April 1, 2021 • 37 mins
The costume design, hair and makeup teams of Bridgerton offered viewers a kaleidoscope of characters and backstories by dressing every single member of the show’s brilliant ensemble. We hear how some of our favorite characters collaborated with costume designers Ellen Mirojnick and John Glaser.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bridgeton the Official Podcast is a partnership between Shondaland Audio
and iHeartRadio. I am Nicola Coughlin. I play Penelope Featherington.
I also have tried on some costumes and I'm getting
two new wigs their epic. I tried on one the
other day and I was like, don't take it off
because when you take it, when you take the wig off,
you look like a sad snake because your hair is
(00:21):
all glued down, and you know, I'm just so bloody pale.
I look like the moon. So yeah, I just like,
it's just like a big Voldemort head. I look just awful.
Welcome to Bridgeton the Official Podcast, where we're going to
(00:42):
take you behind the scenes of Bridgerton. I'm Gabrielle Collins.
I'm Hannah Gregg and in this episode, we're continuing to
put a spotlight on the inspiration for the Bridgerton series.
One of the really exciting things about the Bridgeton series
is that the destiny of the characters isn't quite written yet. Literally,
(01:06):
Season two is underway as we're talking right now, and
the story arcs of these characters and of the book
series have taken a whole New Life with Shonda Land.
So we're going to get a little closer to some
of the show's characters, and we're going to do that
through the lens of costume design, which is why I
am so pleased to have Hannah here. She's the perfect
(01:28):
guide because she literally wrote the book. So to say
on fashionable society, would you say, Hannah, like a lot
of a lot of your research I centered around this. Yeah.
The book is called The Beamon's Fashionable Society in Georgian London,
So I suppose you could say that, yeah. Literally. So
(01:48):
I think that I'm coming at this as someone who
has been wearing yoga pants for the last year and
a half, and it's just a little harder from me
to appreciate the importance of fashion. What is fashion? What
is fashion? What is a fashion? Can you help us
(02:09):
wrap our minds around what fashionable society is as we
look at character development. You know, fashion is a word
that we use a lot today, but I think if
we sat down and try to actually say exactly what
it is, we'd start to get in a little bit
of an about is it just what you wear or
is it the kind of label that you wear? Is
(02:30):
it how you wear, it is it who you are.
You know that it defines fashion today and regency commentators
had the same problem with what fashion meant to fashionable
society in London because it was about this kind of
very vivid display. You had to be well dressed and
dress was really a central element of it, but it
also involves something else. You couldn't just be well dressed.
(02:52):
You couldn't just dress your way into this society. The
rules of membership were always slightly shadowy, and I'll define
which was brilliant in terms of a strategy of maintaining
an exclusive set of the ton. So the ton is
a word that is used to capture a world of
high society London, which at the time was known as
(03:13):
fashionable society. We also use the words the Beaumond, the
world of quality, ladies of fashion. I think for an audience,
the ton it's not a term we've encountered before, but
now everyone knows who they are and they are the
super fashionable leaders of society. They are the celebrities of
the day. They live their life in the fast lane.
(03:34):
They are bridgeton basically the world that we see and Hannah,
I was wondering if that's like if the US Senate
were also trend setters in fashion, So if the US
lawmakers were also telling us we're a shop. Yes, there's
fashionable society that is both politically powerful, incredibly wealthy, and
(03:56):
also the glamorous celebrities of the day. We don't have
anything really quite the same anymore. But that is basically
what you need to imagine is the Senate and hollywoods
get mashed together. So you know, a huge amount is
invested into people's clothing during the course of the London
season because it's going to be scrutinized. You're on this
(04:16):
stage all the time, whether it's in the ballroom or
you're going to court or even if you're walking in
Hyde Park. You know, the things that you're wearing and
who you are of critical importance. So we might think
of this world of the Bonton. It's a bit like
a red carpet, and there's also constantly an audience and
constantly a press reporting on your clothing, and so yeah,
Bridgeton for me really kind of capture some of that
(04:37):
spirit and we don't often see that level of excess
and extravagance and investment in fashion and investment in clothing
on screen regency times, but we do in Bridgeton, and
I think that's one of its most powerful aspects. It's
right that the costume should be sent to stage two.
Hannah's right. The costumes here and makeup are central in
(04:59):
this episode, talking about the characters and their journeys through
the lens of the entire look. And to kick off
that conversation, we're turning to two film and stage vets
responsible for channeling the Bridgeton script into dresses and three
piece suits. I'm Ellen Murajnek, the costume designer of Bridgetin.
