Alix Friedberg On Inviting Us to the Maximalism of The Beach Ball for ‘Palm Royale’

Alix Friedberg’s tapestry of costumes in Apple’s Palm Royale is one of the the biggest accomplishments across any category at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards. With its sprawling cast, period setting, and luxurious locales, every single costumes change is a showstopper, and neither character development nor comedy are sacrificed each time a character changes clothes. These are characters who seem to have the deepest closets in all of Palm Beach, and Friedberg delivers on the promises of glamour, absurdity, and sitting poolside. You will want every single piece of costume design Palm Royale has to offer.

Normally, I am able to pick out a few key, intricate outfits from a season’s collection of designs, but every character–from Kristin Wiig’s ambitious Maxine to Allison Janney’s superior Evelyn–shows up to every party ready to impress. Nothing is out of place, and every character makes a statement when they walk into a room. It’s a technicolor fantasia of comedy but the emotional stakes remain intact to help us care about the characters. That care also translates into the costume design. Was Friedberg given the keys to the kingdom?

“I was, honestly, and it took me a while to believe it,” she admits simply. “I thought to myself, ‘I could use all those fabrics? And sometimes on the same garment?’ Abe [Sylvia] was always saying yes, and the production designer and I would look at pieces in the rental houses that no one would touch with a ten foot pole and we knew we could bedazzle them and find a place for them. He gave me freedom immediately, and that shaped what we were able to pull off. We were given such trust, and sometimes you are micromanaged. Since it was about these women who were so out-of-touch with the reality of 1969 and coupled with Jon Carlos’ unbelievable sets, we were able to dial it up. That was all before we knew about casting. When I heard about Carol Burnett, I died. I’m still dying.

It is a world that is unattainable, aspirational, completely out-of-touch…none of these people have worked a day in their life…and you need to feel that when you’re watching it. You’re watching it through Maxine’s eyes and through her belief in love. These women are wearing these elegant clothes that go from a day at the pool to lunch while she is wearing a Mary Tyler Moore dress with oversized bows and a matching purse. It’s kind of unsophisticated but also very doll-like.”

When Wiig’s Maxine hurls herself over the wall of the Palm Royale’s property line, she has the confidence to step up to anyone and start a conversation. Where she lacks, however, is the personal style to entirely fit in. In the pilot, she inserts herself into a conversation with Janney’s Evelyn, Leslie Bibb’s Dinah, Claudia Ferri’s Raquel, and Julia Duffy’s Mary, but she is wearing a simple and colorful dress with a Rhoda Morgenstern kerchief on her head. Dressing a character like Maxine posed a unique challenge for Friedberg in how Wiig infused her with a fluid eagerness that allowed her to shapeshift all season long.

“Every time you see her, she’s a little different, and she’s trying really hard,” Friedberg says. “At the beginning, she is stealing Norma’s clothes when she’s still in her coma and then you see her trying on clothes and trying to look like Evelyn. Her own style, you will notice that there is something that’s always a little off.  There is the scene in the Space Ball where she has this cute, little, orange shift but the hat is not correct. It’s kind of silly and askew–something is always amiss. Even as an insider to this story, you don’t really know where this character is going until episode ten. She really is that earnest and she is tripping over her own self and she believes in the things that she says she does. I love the journey that we take with her. In the scene where she is wearing the flag of Luxembourg, that’s comedy but there’s a sweetness behind it. I love that we were able to lean into an anything goes mentality. Each scene requires a different version of Maxine. It’s campy and maximalist, but there’s heart behind it.”

Palm Royale‘s first season concludes with the party that we’ve been anticipating all season: The Beach Ball. The entire episode (which is also Friedberg’s submission) takes place at this soiree, and it feels as if we have dunked ourselves into the most divine fishbowl of the season. Janney looks marvelous in a sapphire dress with dramatic beading across her back. Norma is wearing white with intricate beadwork and her trademark crown on her head while Maxine also dons white. Her gown was important to Friedberg, and the ivory skirt shimmers with a stiff, thin bow just underneath her neck. If that wasn’t enough, there are showgirls everywhere you look, complete with ornate starfish headpieces and flowing mermaid skirts. It’s an extravaganza.

“Jon Carlos and I spent a lot of time considering that these balls and galas need to look different to help keep the audience engaged and excited,” she says. “We didn’t get the script for the Beach Ball until about six weeks before we were going to shoot it, but we knew that it was a nautical theme. Abe had established in episode four that he wanted showgirls in Havana Nights and all of a sudden we saw how incredible they were. We went from six showgirls to twelve. We saw that the theatrics and choreography of it all helped filled the space, but we went one step further and created these exaggerated headpieces.

We thought they could be both beautiful costumes and set dressing. Once we started, we couldn’t stop. It was insane, so the guests felt like the guest needed to be in their finest. The colors could help with that explosion but, at the same time, the black-and-white could be used to offset all of that other wackiness. We built those showgirls in two weeks–it was record time. The headpieces had to be light enough so that they could move. I knew I wanted Maxine in white to feel like her coronation, and I wanted Norma in a similar color to give it a “Bitch stole my look” moment. We had dueling queens.”

With such an aspirational tone throughout the season, it was difficult for me to admit which of Friedberg’s designs I would take for myself. I am partial to the Palm Royale uniform with its split-toned lapel, and all of the button-up shirts on Ricky Martin’s closet are welcome to join my closet (as the character fights through his own). Selecting something for herself is easy for Friedberg, however.

“I’m pretty obsessed with Norma’s turbans,” she admits. “I just turned fifty, so maybe this is my turban phase? I’m really excited about it, to be honest.”

Palm Royale is streaming now on Apple TV+.