All about costumes and fashion

The creative team behind the fantastic costumes from the world of The Bridgerton Chronicles do not view their work as a history lesson. Instead, this series offers them a unique opportunity to play, explore and create elaborate costumes blending historical and contemporary references.

Costume designer John is the brains behind the whole operation. “It’s a show about beauty, glamour, character development and helping to tell the story,” he says in the video above, the latest installment of In the styleIt is Behind the seams video series. “So the way we achieve that is not always in a traditional way but in an abstract way. We bring that abstract vision and we focus it.”

In The Bridgerton Chronicles, now streaming the first part of its third season on Netflix, creator Shonda Rhimes reinvents the period drama genre by infusing it with modern sensibilities, notably with her sumptuous costumes. To achieve all the video fun seen through the camera, Glaser works closely with associate costume designer George Sayer, who focuses on women’s costumes, and assistant costume designer Dougie Hawkes, who focuses on men’s costumes.

When the initial design process of The Bridgerton Chronicles Season 1 started for Glaser, who had worked with Rhimes before, he knew the focus would be on a wide range of colors and fabrics. “All we knew was that it was 1813 and there would be no women’s bonnets,” he says. “It kind of gave us a clear vision of where we were going.” And I always say that our first inspiration boards were very clear: they showed a fashion reference, a historical reference and, hopefully, a painting too, that summed up exactly where we were going.

This pattern of inspiration from historical, art, and fashion references gives the team great flexibility in conceptualizing each character’s wardrobe each season, as they do not have to adhere to strict historical accuracy . “We use the silhouette of the period, but we don’t necessarily use period fabrics. We don’t use period details,” says Glaser.

The team is also focusing on layering multiple fabrics to create more texture and a more dynamic design, as well as 3D printing certain aspects of clothing embellishments.

“Penelope’s dresses are a good example of this. You don’t really know what’s going on with the fabrics, but that’s because there are maybe up to four layers of different patterns or textures. So it looks a bit like a painting,” says Sayer.

“This season we actually tried to make it look like a painting or a garden. We used a lot of ombré, from light to dark,” says Glaser. “Just like flowers change color and seasons change color, we wanted it to look like a soft painting.”

In addition to presenting unique design opportunities, The Bridgerton Chronicles presents aspects of English culture rarely captured on screen. As Hawkes explains: “We’re dealing with London’s high society, which is very rarely filmed. You see Jane Austen, who is very rural. But we very rarely see this Regency period in London. This is a fashion echelon where it’s not particularly well documented. So this gives the opportunity to explore fantasy.

After establishing their setting, the team then set about determining paths for costume designs (and colors) for the Bridgerton and Featherington families.

“Our starting point was the book, where it said Penelope was lemon colored. So for the Featheringtons, we actually used all the citrus colors, oranges, limes, lemons. We put them in gold and made them the Versace family,” says Glaser. “And for the Bridgertons, we opted for Tiffany, Wedgewood blue, the Kennedys, old money and silver. Nothing flashy: they had nothing to prove, nothing to show. They were simply magnificent.”

This third season expanded the costume department even further than before, as Glaser’s team took the show in a more artistically ambitious direction. Fabrics added up to 4,500 yards of fabric for the show’s third season. The first season, which Glaser also worked on, alone required the creation of 7,500 wardrobe pieces.

“It was just the beginning of our clothing stock because we weren’t renting anything. Everything has been done. So add up 7,500 pieces of gloves, shoes, shirts, dresses, petticoats, underwear, boots, hats,” says Glaser.

As the characters evolve in Season 3, so does the fashion, particularly with Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope Featherington and Luke Newton’s Colin Bridgerton who emerge with entirely reimagined appearances.

For Penelope, this season marks a notable change from the typical citrus colors her character has adopted in the past, as she seeks more independence from her controlling family. “She’s tired of her family and the control, and she just wants a change. So we see her go to the milliner and ask for a new look, which brings us to this dress, which she reveals at the first ball of the season,” says Sayer.

To help visualize Penelope’s grand entrance, showrunner Jess Brownell took inspiration from the 1999 film. She is all that. Penelope’s looser hair in season 3 was inspired by icons like Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe and even Jessica Rabbit; this contrasts with the tighter curls she wore in the past.

“This is the first time we see her new hair, which is a beautiful red color. And in this dress, this fabric changes from green to rust to help with their hair. And that’s why this cape is rusty. So it becomes a nice solid image,” says Glaser.

Likewise, the team thought about how the new color palette of Penelope’s outfits would also reflect her character’s story arc. “Another point we wanted to make about the colors we use for Penelope when they are softer is that we didn’t want her to stand out. She is often against the wall and collects gossip. And so that kind of paler palette helps it disappear into its surroundings,” says Sayer.

For Colin, Hawkes focused on Colin’s recent travels that Colin looks back on as inspiration to guide his costumes this season. Viewers will see a more mature side to Colin’s fashion and overall appearance.

“Referring specifically to Colin, we saw this traveler, this maverick, coming from his long journeys on the grand tour and inspiring himself along the way,” says Hawkes. “I wanted to make him bold, dashing and dangerous. These are the three elements I wanted to bring to his costume.

And as Colin and Penelope’s romance evolves this season, the costume design team had to imagine how they would handle Colin and Penelope’s intimate scene in the carriage, a scene eagerly awaited by fans of the series . The Bridgerton Chronicles Novels by Julia Quinn.

“For the dress that Penelope wears in the carriage scene when Colin and Penelope first become intimate, it’s from the Full Moon Ball, and so we didn’t want it to be too obvious. That’s why you have a hint of sparkle,” says Sayer. “As for the fabric, we wanted to use something soft and slippery to make it easier to do when Colin lifts up her skirt. in reality, whereas something more rigid might have seemed a little bulky.

But “Polin” isn’t the only character to undergo big changes this season. One character’s big change could be particularly exciting for viewers: Lady Violet Bridgerton. This season, Violet’s sparkling wardrobe indicates that the family matriarch may soon return to her “flower garden.”

“We wanted to mix it up a little. His garden is full of flowers. She went through her period of mourning. She’s still, you know, she’s still a mother, but we also want her to have a little spring in her step this season,” Sayer says.

Eloise Bridgerton’s wardrobe is also changing. Previously, his outfits featured high collars and long sleeves, giving him a scholarly appearance. Today, her clothing is a bit more feminine, reflecting her growing societal awareness and embrace of her own femininity and independence.

Eloise also has a developing friendship with Cressida Cowper this season, which gave the team an opportunity to play with color to reflect their friendship. Cressida’s soft palette stands in stark contrast to her eerie family home, a space that shows her in a new, more sympathetic light.

“People will talk about the colors of the families and the colors of the characters. With Eloise and Cressida, this is an area where we softened the colors of both and made them a little more on the same level now,” says Glaser. “It’s like a friendship being formed. And so the colors are sort of related. and we see a softer side of her come out, saying how important it is to have a friend. And it’s a little more sensitive than the Cressida we saw before. »

With a wide range of character and plot developments taking place in Season 3, the design team is grateful for the way the series allowed them to express their vision and creativity. “The Bridgerton Chronicles It’s the gift that keeps on giving,” says Hawkes. “It’s every designer’s dream because it’s very imaginative and brings out all the creative aspects of all departments. And we’re actually a group of artisans rather than designers. »