I'm John Glazer. I'm the co costume designer for bridget
(05:23):
Under Ellen Murk. No, John, you have to say alongside
of alongside, okay terrible. John is behind the costume design
on television shows like Brotherhood and Gotham. He's also known
for his work on Broadway, and Ellen is known for
classics like Fatal Attraction in nineteen eighty six and more
(05:43):
recently The Greatest Showman from twenty seventeen. Ellen and John
have worked on several Shondaland projects. John and I worked
on How to Get Away with Murder together for Shondaland,
and that was quite fun. We've had a really great
working relationship. We're kind of left brain, right brain and
vice versa. And I don't think that there was anybody
(06:04):
that I could have managed to take the challenge of
creating Bridgeton with other than John. He was a great
influence and a great, great, great talent to be able
to create this world. And here we are. After the break,
we'll spend more time with Ellen and John as we
(06:26):
unwrap the characters of Bridgeton. Hi, everyone, welcome back to
Bridgeton the official podcast. I'm Hannah Craig. I'm the Bridgeton historian.
(06:47):
Hannah can take us through the ways the ton set
the trend, and we're like keeping up with the Joneses,
so to say, keeping up with Queen Charless I think
in Bridgeton. Yes, Which that's really interesting that you brought
that up, because I've been reading and doing my little research,
and I've been seeing that Queen Charlotte was like wearing
(07:09):
fashions that may not have been timely, like she was
still wearing late eighteenth century fashion. But my understanding is
that Ellen and John were not trying to be historically accurate. Yeah,
I think that's fair to say. I think you know,
Bridgeston is a fantasy look at fashions free time. It
(07:29):
blends ideas of legency fashion with modern interpretation that kind
of captures the silhouette and the look of the world
that's created in the show. Let's hear how Ellen and
John squinted their eyes and tilted their heads on history
and then being covered in a big vat of guta
it was a top and threw some glitter on it
(07:51):
to bring us the costume design of Bridgerton. You know,
when we go to work for Shondaland, there is a
particular esthetic and what Shondaland always has its top sentence
is aspirational, something that's modern but historical at the same time,
(08:16):
so that a modern girl today can watch the series
follow a character and dream that it could be her. So,
knowing who we were dealing with and knowing what was expected,
we were not precious and saying well, that's not eighteen thirteen,
where that's not eighteen twelve. We created a silhouette that
was absolutely perfect to the period. But what we did
(08:40):
to make it into the Bridgetin world was look at
Gucci and Prada and Chanel and VERSACEI and young designers.
Every image that you could ever imagine was looked at
and curated so that we could extract elements that we
can layer onto what our basic silhouette needed to be
(09:05):
to make it new and appealing. Yeah, both for men
and women. For example, not every man could wear white
trousers except for Anthony, except for Anthony in the whole
entire series of our principal men. And like, the men's
pants aren't really period. They appear to be period, but
(09:26):
they're not constructed the same way. That's all. They look
good and they we like to make men look really
fashionable and handsome as can be. I would say. One
of the first and the original inspirations for this entire world,
in this entire series, her name is Genevieve Big. She's
a young Irish woman and she had the exact point
(09:50):
of reference that we were looking for. She does these
paintings that are all period inspired. I mean they are
just gorgeous. He's a bit I would say, figurative and
a bit abstract, and it's sublime. It's the show. It
really is the root, the visual root of what our
(10:11):
work became. I think that you first have to say
that we really did build a costume house. And the
costume house was enormous. Oh yes, and so in costume
houses when you have men's and women and children, etc.
You have eveningwear. Daywere fabrics to pick from to make
(10:34):
more costumes. That's what was necessary to be built to
accomplish the Bridgeton series. And you need to visualize, but
Ellen says, fabric attractor trailer going from London, tons and
tons and tons of fabric and when you first start
(10:55):
you think, oh my god, this is so much fabric,
this is too much. Just two months later it wasn't enough.
We were out. Now Please do understand, there's only so
much fabric in the wall. The young ladies shall have
new dresses after all. My first days with Bridgton, I
(11:19):
went to the costume warehouse, the big building they kept
all the costumes in, and I was just surrounded by
all of these rows and racks and racks of all
of the costumes that were being created, and it was
just incredible to see all of these colors lined up
side by side, and I just got this kind of
shiver of excitement because you could just see the technicolor
(11:40):
world that was going to come together, and it was
all new, and it was just I'd never seen anything
like it, because normally when I see costume from the
Regency Times, it's in a museum store and it might
be beautiful, but it definitely looks like it's been around
for two hundred years, whereas Bridget's costumes are absolutely sparkling you.
