How ‘Palm Royale’ Uses Costume Design to Enhance Storytelling and Character Development

‘Palm Royale’ Season 2 Highlights Fashion as a Narrative and Empowerment Tool

Apple TV’s “Palm Royale” returns with Season 2, blending high-style 1960s- and 1970s-inspired fashion with comedic storytelling. Emmy-winning costume designer Alix Friedberg coordinated vintage and custom-made pieces to reflect character growth, social status, and feminist themes.

Crafting Characters Through Clothing

Vintage Designs and Modern Storytelling

The series follows Kristen Wiig’s character, Maxine, navigating Palm Beach high society in 1969. From the opening scene, Wiig wears a yellow fringed hat, gold platform sandals, and bell-bottom pants adorned with fabric petals, signaling the centrality of costume to storytelling.

Season 2 features a mix of original vintage designer garments and newly constructed outfits. Friedberg says roughly half of the season’s brightly colored, graphic prints were sourced from designer archives, supporting the characters’ jet-setting personas.

Kaia Gerber, portraying Mitzi, called the iconic costumes emotionally impactful. “Sometimes Kristen will walk in wearing something, and it brings tears to my eyes,” Gerber told the Associated Press.

The Creative Process Behind the Costumes

Sourcing and Building Iconic Looks

Friedberg’s team works beyond shopping, constructing duplicates when necessary to maintain continuity during multiple scene appearances or dance numbers. The team sourced vintage pieces in exceptional condition, including Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Oleg Cassini, and Halston.

Allison Janney praised Friedberg’s work as “brilliant,” noting that the hair, makeup, and costumes combine to create fully realized characters. Iconic après-ski looks, particularly for Swiss Alps scenes, were among her favorites, though she admitted choosing a single favorite was difficult.

Humor Through Wardrobe

Costumes as Comedic Devices

Costume choices also accentuate comedic moments. Friedberg highlighted Evelyn’s deadpan delivery paired with extravagant outfits, including sequences requiring multiple wigs, generating humor through visual absurdity.

Carol Burnett described costume fittings as integral to shaping her character, Norma, the scheming socialite. The signature turban emerged as a practical solution that evolved into a defining element of her look, guiding the design of dresses and accessories around it.

Fashion as Feminist Expression

Empowerment Through Style

Season 2 emphasizes female empowerment through wardrobe choices. Pantsuits and tailored ensembles reflect autonomy and social progress. Leslie Bibb’s character, Dinah, transitions from trophy wife to independent figure, inspired by icons like Sharon Stone in “Casino.” The shift into pantsuits signals her evolving identity and agency.

Costume design also illustrates male characters’ reliance on women for style. Josh Lucas’s character, Douglas, appears increasingly disheveled this season, wearing only worn Hawaiian shirts as a visual representation of diminished personal control.

Symbolism and Character Arcs

Visual Storytelling Through Clothing

Gerber’s character, Mitzi, undergoes a transformation in Season 2, with costumes reflecting newfound wealth and self-assertion. Friedberg described Maxine’s Oscar de la Renta dress as a statement piece: a visual cue of her arrival and social ascension without dialogue.

Each wardrobe choice reinforces character motivations and narrative themes, merging humor, style, and empowerment. Costume design in “Palm Royale” demonstrates how fashion can serve both aesthetic and narrative functions, providing audiences with a richer, multi-layered viewing experience.