"Succession" made a Burberry bag go viral

Last Sunday the first episode of the fourth series of Succession aired in America. Already every scene from the premiere has become a meme (the line «She's in Milan. Shopping. Forever» is iconic) but there was one specific scene that caught the attention of virtually everyone on Twitter: the bag scene. During the episode, naive cousin Gregg takes one of Raya's dates to a very exclusive billionaire's birthday. The girl is not from the milieu (she posts photos on Instagram, constantly eats from the buffet, and asks everyone personal questions) but the biggest mistake is her giant Burberry tote bag, which is harshly criticized by Tom Wambsgans' character: «She’s brought a ludicrously capacious bag. What’s even in there, huh? Flat shoes for the subway? Her lunch pail? I mean, Greg, it’s monstrous. It’s gargantuan. You could take it camping. You could slide it across the floor after a bank job». The monologue is hilarious. Although it appears to be a diss to Burberry and its check, it ended up casting a spotlight on the bag: according to the company 3DLook, Google searches for "Burberry Tote Bag" grew 310 percent after the episode, while searches for "Burberry handbag" and "Burberry tote bag" increased 180 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

As revealed on Twitter by Bolu Babalola, series creator Jesse Armstrong chose the bag after asking a wealthy New York woman: «What is the most offensive bag a woman could bring to something like this? What would be the tackiest thing that someone who was trying to fit in would bring?». The answer, evidently, is a very expensive bag, huge but above all covered with flashy branding - the exact opposite of the stealth wealth that Succession's economic elite would buy in. To complete the outfit of the "out-of-place" character, the costume designers chose a dress by Sandro Paris, another perfect choice since it is a costly outfit for the middle class but one that a billionaire would probably ignore - the brand by the way had already appeared in the series wearing the character of Willa, another example of a person of humble origins who had to fit in among the richest individuals in the world. The episode, however, goes back to underscoring the ability of TV series, and especially HBO's series, to use fashion as a real sub-textual language, talking about it without talking about it, but also putting a certain product in the spotlight by promoting it even when making fun of it. Costume designers and screenwriters are the new influencers.