(12:01):
Everything was completely Christine and that is how I would
have imagined the fashionable world to be, this world of
the town in Regency London. So as soon as I
walked amongst those wrecks and the Bridgetin world, it just
felt like this was a world that was coming to
life in a way that I'd never seen before. So
it was really exciting. Bridgeton is a totally bespoke kind
(12:27):
of production. All of the costumes, headpieces, fascinators, accessories, dresses,
three piece suits, a lot of it was made by hand.
There's not an artist that came through our doors that
didn't think that this show was going to be a
version of a Jane Austin novel. Am I right, Yeah,
you are correct. I think you feel it when you watch,
(12:51):
and you can feel the energy. The costume design, hair
and makeup teams also gave us a kaleidoscope of personality,
addressing each member of the show's brilliant ensemble, from wig
to heal. There are a lot of shows whereby the
background that's just considered the background. An our show, the
(13:11):
background is considered pretty much as much as the foreground,
and everyone had at least two of something. As an
end result, there were seventy five hundred pieces of costume made,
seventy five hundred pieces that were made in soft goods.
That's a very large amount, Okay. John basically created a
(13:35):
background world that was spectacular, and it was pushing all
of the costumers to a point that they hadn't been
pushed before because this world also hadn't been created before.
One of the main ways Ellen and John pushed the costumes,
as they said, was to play around with the color palette.
(13:58):
Our first jumping off point of what we felt the
Bridgeton world was going to feel like and look like
was absolutely not regency at all. It was more modern,
It was bolder. It was a tiffanique of box with
some citrus fruit inside. We can't forget that the Featheringtons
(14:21):
had the fruit and side yeah, Featherington's add the fruit
and side here's production designer Will Hughes Jones. Whenever we
made decisions on what we were going to do, it
was always always in collaboration with Ellen, the costume designer
on the most simple level, making sure that the doors
are wide enough and big enough to get the Queen's
wig through. What we did a lot of is look
(14:42):
to the livery of the Bridgeton servants and the Featherington
servants and used their livery colors as the complementary colors
within our walls. Because if you look at a Featherington servant,
you'll see that colors in their costume relate to the
colors in the set, so they almost disappear into the
walls in some places, which is what servants were meant
(15:04):
to do in that period. We kept the color palette
very rigid for the characters, so that whenever the audience
was in a blue space or a cream space, they
knew they were in Bridgeton world. Whenever they were in
yellows and greens, you knew you were in the Featherington world.
Oh astonishing, Madam de la Qua. Yeah, because you were
(15:24):
able to be in advance this time, and since they
eben do you have some fabrics no one else seemed
to runt. There were two others just like it, Lizzy Bedington,
Mine will have to be taken in. Of course, mine's
perfect and mine is yellow. When Nicola came into our
fitting room for the first time, we photographed her with
(15:48):
different color yellows, yellow, green, orange, to see which citrus
color she could wear really comfortably and wear well, and
not in a funny way and not an attacking way,
but really as a serious character. And what you see
is what we found. Let's circle back around and get
(16:09):
into character development. So as Hannah was saying, fashion was
a representation of status in a way to exhibit power.
In Bridgeton, costume was the megaphone of this adage. For instance,
the wealth circulating in this society is obviously over the top,
but Ellen and John wanted to tell us a little
bit more about what's going on behind closed doors. The
(16:33):
description of the feathering Tins was always very clear, and
that they were new money and they wanted to fit in,
and that they were not brought up in the social
circle of the Bridgetins nor anyone close to them, and
they were like the new kids on the blocked and
(16:54):
unrefined and so what you see is what Porscha Featherington
believes to be the fashion of the day and gives
her girls some tools that she thinks they're really going
to help them get noticed, get noticed and be married,
(17:14):
and they are the opposite of what the Bridgeton world
looks like. I do apologize, Lady Frezrington, but first there
is a matter of your account. I was clear to
your Let me stop you there. Our bills will be
settled in full as soon as you've made miss Thompson
soon to be bridgeton her gown and the other items.
