'Palm Royale' COURTESY OF APPLE TV+
Fashion makes a splash in Apple TV+‘s period comedy series Palm Royale, set in 1969 Palm Beach and debuting on March 20.
Loosely based on Juliet McDaniel’s book Mr. and Mrs. American Pie, the show stars Kristen Wiig as aspiring Palm Beach socialite Maxine, alongside Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Kaia Gerber, Leslie Bibb and Ricky Martin, plus Carol Burnett and Bruce Dern.
Emmy-winning costume designer Alix Friedberg (who worked with Dern on Big Little Lies) speaks with THR about sourcing thousands of vintage looks and partnering with The RealReal on a curation of over 600 apparel and accessories pieces that mirror the Palm Royale aesthetic.
In the mix are vintage finds from labels seen in the show (such as Courrèges, Givenchy, Chloé, Chanel, Christian Dior, Malcolm Starr and Emilio Pucci) as well as contemporary brands including La DoubleJ and Zimmermann. The RealReal x Palm Royale Edit (for women and men) is available now.
Tell us how you onboarded. I know that you worked with Laura on Big Little Lies.
Yes, Laura is the person who called me about it. She asked if I would be interested in reading the script and started to tell me about it, saying, ‘1969 Palm Beach, Florida. Slim Aarons inspired.’ I told her that I was not even interested in reading the script because I was already 100 percent on board based on the description. So I met with Tate Taylor, who directed the first episode, and Abe Sylvia, the showrunner. I was really lucky to get this job because it’s a gift.
Can you speak to your inspiration boards and how you dove into research?
They have an incredible archive at Western Costume, a research library that has a huge archive of European Vogue, Mademoiselle, McCall’s, Harper’s, all of the magazines from that era. So we started there. We obviously collected a lot of Slim Aaron’s photography, and then we were inspired by a lot of the families who actually lived in Palm Beach at that time and were the society matriarchs. So, we did a lot of research, got a lot of video and visuals documenting society in 1969 and that period. It was a treasure trove.
View the hats made in the Palm Royal Workroom at Western Costume below
