It started, as these things so often do, with a caftan. Then came the pineapple prints, the scalloped crochet sets, and the fantasy that you, too, could be sipping a spritz on a yacht off the Amalfi Coast — all from the comfort of your walk-in closet.
Shows like The White Lotus, Palm Royale and Emily in Paris aren’t just serving up drama — they’re fueling a boom in fashion collaborations that invite fans to dress like their favorite jet-setting characters, no plane ticket required. It’s screen-to-sundress style, and it’s everywhere right now.
Straw bucket hat from Alex Bovaird’s The White Lotus H&M collection.
Courtesy of Brand
Earlier this year, Mike White’s buzzy sociological drama helped launch a sellout H&M collection designed with costume designer Alex Bovaird, letting viewers channel their inner Aimee Lou Wood in tropical prints and flowing caftans. The morally dubious characters may have made the show irresistible viewing — but so did the wardrobes.
“There is an element of fantasy about resort wear,” says Palm Royale costume designer Alix Friedberg, whose sun-soaked Apple TV+ series conjures 1969 Palm Beach with a splash of mid-century excess and poolside intrigue. “In costume design, we’re always creating a world, a mood and a visual language. Resort wear is a woman’s fantasy of having that luxury lounge-y lifestyle, sun-kissed lunch on the beach … yacht life.”
The Rimowa Original XL can be yours for $2,575.
Courtesy of Brand
The trend isn’t limited to Hawaii or Palm Beach. When Emily in Paris took its designer-clad characters to Saint-Tropez, Netflix partnered with Turkish resort-wear label My Beachy Side to launch a capsule collection fit for a French Riviera jaunt. The show even turned its fictional couture house — fronted by flamboyant designer Pierre Cadault, played by Jean-Christophe Bouvet — into a marketing tool, working the character into a fictitious collaboration with real-life luggage brand Rimowa. Meanwhile, Outer Banks — Netflix’s teen mystery series set on the North Carolina coast — channeled its rebellious sun-drenched energy into collaborations with ASOS and American Eagle, offering beachy basics that lean more boardwalk than billionaire.
Now, Macy’s is getting in on the act. As part of a broader push to revitalize its in-house brands, the legacy department store tapped Friedberg — not a fashion label, but the Hollywood costume pro — to design a 19-piece line of vacation-ready looks. The Macy’s on 34th x Alix Friedberg collection, which drops Aug. 4, includes vintage-inspired crochet sets, embroidered caftans and mix-and-match separates in bold tropical prints.
A patterned shirt and pants from Alex Bovaird’s The White Lotus H&M collection.
Courtesy of Brand
“We really wanted to put [on 34th] back into the cultural conversation,” says Emily Erusha-Hilleque, Macy’s senior vp private brand strategy, who oversees the retailer’s in-house fashion labels. “Just from a relevancy standpoint, entertainment, television and streaming would be a great, natural place for us to start.”
The department store has, of course, long intertwined itself with pop culture — from its Thanksgiving Day Parade to Miracle on 34th Street to its Project Runway-era sponsorships. One of its most prominent private labels, INC International Concepts, even served as a featured partner on the design competition series in the mid-2000s, with branded challenges and appearances by Heidi Klum. (The label, still going strong, will celebrate its 40th birthday at New York Fashion Week in September.)
Crocheted shirt from Alex Bovaird’s The White Lotus H&M collection.
Courtesy of Brand
“Marrying fashion and entertainment — that’s something that Macy’s is known for,” says Erusha-Hilleque.
What also sets this latest project apart is its acknowledgment — not to mention compensation — of the costume designer responsible for the look. “A lot of times we influence fashion but aren’t involved with the result of it,” says Friedberg, who won an Emmy for her work on HBO’s Big Little Lies. “So to be involved from the very beginning is just so, so wonderful.”
And now, thanks to this wave of screen-inspired collabs, viewers can also slip into character — no travel required.
This story appeared in the July 23 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.