(17:37):
I'm afraid that he's not possible. Perhaps you might find
another terrorists what you're liking across town. You asked it
an interesting question about the Modiste and her dark dress. Earlier,
I asked John why the Modiste or Madame Delacroix played
by Katherine Drisdale, always wears dark dresses. Featherington's were over
(17:59):
the top, and the bridget Tins had beautiful clothes, and
why wasn't she wearing beautiful clothes? And this goes back
to character. Allen explained to her that she was like
Coco Chanel, so she was going to be in a
dark dress. You actually meet the actor, then you can
put it all together. But if we had made dresses
for the modiste without seeing her or talking to her,
it may have been a different thing and may not
(18:21):
have worked. Once she understood the period, she understood Coco
Chanel and dark, she understood pearls, and then once she
put that into present day, then she accepted that and
that helped her look and helped her character. Unless there's
something in a character description where a character has to
do something within a scene or whatever, the costume can't
(18:44):
wear them. We don't want the costume to come before
the character, you know. There were things that we did
to break convention. For example, Simon's character when we first
met Reggie, what we found immediately, and I do say this,
it was immediate that he could wear the period. It
(19:05):
actually suited him so perfectly that it was a pretty
quick fitting the first time we met him, wasn't it, John?
And what we learned with the men was what they
could and couldn't wear, And so with Reggae, what we
learned from dialogue with the actor of who Simon would
(19:26):
become and where does he come from and what is
his story? Before we got into his story was that
he left London. He traveled around the world at that time,
and when coming back into London, he came with different
trinkets from Afar. He was independent. He did not grow
(19:48):
up in his adulthood with the TN with other people
looking over his shoulders. He was not interested in becoming
the marriage material as the other men set out to
become in the social season. And so with that we
knew that we didn't want to kind of tie him
(20:09):
up all through his neck and wear a stock and
be formal. So what we did was open his shirt collar.
When opening his shirt collar, we said, well, let's just
try a scarf inside. Now. It could have looked too
pretentious or it was going to be correct, And immediately
we knew it was correct because he could wear it,
(20:32):
he could wear it perfectly. And so putting his pieces
together were somewhat simple because it was very clear from
the get go that his coat needed to be a
certain shape, his waistcoat needed to be a certain waistcoat.
His shirt could be black and it could be great
and his neck be exposed, and that was certainly not
(20:55):
of convention at that time, no, not at all, So
we took that liberty. But you don't know it. When
you look at him, you think he is of that time,
but a bit you feel an independence from him. He
doesn't look necessarily different, he just has a different spirit.
So his difference comes from the character he portrays. Daphanie,
(21:19):
though absolutely beautifully sets the tone for what we're about
to see throughout the series and understand Daphanie's introduction, Daphanie
was the jewel in the crown, or shall we say
I always thought of her as a porcelain doll. Daphanie
actually is the only one in the series that has
(21:43):
practically no adornment at all. It's just color and shape.
That's Her accessories are tiny. There is nothing that is overdone, overblown.
She is just a breath of beauty and that was
what needed to be now. Of course, her ball gowns
are exquisite, and they are beaded and stoned, and there's
(22:07):
different design to it, but it's only in the fabrication.
It's simplistic elegance. It's pretty difficult to achieve, to be
honest with you, because you want all of her movement
to be just perfect. Because she is pristine, she has
a purpose and as our story, of course unfold, it
shifts only as a good Shondaland story could. And as
(22:32):
she matures, if you will, she is not such a
porcelain doll any longer. She becomes a bit more of
a mature woman. And we did that simply by color.
Her clothes became more real, like she became more real
to me, and the fabrics conformed to the body a
little more. As she gets older too, and that was
(22:53):
her evolution and point she becomes a fuller, richer woman
as time goes on. You can feel her flesh more
then it all being simple, icy and pristine with the
richness and the duskiness of color that kind of penetrates
her flesh color a bit. You could feel her more.
(23:17):
You could feel her pain, you could feel her want,
you could feel her confusion. That's Stephanie's evolution. Here's Bridgetine
(23:41):
creator and showrunner Chris vanduson on how he and actress
Adua and Doe used hair, costume, and makeup to tell
us more about Lady Danbury. One memory specific to Adua
was really early on in the process, and Adua had
just gone for her first costume fitting, and she was
just doing her first consultation with our hair and Makeup
(24:04):
department about the character of Lady Danbury, and the one
thing Adua wanted was she wanted her hair always pulled
back because she wanted full vision of everything. I thought
this was so genius on an aduous part, that Lady
Danbury is a character that sees everything, and you know
she comments on all. So to have an unobstructed view
(24:26):
of everything happening, to have a completely clear view of
all the proceedings reflected in her hair and her makeup,
I thought was just a genius idea and I loved
it from the beginning. Her presumeal plans to separate from
her grace have not yet changed. They have not neither.
It appears your ability to somehow hear every piece of
(24:46):
gossip and transpires, and as tone, when will you accept it?
