Apple’s Palm Royale is absolute paradise–the kind of viewing experience where the crafts and the visual storytelling enhance the work of the writing and the acting on screen. After luxuriating in the first season of Abe Sylvia’s decadent, hilarious, and campy comedy, everyone returns for a second chapter of scheming, shifting alliances, and social climbing. And they just so happen to look fabulous doing it. Costume designer Alix Friedberg’s work is spectacularly aspirational with every single piece of clothing being worthy of worship.
Season two begins in the social off-season, so does that mean the women of Palm Beach will take it easy when it comes to fashion? How dare you even think of such a thing! Friedberg, a nominee for season one and Emmy winner for Big Little Lies, knew that everyone would still deck their bodies out in gorgeous duds, but the perspective is different.
“In the off-season, you peek inside their lives a little deeper,” Friedberg explains. “It’s less about each episode ending with a gala or a fundraiser and more about seeing the ladies outside the club itself. When you get to the Switzerland aspect, I was delighted to dive into the Après-ski fabulousness that was equal parts a delight and a challenge. There was a different kind of foundation this season, and we had built stock from these really strong relationships with vintage vendors all over the country. People would reach out and say that their grandmother left them things and the women on our show reminded them of someone they knew or someone they were related to. When Abe Sylvia sent us the scripts, he told us that he wants us to flip things on its head.”
Friedberg’s submitted episode, “Maxine Is Ready to Single Mingle,” highlights entirely different looks never-before-seen on Palm Royale when square dancing and (gulp…) Mar-a-Lago feature heavily in a hootenanny fundraiser hosted by Patti LuPone’s Marjorie Merriweather Post. Even before the yodel-heavy musical number kicks off, there is a lot for our eyes to feast on. Maxine’s red dress has just the right amount of fluff to the skirt to make the edges stand on end, and I am absolutely in love with the rope fascinator that holds together Post’s black jacket. Rather than make an entire sea of red, white, and blue, Friedberg talks about differentiating the palette to enhance the detail of the entire scene.
“There are so many winks going on in this episode, and I found this period gingham bandana print fabric in the archives of Western Costume,” she says. “I believe it was sitting there since the 1950s, and it was just enough to make this one dress–our pattern maker had to really space it out. For Maxine, everything always has to be about ten or fifteen percent too much, so we took three more crinolines and stuffed them underneath so the skirt was standing straight out. Then we made this little baby holster and baby hat, and for Dinah and Perry, who are doing this covert run for mayor as Democrats, have donkeys embroidered all over their matching outfits.
We had a really good time giving personality to the background dancers, and we had a lot for that episode. It was something like 55 couples that were matching that we built either in house at Western or from a woman who makes square dance costumes in Oceanside, California who helped us out. We would send her trim and fabric, and she helped us with the volume of actors and performers in this episode. We tried avoiding red, white, and blue for the background so that Maxine and Evelyn really popped. Evelyn’s cape had custom leather fringe, and we got one of the protégées of Nudie’s Rodeo Tailor to work on a specific type of chain stitching and stoning that doesn’t happen anymore for Evelyn’s costume and Patti LuPone’s gown. They are so beautiful up close, and to be able to employ someone who understood the way that it was done back then was very special.”
Someone who isn’t attending the Western extravaganza is Laura Dern’s Linda, who is on the run from the authorities, but that doesn’t mean her brief appearance in this episode can’t make an impact. Friedberg tells me about how little time they had with the Oscar-winner, but she made the most of it. The set piece reminded me so much of a Wes Anderson montage in the best way.
“I think Laura was in two or three movies during filming last year, so we had to be really creative about how we dressed her when we got Linda,” she admits. “I thought it was brilliant that we ended with this incredible montage of where she’s been that sort of makes fun of the wokeness with these winks to the audience. Laura and I have worked on a bunch of stuff together, and it’s really fun for me to put her in something like a vintage leather jacket or a flight suit before the next scene. In one moment, she’s in all white with lace flowing down the back, and then we see her at the ballet dressed as a literal Russian doll washing dance belts. I loved that we could be as ridiculous and fun as possible.”
One of the characters who definitely looks different from season one to season two is Kaia Gerber’s Mitzi. In the hootenanny, her dark blues, reds, and golds are reminiscent of Wonder Woman, but thanks to Norma’s influence, power, and, of course, her change purse, her costumes elevate her to a more refined status. Much to Maxine’s chagrin.
“Her glow-up was so fun this season, and figuring out Mitzi’s stages of pregnancy was a new element to play around with,” Friedberg says. “We gave her this sexy little baby bump, and how she uses that coquettishness is very important. In episode one or two, Norma takes her shopping, and it’s obvious that she immediately surpasses Maxine in elegance and refinery–she’s almost more like Evelyn with this showgirl-like whimsy in the fabrics that sort of help her float. When we see her come down the stairs for the first time, it’s this moment of awakening, and we played with fuchsias and salmons and bright chartreuse–her palette was very strong. In season one, she wears a lot of cottons and washed denim. She might never go back. Norma is definitely pulling the puppet strings, and we needed to make sure that Maxine could feel that too.”
I couldn’t gush enough with Friedberg about her work, especially since almost every performer changes into something exquisite every time they appear on screen. Just try and keep track of how many gorgeous blue silhouettes Allison Janney sports this season–you will lose count. I reveal to the costume designer that I would swipe Perry’s paisley pants, Robert’s shiny, goldenrod pajamas, and the green knit shirt worn by season two newbie, Matt Rogers. Friedberg knows what she would take from the set.
“I want everything that Evelyn wears in Switzerland–every single thing,” Friedberg says, with no hesitation. “There’s an ostrich feather dressing gown that she wears when the FBI comes over for the second or third time. That is the kind of fabric that I only ever dreamed about using.”
Palm Royale is streaming on Apple TV. We have included images of Friedberg’s work across all of season two. Enjoy!
