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    HomeFashionFor Some Summery Palm Beach Style, Macy’s Taps a Costume Designer

    For Some Summery Palm Beach Style, Macy’s Taps a Costume Designer

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    With its two-year-old On 34th private brand, Macy’s is channeling Florida’s swanky Palm Beach and tapping into the talents of famed costume designer Alix Friedberg.

    Together, they created a capsule collection of contemporary apparel and accessories, called “On 34th | Alix Friedberg,” which launched Monday in 125 Macy’s stores and on macys.com, marking the first collaboration for On 34th. Friedberg was the costume designer for the Apple Original comedy-drama series “Palm Royale,” which is set in the late 1960s and centers on a woman striving to integrate into Palm Beach high society. She was also the costume designer for the HBO series’ “Big Little Lies” and “True Detective.”

    The On 34th | Alix Friedberg collection evokes a mid-20th century glamour and carefree attitude, with its chic, flowy dresses, tops, skirts and matched sets — 19 apparel styles in all — with vivid colors, expressive prints, patterns and embellishments. Pieces are designed to mix-and-match, layer and pair, and to be worn from day into evening. Accessories are also offered.

    The collection is available in a range of sizes from XXS to XXL, and expected to be selling for six to eight weeks. Apparel prices run from $49.50 to $159.50 and accessories are priced from $24.50 to $99.50, which are both in line with higher-priced items in the regular On 34th collection.

    “This collaboration with Alix puts On 34th into the cultural conversation,” Emily Erusha-Hilleque, Macy’s senior vice president of private brand, design and trend, told WWD. “Alix has done so many amazing, culturally relevant shows….When you think of what we saw on Palm Royale, those throwback, classic-with-a-twist styles and optimistic colors and prints, they evoked confidence and joy, which are key tenets of our On 34th brand.”

    Emily Erusha-Hilleque

    For Macy’s, On 34th | Alix Friedberg is a look into the future. “It’s just a jumping off point for a series of collaborations that will come with our private brands,” said Erusha-Hilleque.

    “The collaboration space is a bit overdone,” she acknowledged. “But we’re trying with each collaboration that we do, to make it unique. They each will have their own story, their own reason for being. This kind of very intentional pairing with the private brands is what you can expect to see.”

    Over the past three years, Macy’s has been overhauling its private brand portfolio. “We’ve done a nice job stabilizing the brand matrix on the private brand side and so with brands, like On 34th, we are finally ready to step into the collaboration space,” said the Macy’s executive.

    She said On 34th “sits very squarely in the modern classic space, with a slight contemporary twist and optimistic colors. The brand will now be a top 10 ready-to-wear brand for all Macy’s,” including private and market brands.

    It also ranks as third among Macy’s private brands, with I.N.C. and Style & Co, being the top two in volume, according to Erusha-Hilleque. At any given time, On 34th has about 250 styles. I.N.C., Macy’s biggest private brand, turns 40 this year and will be celebrated in September.

    From the On 34th/Alix Friedberg capsule collection.

    From the On 34th | Alix Friedberg capsule collection.

    For Friedberg, working with Macy’s was “a fascinating experience, from top to tail, from the conception and the mood board, to getting the swatches, the prints and the trims together, and to see how Macy’s translated my fantasy board into actual garments for a collection that fits a range of body types.” It was an experience much different from designing for a singular character or individual body type in a series or a movie, Friedberg noted.

    “There have been a lot of fashion lines inspired by costume designers work on television and film, and very often, those retailers just go directly to the studio for their IP (intellectual property) and they don’t have to involve the costume designer in the concept or the design of the actual collection,” Friedberg said. “I give so much praise to Macy’s for involving me in the design process and the inspiration behind this collection, because I think it’s very evocative of the aesthetic of ‘Palm Royale.’ Macy’s saw what I designed on the show, and wanted me to help them translate that to their consumer. This was a really exciting and fun change after 30 years of working in film.

    “The Palm Beach aesthetic and the Palm Royale aesthetic are inspired by the photography of Slim Aarons in the ’60s and ’70s — vibrant watercolors, pastels, lounging by the poolside, martinis, bare feet, sun-kissed tan skin,” Friedberg said.

    Alix Friedberg

    Alix Friedberg

    On the set of Palm Royale, Friedberg got to meet one of her heros, the legendary comedienne Carol Burnett, one of the stars of the series. “I actually had the opportunity to tell her in person, which was incredible, that she was one of the reasons why I wanted to be a costume designer. I used to watch her television show with my grandmother who taught me how to sew, and Bob Mackie [who for years designed costumes for Burnett] he’s also one of my heroes and was one of the reasons I decided to go to school and become a costume designer. She got to hear me tell her that story, and she was really emotional about it. Working with Carol was truly one of the greatest experiences of my lifetime. I’m getting teared up just talking about it.”

    “Kristen Wiig is another one of my comic heroes. She and I had a wonderful relationship and collaboration bringing her Barbie-like Maxine character to life,” on Palm Royale. “There was so much trust between and just so much fun dressing her and creating her whole posture and her shape and silhouette.”

    Laura Dern also starred in the series. “She has been a longtime collaborator of mine,” Friedberg said. “We met on the HBO series ‘Enlightened’ and we also worked together on ‘Big Little Lies’ and she’s the one who brought me into ‘Palm Royale.’ She’s one of the executive producers, so was really a thrill to to get to dress her in the series, but also to work with her as a producer.”

    Friedberg’s career took a turn recently when she designed costumes for the sci-fi film “Tron: Ares,” the third in the Tron movie series, coming out in October, and starring Jeff Bridges, Jared Leto and Gillian Anderson. “It’s quite a departure from what I’ve been designing in the past, which involves a lot of female, heavy drama, maximalist fashion,” Friedberg said. “Tron is more of a very subdued, stark palette for a futuristic world.” And quite a departure from the playful, easy, breezy summery aesthetic of On 34th | Alix Friedberg.

    From the On 34th | Alix Friedberg collection.



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