I know I wanted her to have that gaze that
is as we were saying, it's all about strategy. I
didn't want any I don't. I don't feel she's a
she's not fussy. She's can't be doing the fuss. You know,
she's old enough, she's rich enough, she's free enough. I
don't need fuss anymore. I want a hat. I'll have
(25:08):
a fag. I'll have a cane, let's go. Yeah. Early
on it was Adu and I talking and discussing the
character and what I had seen for her, and you know,
it's such a collaborate process, and you know, coming up
with characters backstories, and I really wanted Adua's thoughts and
what she thought about her character and how she thought
(25:29):
she would dress and how she thought she would look,
the freedom to not fiddle. M She's not fiddle, So
I wanted lots of clean lines of her. That's why
I wanted the hats, because I wanted her she's a widow.
I wanted her to embody the masculine as well. And
there's something about a hat that's kind of it's slightly Yeah,
I know what the Bohemian land is. Mmm. I know
(25:50):
those painters. H So there's you know, come on, I'm
having a party. No, it's just for the girls. So
there's all that going on as well. That's just it's
about women being in their power, I think, and I
think a lot of the time it's not just women,
but I think a lot of people hide their power.
(26:10):
A lot absolutely, they hide their power. You know. Nelson
Mandela has that thing about saying, don't hide your light.
Don't hide your light. And I think a lot of us,
and it may be part of the strategy. There's always
a little bit of I'll just make myself slightly less.
I don't want to put you off. I think for
black people a lot of the time, that's that sense.
(26:31):
We're just going to have to pull back a bit here,
because I don't know what you think about us. I
shoppened my wit to my wardrobe and my eye, and
I made myself the most terrifying creature in any room
I entered. Danbury is who she is. She has money,
as I say, she's got the ears of the Queen,
she's got status, she knows the way things work. Her
(26:52):
husband's dead, so she's nobody's chattel. She's free. She can
just do her thing, and I think part of her
thing is going. I don't want to do the curly things. Ay,
gone gone, gone, gone gone off we go, Yeah, I
don't need to. This life is much more interesting than Matt.
Thank you. That's half an hour and never get back now.
I could be having a nice stiff drink, where I
(27:12):
could be looking around my kitchen garden or seeing how
the paneapples are growing, or you know, or reading the
latest whistle down, or you know, whatever it may be.
When Lady Danbrey comes on set with all of her
amazing clothes, she commands attention. I think so the costuming
really worked for me in that regard. It's like she's
only pleasing herself. She's not trying to communicate anything else
(27:36):
to the world apart from her power in her presence.
It's almost like Queen Elizabeth the First with those big
lace ruffs. And I think that's absolutely right for Lady
Dambrey as a character. It's really striking distinctive. Look. It's
not in keeping with any of the other families that
we see, for Bridge Turn her much softer colors or
(27:57):
the Featheringtons, who are just off the chart, hey in
the clothing and you know, well, I want to be
Lady Dambrey, so I want Lady Danbry's war chapes. So
office say, I'm going to say it was amazing, and
it made a lit really powerful and strong because you know, yeah,
I wouldn't mind a little bit of that action in
my own war Chope safe. Yeah. In case you were wondering,
(28:21):
one character that was added that I was obsessed with
in a way that just was unhealthy and really kind
of crazy. Is Queen Charlotte. Yes, Shanda Rhimes has a
favorite character, and the costumes and wigs only cement her
love for this character. First of all, I tried to
convince our merchandising department that we needed to put out
a set of Queen Charlotte wigs. I was like, I
will wear one every day, I promise. Like Queen Charlotte
(28:44):
to me felt like the Beyonce of the day, Like
she just was fierce and fabulous and weird and strange
and amazing, and I just wanted everything she was doing
to be I was like, I want to do that.
There's something about her and the way she's portrayed is
done so beautifully because that idea of I wish to
be entertained. Like she has everything, she has everything she
(29:07):
could possibly want, and she's lonely and she's bored and
her husband is going mad. She's a fascinating creature, and
like the way that she built that character is just
I don't know. I found her glorious. I could watch
her all day. That's another sense of a woman with weight,
with tons and tons of power, who's also still in prison.
(29:27):
She's still in this golden cage that was one of
the real beauties of bridget and as well. Yes she
is Queen Charlotte. Yes she sits on the throne. But
I think there's a real, real feeling of community and ensemble.
Here's Golden Russia, Velle. You know, we're all together in
(29:48):
this world. Yes, there is a hierarchy and a status
because it's that is just you know, reality, but emotionally,
emotionally between all these women, I think there's a real
bonding of sisterhood and girl power. You know, Queen Charlotte
is just diva diva. But that's so true what you say.
