Talking Peacock’s ‘Apples Never Fall’ With Costume Designer Allyson Fanger

The Delaneys are your average, tennis-playing family. At least that’s what they’re supposed to be, but when the family matriarch, Joy (Annette Bening), goes missing all bets are off as the search to find her unveils some family secrets in Peacock’s upcoming original series, Apples Never Fall. Based on a book by Liane Moriarty (Big Little Lies), find out what it was like dressing the athletic clan in this interview with costume designer Allyson Fanger:

Rachel Bellwoar: Having worked on shows like Grace and Frankie and Shrinking, what attracted you to this project and were you familiar with the source material beforehand?

Allyson Fanger: Apples Never Fall is indeed a little different tonally than the projects that I am most known for, and yet I was drawn to the project for several reasons. Firstly my strength is stylized contemporary costuming, and the other limited series that I knew that were based on Liane Moriarty novels, Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers each have distinct contemporary styles as well – so with the intrigue and subject matter, I thought it to be a really fun and challenging project for me to embrace moodiness, drama and realism as well as distinct contemporary style into my work on the project. My greatest challenge on any project is to breathe visual life into each of the characters in the scripts. The more well written the characters, the more fun I get to have finding all of the unique details and backstory involved in telling each character’s visual story. Not only are Liane Moriarty’s characters interesting, complicated, unique and compelling, but I also love to tell the story of a family, and the connective tissue of a family through costumes. Once I read the scripts written by Melanie Marnich adapting these characters for the limited series, I was completely hooked — I could not wait to get started!

Bellwoar: With Australia standing in for Florida, did you have to ship a lot of the costumes in or were you able to source the clothes locally?

Fanger: Australia standing in for Florida was a challenge in and of itself indeed.  Florida, and especially the areas of Florida that we were set in – Palm Beach and West Palm Beach Florida are quintessentially Americana – on all levels. Therefore, we did have to ship quite a lot in, yes, in order to achieve the distinct look of Florida. Australian style is also distinct, and decidedly not Americana — so many Bludstones on the background actors I would always exclaim — we just can’t have it, we are in Florida — we need to change them ALL haha! We were also shooting on the Gold Coast — which is more of a holiday destination than it is a center for shopping. I do believe in supporting local community and so I did as much shopping as I could, locally, but it was indeed an unusual challenge. I had a good amount of luck gathering items for the show locally when I was able to have the time to go into Sydney which was a 2 hour plane trip away – I went 3 times to shop and brought back 10 giant suitcases each time. I also had a team in LA who were shopping and shipping to me almost on a daily basis for the first couple of months of production. It was very steep learning curve! I also, in the process, discovered many incredible Australian Designers and there are so many who are doing unique, innovative and inspiring designs. I love discovering new design brands and talents and have been incorporating these designers now into my looks on Shrinking S2 — so overall — a big WIN of an experience to be in Australia for Apples Never Fall.

Bellwoar: Most of the time Joy wears whites and navy blues, making her choice to wear a bright red blouse to her retirement party stick out. What made you go with such a bold color?

Fanger: We spent a lot of time planning for the retirement party – as it was really the only moment in the show where we saw the characters as the “dressed up” versions of themselves. Also, in discussions with our director, Chris Sweeney and our DP, Bob Humphries, we spoke of the way that the lighting would be for that scene at the retirement party, and how the crowd in general would be a bit hazy and muted. I planned and curated the background actors in a bit of a hazy palette so that we could make Joy really pop with bold colors. It was a seminal moment for her character and we wanted Joy to be the focal point of the scene. It was different than her whites and Navy’s, her more athletic, americana stylings, but still not outside of what this character would wear in this moment, it was her moment to stand out.

Bellwoar: Amy (Alison Brie) has a more Bohemian style than her siblings. Was it nice, having that contrast?

Fanger: Yes, I always love a character who likes to live “outside the lines ” so to speak, so creating Amy was really fun. It is important, in my opinion, when it comes to characters such as Amy to not fall into the most predictable version of it. I like to explore layers of spirituality and self-expression and to use symbolism and meaning throughout the pieces. I try to stay away from what is most expected and to find nuance and to use vintage and sustainable pieces and to also stay true to her history as a member of the Delaney Family and to her athletic past. I wanted her to still look like a member of the family — just off on her own journey! Also we got to add Amy’s childhood pieces into the looks that we created for Savannah, further opportunity to tell the story of Amy. Contrast in character is always nice to have to work with. It’s also so nice to find the connective moments.

As the outsider who enters the Delaney family home and starts asking questions, Savannah (Georgia Flood) rarely talks about herself. Even her clothes are mostly taken from Amy. Did that put more pressure on choosing the outfit she wears the night she first knocks on Stan (Sam Neill) and Joy’s front door?

Fanger: Developing the character of Savannah was a REAL challenge because it was like I had to NOT create her character through clothing. Her look had to be DEVOID of information which is the exact opposite of what I do for my work if you know what I mean. All of her clothes once she was at the Delaney house were indeed, Amy’s old clothes, so that was actually really fun in helping to further the story of Amy. But when it came to telling the story of Savannah we mostly stayed very neutral.

Stan constantly calls out his son, Troy (Jake Lacy), for being flashy but wears a lot of name brands himself. Was that self-delusion on his part helpful in inspiring his wardrobe?

Fanger: Well, Troy is flashy but in that very wealthy understated version of flashy — as in “anti flash.” Very expensive clothes with no logos or only very subtle symbols of logos — his whole thing is, “if you know, you know” when it comes to Troy. That as well as a most meticulous fit and tailoring, is everything that is Troy Delaney. Stan on the other hand, is not about expensive, but he is about brand names, that is, athletic brands. Stan’s whole life is and has always been about tennis. It is his entire identity. It is the very definition of himself. Therefore it made sense for his go-to look to be athletic clothes, tracksuits, branded pieces. As though he were sponsored by some athletic apparel brands even if he was not. When Stan is not in his athletic looks he looks slightly out of place, like your high school athletic coach at the end of season athletic banquet. I think the connection being drawn in the question, is the fact that Stan and Troy both are very thoughtful about what they are wearing, as they are thoughtful about themselves and both have big egos and are both very similar in personality. Perhaps this is why their relationships is so complicated and a bit fraught – they are, indeed, so very similar – with their own personal illustrations of their personality types.

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Allyson!

Apples Never Fall premieres March 14th on Peacock.