You can tell when a creative person enjoys their work; Just look at Apple TV+’s new miniseries Palm Royale, a frothy and delightful twee comedy.
Costume designer Alix Friedberg, who had worked on Big Little Lies, jumped at the opportunity to work on the series after Laura Dern tipped her off to the period comedy she was producing in 1969 about the Slim Aarons-like world of Palm Beach. You don’t even need to read the script,” Friedberg tells Harper’s Bazaar. “’Oh my God – yes, yes, yes!’ It was like. ”
Friedberg found himself in the sunny 1960s south Florida created by directors Abe Sylvia, Stephanie Laing and Tate Taylor; A world full of colour, intoxication and joy. Is Ricky Martin playing the pool boy? Yes please! Carol Burnett as the socialite socialite who wakes up from a years-long coma? Be sure! What about Kristen Wiig as the main character, Maxine, who lives in a motel on the wrong side of the Lake Worth Lagoon and tries to make plans to get into the swankiest club in town? Sign us up!
Fashion is no less pleasant. As Friedberg notes, Palm Royale is set in the era of Lily Pulitzer, cashmere twin suits, and women who are “not distracted by anything but their martinis and their golf games.”
Based on Juliet McDaniel’s 2018 novel Mr. and Mrs. American Pie, much of the show is decked out in actual designer vintage costumes from the period. And perhaps the punchline of the comedy is that literal top model Kaia Gerber’s character, manicurist Mitzi, spends most of the 10 episodes in a dowdy nail tech apron — yet somehow it works. That’s what Palm Royale is all about, we’ve learned: taking what you’ve got and making it work.
Below, we ask Friedberg questions about the series, the first three episodes of which are streaming now.
What made this particular moment in the late sixties interesting to study?
It was exciting because there is so much documentation of that period in fashion and the 1960s in general – but Palm Beach was kind of this bubble. Women’s uprisings, counterculture, and anti-war movements were taking place in Los Angeles and New York, while Palm Beach was a pristine bubble of people bothered by nothing but their martinis and golf games. They are a fun and plastic society.
What was the research process like?
My choice is always Western Costume Co. Research Library and Archive; All magazines since the 1940s are found here. We took our research from the magazine pages of the 1960s. We went to the society pages to see these real galas that actually took place.
We often look at tabloids from the 2000s and 2010s and wonder, “Who wore this best?” article. Do you think costume designers will look to these as references 50 years from now?
I think so too. Best wearers catapult you into the moment of fashion. With social media documenting everything going on in fashion, I think it’s becoming more and more encyclopedic.
Were there any high society women in the 1960s who inspired your costumes?
Betsy Bloomingdale was a big one. There was also society woman Deeda Blair; He himself had recently published a lifestyle book, explaining how to set the table and throw a proper dinner party – his whole life was about entertaining. We also looked at Marjorie Merriweather Post, who built the Mar-a-Lago mansion. We based Carol Burnett’s character, Norma, on many of these types of figures.
Did you source a lot of vintage items for Palm Royale?
We were quite lucky to have a lot of designer vintage items from the 1960s in pretty good condition. I can say that 50 percent of our main staff consists of original designed vintage pieces and the remaining 50 percent we create ourselves. Background characters are probably 90 percent vintage.
Where did you find all this vintage stuff?
Etsy is such a great resource — I don’t know what the hell we did without it before! It brings together all vintage stores in the USA on one platform. We got a lot from LA and Palm Springs.
Are there any vintage highlights you were particularly happy to find?
We had so many dresses, so many. We had a gala or party in almost every episode, and each one had to feel different. Every woman has her own unique theme. Kristin Wiig’s character, Maxine, is living out of a suitcase in a motel in West Palm Beach and trying to get an invite to the exclusive Palm Royale club, so she visits her great-aunt Norma and steals dresses from her—but all those dresses are a little outdated because Norma is a few He has been in a coma for years. There’s one scene in particular where Maxine goes into the pool wearing this vintage Malcolm Starr canary yellow chiffon dress. We needed three of these and eventually found the exact dress online on Etsy. This Malcolm Starr canary yellow dress from the 1960s and we had multiple originals.
Etsy has arrived!
Etsy has been a huge success. There are some very eye-catching costumes. There’s one that Maxine wears in episode 10, which we based on the Balenciaga pattern from 1967 – we’d seen a clip of this catwalk show on YouTube, where the model comes down the stairs and takes off her cape – but it’s not actually a cape, it’s got a little bow around the neck and revealing an almost identical dress underneath. It was perfect for Maxine’s character; she captured the stupidity and exaggeration.
This series has an incredible cast. But I have to ask: What was it like working with Kaia Gerber, a true fashion model?
His character is kind of on the edge; A manicurist in West Palm Beach who is sort of a therapist. She almost always wears a nail tech apron. Pretty funny! [The character] She doesn’t realize how beautiful she is and it’s obvious to everyone. He was great. Frankly, it’s a breeze to dress a model that can work with anything you put it on.
You put an apron on Kaia Gerber?
Of all the women in the show, her costumes are the least fashionable. This is bullshit.
What’s it like to wear Kristen Wiig’s costume?
Kristen was phenomenal. He goes in hook, line and sinker; It doesn’t do anything halfway, and that’s why it’s so good. All of the choices we made for Maxine were incredibly collaborative. She starts off very doll-like, with lots of miniskirts, spray tans, and very blonde hair. Sometimes you worry that clothes with too many patterns and colors will take over a scene. But every costume we made — and we made hundreds for her — was purposeful every time and made perfect sense for the scene and the character. Kristen loves clothes, she loves colors, she loves strange and asymmetrical cuts, but she also knows her character. She uses costumes and makeup as a literal conduit to get into her characters.
What was the hardest costume to get right?
There’s a scene where Maxine is filmed underwater in a dress, so we made her a high-waist dress in shocking pink with lots of flowers. We used about 20 meters of chiffon for each skirt, it was a lot of fabric, it had many layers and we knew it wouldn’t be very comfortable to shoot underwater with 20 meters of chiffon – but we knew how important it was to see that skirt move underwater. Kristen was able to tell that her own comfort came second to how beautiful the skirt looked underwater, and I love her for that.
Was there anything your actors tried to steal from the costume department?
We had Gucci shoes that we made for Allison Janney’s character that she always wanted to “borrow”.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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