(30:11):
I think we all are actually gravitating to that character
because there's a roundedness. She is relating. That's the word
I was looking for. Can you relate to her? Of course.
The one time I really truly shouted out at the screen,
and the thing I shouted at was forcing hair. My husband,
(30:34):
I was like, what I was like, forcing forcy Oh,
that's fantastic, forcing to google for forcing for the especial
explanation of forcing. Yes, oh my goodness, that's hilarious. I
love that. So it just tickled me. So it brought
me so much joy. I've just come back actually from
(30:57):
let me think a seven hour wig fitting and makeup
for Bridgeton and like different different lips and different this
and lashes and do you know what I mean? It
was like literally being created there and then in the
room just to try and kind of see, you know,
what was going to work, and different colors and different
(31:20):
shades and different kind of textures of hair that would
look good, and different kind of ideas of how black
hair looks, do you know what I mean? And how
and how you can create the kind of like an
African infused eighteenth century you know, come on, wig for Bridgeton.
(31:46):
I mean, it was Those guys are incredible, really incredible. Yeah,
I mean, you know, the reality is you put a
work of art on top of your head, you know.
And I called them works of art because they were,
I mean, they are extraordinary pieces truly. And you know,
some of them would have like double wigs, so there's
(32:10):
a wig on top of the wig. Some of them
would have like numerous cages inside them where you know,
the hair is built up and kind of made around
the cage and the cage gives height and space and
you know, do you know what I mean? Yeah? So
I remember there was one time when I was wearing
(32:31):
the big afro and my head started to get quite hot,
and I was like, I was thinking to myself, what
can I put because you can't take the wig off?
And I thought what can I put inside? Because I
could get unjust underneath the wig. I was like, I
need something to just cool that down. And Adam, the
(32:54):
guy who had created the wigs, Adam James Phillips, had
I don't know whether you know, the combs with like
the metal, the metal little bit and then you got
a little bit of a comb. And so I was like,
give me that. Can I have that comb? And he
just gave it to me and his face was like
what Earth should do? And I managed to get it
(33:15):
up into the scalp and underneath the wig, and it
was it was like I was putting ice up there.
It was glorious. And I said to Adam, have you
got any more of those? And I ended up with
about four stuck around an inn and it was it
was like it was genius and it was just really
(33:37):
a ventilation systems a ventilation system and also called it
down and I was like, and there are pictures, and
I posted pictures on my Instagram. It was great genius.
It was just like, this thing is happening to me,
how can we work it out? And this is the solution.
You know. The weight of Queen Charlotte and her crown
and everything else that comes with that character definitely played
(34:01):
a whole lot into the way Golder represented her on screen.
I mean this character carried a lot of weet literally. Yeah.
I always had a chair by the side of set
because you know, when you're wearing something heavy on your head,
and then something like the costumes heavy as well. I
(34:22):
mean that's I'm double corseted. I have a pannier and
under skirt, the skirt of the dress, and then the
long train of the jacket, so that's a lot of
weight to carry. Most takes, I would there would be
a chair by the side of you know, the scene,
and I would take the weight off basically and chat
(34:47):
to the crew or I just kind of hang out
with everybody. And they actually made me a leaning post
because right at the beginning it was putting a little
bit of a strain on my lower back. So they
made the post, which is basically about my hip height,
and it's got a little padded ledge and you lean
(35:07):
over the front of it so that it takes the
weight off the spine. So you would see me just
kind of lounging. People will be going past, going you're right,
gold I'm sorry, Yeah, I'm just leaning. I'm just leaning.
(35:31):
The power of clothing. I think that actually allows us
to kind of literally pull threads on fashion history and
Carson's design and unravel clues about people in history and
the characters in Bridgerton. I think it's really important that
Bridgerton makes us ask questions about history as well, and
(35:51):
we ask what did it really look like? What's the
truth of a diverse community? What kind of opportunities does
people really have? That there's a space for us to
tell the Israel histories alongside all of the kind of
energy and interest that Bridgeton has created. Hannah, once again,
(36:13):
thank you so much for all of your expertise and
your knowledge and your beautiful way of putting words together
and walking us through this fashionable society and the world
of Bridgeton. It's a fun topic, isn't it. Is there
any more colorful, sparkling, you know, kind of interesting topic
(36:34):
costume and Bridgeton No No, This was so great. Thank
you so much. Thanks again for listening to this episode
of Bridgeton the Official Podcast. Return to hear more stories
from behind the scenes. Make sure you like, subscribe, and share.
