How the Costume Designer for ‘Palm Royale’ Sourced Kaia Gerber’s Summery ‘60s Silhouettes
Fashion
Costume designer Alix Friedberg had her pick of the vintage litter when it came to costuming Kaia Gerber for the newest season of “Palm Royale,” and this summer we are taking a page out of her mood board.
In the flashy universe of “Palm Royale,” fashion is social currency for the Floridian upper crust who wear their wealth on their sleeve, poolside. Forget Birkin bags and Tabis, costume designer Alix Friedberg recreates a quintessentially 1960s era of wealth with brands along the likes of Oscar de la Renta and Halston. Of course, this is nothing new for Friedberg, whose work on season one of the show was nominated for an Outstanding Period Costumes Emmy Award in 2024. From the outset, Friedberg has consistently used period-accurate clothing to delineate class hierarchy within high society.
Kristen Wiig in season one of "Palm Royale."
Apple TV
Kaia Gerber in Palm Royale.
Apple TV
Laura Dern and Kristen Wiig in "Palm Royale."
Apple TV
Kaia Gerber in Palm Royale.
Apple TV
In season one, manicurist and aspiring model Mitzi (Kaia Gerber) is introduced as one of the series’ few distinctly working-class characters. If Maxine (Kirsten Bell) is the outsider, Mitzi is the outsider’s manicurist, sporting outfits that function as a polyester foil to the performative designer florals adorning Palm Beach’s elite. In season two this changes when Mitzi inherits the Dellacorte family name and emerges as a new player in the Palm Beach status quo. Fittingly, she swaps her bellbottoms, headscarf, and signature orange manicurist smock for precious blue chemises and bedazzled raspberry-hued gowns.
Shop Our Inspired Mitzi Edit (Poolside Martini Excluded but Encouraged)
Mitzi's style transformation is facilitated by the conniving Norma Dellacorte (Carol Burnett), who encourages her to embrace her role as the “queen of the Dellacorte mansion” and even takes her shopping. “All Norma wants is for Maxine to feel shame and be belittled, sort of pushing her out as quickly as possible, and the easiest way to do that is to have this young, gorgeous, up and comer outdo her in the world of fashion,” Friedberg says. To relay this, she “doubled down on the glamour” of Mitzi’s wardrobe, adopting a quintessentially Palm Beach color palette of bright pinks and oranges.
Kaia Gerber in "Palm Royale."
Apple TV
Flamboyant lingerie becomes Mitzi’s calling card of sorts, reminiscent of Sabrina Carpenter’s tour costumes and designed to evoke a "Valley of the Dolls sex appeal.” One of Mitzi’s most memorable negligee moments takes place in episode four ‘Maxine Unwrecks a Home,” where she takes a reclined Venus position in a bright blue teddy and matching bow. The bright blue nylon plays against Mitzi’s orange bedframe and matching lamps, blurring the line between costume and set design. To create these complementary color schemes, Friedberg collaborated with set designer and the set decorator, John Carlos and Ellen Reed, to create a visual aesthetic. “Colors and patterns are so paramount, not only for the show, but for the ‘60s and ‘70s,” Friedberg says. “[The set design team and I] decide who's gonna be at the forefront [for each scene], print-wise and color-wise, because so much heavy-handed print-on-print-on-print could get really exhausting for the eyes and you lose out on the actual character.”
When it came to sourcing the show’s enviable selection of campy couture, Friedberg looked for vintage pieces in excellent condition that could withstand a long day of shooting. Whereas season one sourced the majority of its vintage from Etsy, Friedberg pivoted to brick-and-mortar collections for season two. “Because fashionphiles were tuning into season one, we had a lot of vintage vendors reach out across the US and say, ‘Hey, I have this incredible archive that we think would be great for your show,’” Friedman says. Two of Friedberg’s most prominently featured vendors include Vintage Vault by Joseph, based in Boston, and Kiki Stash vintage collection in Los Angeles.
A sketch of Maxine's outfit in the season two pilot.
Alix Friedberg
Maxine's outfit for the season two pilot.
Alix Friedberg
Maxine's outfit for the season two pilot.
Alix Friedberg
A sketch of Maxine's outfit in the season two pilot.
Alix Friedberg
Maxine's outfit for the season two pilot.
Alix Friedberg
Maxine's outfit for the season two pilot.
Alix Friedberg
To achieve verisimilitude for a show taking place on the cusp of the ‘70s, Friedberg mimicked prints and silhouettes from old Sears catalogues and studied designers along the likes of Oleg Kassini, Malcolm Starr, Bill Blass, and Emilio Pucci. “Our show is sort of a maximalist environment, but you want [the costumes] to not distract and just enhance,” Friedberg shares. When faced with racks and racks of vintage, Friedberg can immediately delineate between a Maxine vs Mitzi dress after working with the characters for two seasons. “It's one part palette, one part silhouette and one part emotion,” Friedberg says. For the leggy Kaia Gerber, the designer opted for short silhouettes that showed off her length.
