. We all, after all, want to dress like our heroes, and fashion is really becoming a giant fandom.