Bridget In the Official Podcast is executive produced by Lauren Holman,
(36:54):
Sandy Bailey, Holly Fry and me Gabrielle Collins. Our producer
is Chris Van Dusen and our editor is Chandler Maze.
Thanks for listening. Bridgetin the Official Podcast is a production
of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get
(37:16):
your favorite shows.
Bridgeton the Official Podcast is a partnership between Shondaland Audio
and iHeartRadio. I am Nicola Coughlin. I play Penelope Featherington.
I also have tried on some costumes and I'm getting
two new wigs their epic. I tried on one the
other day and I was like, don't take it off
because when you take it, when you take the wig off,
you look like a sad snake because your hair is
(00:21):
all glued down, and you know, I'm just so bloody pale.
I look like the moon. So yeah, I just like,
it's just like a big Voldemort head. I look just awful.
Welcome to Bridgeton the Official Podcast, where we're going to
(00:42):
take you behind the scenes of Bridgerton. I'm Gabrielle Collins.
I'm Hannah Gregg and in this episode, we're continuing to
put a spotlight on the inspiration for the Bridgerton series.
One of the really exciting things about the Bridgeton series
is that the destiny of the characters isn't quite written yet. Literally,
(01:06):
Season two is underway as we're talking right now, and
the story arcs of these characters and of the book
series have taken a whole New Life with Shonda Land.
So we're going to get a little closer to some
of the show's characters, and we're going to do that
through the lens of costume design, which is why I
am so pleased to have Hannah here. She's the perfect
(01:28):
guide because she literally wrote the book. So to say
on fashionable society, would you say, Hannah, like a lot
of a lot of your research I centered around this. Yeah.
The book is called The Beamon's Fashionable Society in Georgian London,
So I suppose you could say that, yeah. Literally. So
(01:48):
I think that I'm coming at this as someone who
has been wearing yoga pants for the last year and
a half, and it's just a little harder from me
to appreciate the importance of fashion. What is fashion? What
is fashion? What is a fashion? Can you help us
(02:09):
wrap our minds around what fashionable society is as we
look at character development. You know, fashion is a word
that we use a lot today, but I think if
we sat down and try to actually say exactly what
it is, we'd start to get in a little bit
of an about is it just what you wear or
is it the kind of label that you wear? Is
(02:30):
it how you wear, it is it who you are.
You know that it defines fashion today and regency commentators
had the same problem with what fashion meant to fashionable
society in London because it was about this kind of
very vivid display. You had to be well dressed and
dress was really a central element of it, but it
also involves something else. You couldn't just be well dressed.
(02:52):
You couldn't just dress your way into this society. The
rules of membership were always slightly shadowy, and I'll define
which was brilliant in terms of a strategy of maintaining
an exclusive set of the ton. So the ton is
a word that is used to capture a world of
high society London, which at the time was known as
(03:13):
fashionable society. We also use the words the Beaumond, the
world of quality, ladies of fashion. I think for an audience,
the ton it's not a term we've encountered before, but
now everyone knows who they are and they are the
super fashionable leaders of society. They are the celebrities of
the day. They live their life in the fast lane.
(03:34):
They are bridgeton basically the world that we see and Hannah,
I was wondering if that's like if the US Senate
were also trend setters in fashion, So if the US
lawmakers were also telling us we're a shop. Yes, there's
fashionable society that is both politically powerful, incredibly wealthy, and
(03:56):
also the glamorous celebrities of the day. We don't have
anything really quite the same anymore. But that is basically
what you need to imagine is the Senate and hollywoods
get mashed together. So you know, a huge amount is
invested into people's clothing during the course of the London
season because it's going to be scrutinized. You're on this
(04:16):
stage all the time, whether it's in the ballroom or
you're going to court or even if you're walking in
Hyde Park. You know, the things that you're wearing and
who you are of critical importance. So we might think
of this world of the Bonton. It's a bit like
a red carpet, and there's also constantly an audience and
constantly a press reporting on your clothing, and so yeah,
Bridgeton for me really kind of capture some of that
(04:37):
spirit and we don't often see that level of excess
and extravagance and investment in fashion and investment in clothing
on screen regency times, but we do in Bridgeton, and
I think that's one of its most powerful aspects. It's
right that the costume should be sent to stage two.
Hannah's right. The costumes here and makeup are central in
(04:59):
this episode, talking about the characters and their journeys through
the lens of the entire look. And to kick off
that conversation, we're turning to two film and stage vets
responsible for channeling the Bridgeton script into dresses and three
piece suits. I'm Ellen Murajnek, the costume designer of Bridgetin.
