“Palm Royale: Introducing The Latest Collection and Collaborations with Men’s Fashion Designers”
1943
Like his game-changing 1947 debut collection, Christian Dior’s (Ben Mendelsohn) classic pinstripe suits express multitudes about the world-weary designer and greater society in 1943 German-occupied Paris. Along with his cohorts and rival Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche), Dior endeavors to survive World War II while grappling with grief and guilt after the Nazis capture his younger sister, resistance fighter Catherine (Maisie Williams). “All these personal tragedies were going on in his life,” explains costume designer Karen Muller Serreau, who visited the Dior Heritage archives for immersive research.
Reflecting the austere war years and his limited financial means as a mid-level designer under couturier Lucien Lelong (John Malkovich), Dior still wears his late ’30s suits by Italian and English tailors. “It was actually slightly frowned upon for people to be wearing brand-new things,” says Muller Serreau, adding that Dior’s suspenders, in place of a belt, signal the period’s leather shortage. “I really wanted to get this feeling of vulnerability during wartime.” To depict Dior bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders, Muller Serreau sourced a heavy vintage wool from England and carefully aged and dyed the custom pieces “to make everything look a little bit worn,” she adds.
At Lelong’s atelier, Dior resignedly sketches and drapes a ball gown for a Nazi gala. He toils overnight, sans jacket, with the top buttons of his shirt open and his sleeves rolled up. “I was always called onto set when we undid anything,” says Muller Serreau, who discussed the psychology behind deconstructing Dior’s suits with Mendelsohn.
“It was to [evoke] what he was going through: his sister being away in a camp and his state of mind,” she continues. “Everything’s quite difficult in his personal life, and it’s having an effect on the way he’s dressing.”
1953
“For almost all the characters in Fellow Travelers, their clothing becomes their armor to protect them,” says costume designer Joseph La Corte. But as a Black queer journalist during the McCarthy and Lavender Scare persecutions, Marcus Gaines (Jelani Alladin) shields himself on multiple fronts with his precise professional wardrobe. Gaines layers up with a tweedy notch lapel blazer, knit vest over a crisp shirt, a meticulously knotted silk tie and pressed trousers. Battling for airtime in the competitive D.C. press pool, Gaines, the only Black reporter on the Senate beat, dons his metaphorical helmet: a commanding fedora.
“Marcus is always striving to have his voice heard in the ever-changing political landscape there,” says La Corte, who took inspiration from three trailblazing Black journalists of the time, Simeon Booker, Vernon Jarrett, and Louis Lautier. “We saw how continually well-dressed these gentlemen were because they were trying to blend into the white world, really, of journalism.”
At the office he shares with other Black male reporters, Gaines prepares to cover the 1953 interrogation of poet Langston Hughes about communist influences in his work. In the unfiltered, supposed safe space, his colleagues let loose — shedding suit elements, rolling up sleeves, and lobbing sexist comments and homophobic jokes. Gaines, immersed in the Hughes poem “Kids Who Die,” pushes back. He’s blending in, without his jacket, but remains distinctive from the pack in his vest and tie.
“He’s worried about Langston, and they’re all having fun,” says La Corte, who sourced a mix of late ’40s and early ’50s vintage pieces for Gaines, also to illustrate him re-wearing an arsenal of “elevated” pieces. “They’re all disheveled — shirts, no ties — while he remains pristine and together.”
1969
Closeted bartender Robert Diaz (Ricky Martin) lends a compassionate ear to the cutthroat Palm Beach society set — and knows their darkest secrets, thanks to his side gig as caretaker to coma-ridden but still reigning doyenne Norma Dellacorte (Carol Burnett). But Robert keeps his own secrets close to the vest, or, rather, his buttoned-up Palm Royale bartending uniform.
When grifting striver Maxine Dellacorte (Kristen Wiig) barges into her aunt-in-law’s palatial manor, she finds Diaz revealing his true character. He conducts his housekeeping routine in mid-thigh-length navy swim trunks, with a buoyant anchor print, and leather slip-on sandals. “He’s hiding and disguising himself as just another guy [in uniform, usually],” says costume designer Alix Friedberg, referencing Diaz’s past as a U.S. Marine. “But really he has this secret life where he lives in [Norma’s] pool house in this incredible mansion and can be himself.”
Later, a mixology-challenged Maxine hosts society alphas for awkward cocktails as Robert retires to the pool house for his own afternoon tipple. He throws on a plush, vibrantly patterned robe that features an evocative green color palette. “It had just the right amount of playfulness and sophistication,” says Friedberg.
When socialite-turned-revolutionary Linda Shaw (Laura Dern), in a yellow batik print dress, joins Diaz’s utopia, she harmonizes with his nonconformist, outsider vibe — and his vintage garment. “They have an instant connection. It’s subversively visual, but it’s also emotional,” says Friedberg, adding that the Southwestern print was a signature of the late ’60s counterculture movement that Shaw represents. Diaz’s strong but comforting robe also foreshadows his ensuing arc, as he becomes the beating heart of the show.
“There’s an openness, a softness, and a vulnerability about it, and that says a lot about him,” says Friedberg. “There’s a quiet confidence in that bathing suit/robe combination that he so embodies.”
This story first appeared in a June standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.