I'm John Glazer. I'm the co costume designer for bridget
(05:23):
Under Ellen Murk. No, John, you have to say alongside
of alongside, okay terrible. John is behind the costume design
on television shows like Brotherhood and Gotham. He's also known
for his work on Broadway, and Ellen is known for
classics like Fatal Attraction in nineteen eighty six and more
(05:43):
recently The Greatest Showman from twenty seventeen. Ellen and John
have worked on several Shondaland projects. John and I worked
on How to Get Away with Murder together for Shondaland,
and that was quite fun. We've had a really great
working relationship. We're kind of left brain, right brain and
vice versa. And I don't think that there was anybody
(06:04):
that I could have managed to take the challenge of
creating Bridgeton with other than John. He was a great
influence and a great, great, great talent to be able
to create this world. And here we are. After the break,
we'll spend more time with Ellen and John as we
(06:26):
unwrap the characters of Bridgeton. Hi, everyone, welcome back to
Bridgeton the official podcast. I'm Hannah Craig. I'm the Bridgeton historian.
(06:47):
Hannah can take us through the ways the ton set
the trend, and we're like keeping up with the Joneses,
so to say, keeping up with Queen Charless I think
in Bridgeton. Yes, Which that's really interesting that you brought
that up, because I've been reading and doing my little research,
and I've been seeing that Queen Charlotte was like wearing
(07:09):
fashions that may not have been timely, like she was
still wearing late eighteenth century fashion. But my understanding is
that Ellen and John were not trying to be historically accurate. Yeah,
I think that's fair to say. I think you know,
Bridgeston is a fantasy look at fashions free time. It
(07:29):
blends ideas of legency fashion with modern interpretation that kind
of captures the silhouette and the look of the world
that's created in the show. Let's hear how Ellen and
John squinted their eyes and tilted their heads on history
and then being covered in a big vat of guta
it was a top and threw some glitter on it
(07:51):
to bring us the costume design of Bridgerton. You know,
when we go to work for Shondaland, there is a
particular esthetic and what Shondaland always has its top sentence
is aspirational, something that's modern but historical at the same time,
(08:16):
so that a modern girl today can watch the series
follow a character and dream that it could be her. So,
knowing who we were dealing with and knowing what was expected,
we were not precious and saying well, that's not eighteen thirteen,
where that's not eighteen twelve. We created a silhouette that
was absolutely perfect to the period. But what we did
(08:40):
to make it into the Bridgetin world was look at
Gucci and Prada and Chanel and VERSACEI and young designers.
Every image that you could ever imagine was looked at
and curated so that we could extract elements that we
can layer onto what our basic silhouette needed to be
(09:05):
to make it new and appealing. Yeah, both for men
and women. For example, not every man could wear white
trousers except for Anthony, except for Anthony in the whole
entire series of our principal men. And like, the men's
pants aren't really period. They appear to be period, but
(09:26):
they're not constructed the same way. That's all. They look
good and they we like to make men look really
fashionable and handsome as can be. I would say. One
of the first and the original inspirations for this entire world,
in this entire series, her name is Genevieve Big. She's
a young Irish woman and she had the exact point
(09:50):
of reference that we were looking for. She does these
paintings that are all period inspired. I mean they are
just gorgeous. He's a bit I would say, figurative and
a bit abstract, and it's sublime. It's the show. It
really is the root, the visual root of what our
(10:11):
work became. I think that you first have to say
that we really did build a costume house. And the
costume house was enormous. Oh yes, and so in costume
houses when you have men's and women and children, etc.
You have eveningwear. Daywere fabrics to pick from to make
(10:34):
more costumes. That's what was necessary to be built to
accomplish the Bridgeton series. And you need to visualize, but
Ellen says, fabric attractor trailer going from London, tons and
tons and tons of fabric and when you first start
(10:55):
you think, oh my god, this is so much fabric,
this is too much. Just two months later it wasn't enough.
We were out. Now Please do understand, there's only so
much fabric in the wall. The young ladies shall have
new dresses after all. My first days with Bridgton, I
(11:19):
went to the costume warehouse, the big building they kept
all the costumes in, and I was just surrounded by
all of these rows and racks and racks of all
of the costumes that were being created, and it was
just incredible to see all of these colors lined up
side by side, and I just got this kind of
shiver of excitement because you could just see the technicolor
(11:40):
world that was going to come together, and it was
all new, and it was just I'd never seen anything
like it, because normally when I see costume from the
Regency Times, it's in a museum store and it might
be beautiful, but it definitely looks like it's been around
for two hundred years, whereas Bridget's costumes are absolutely sparkling you.
(12:01):
Everything was completely Christine and that is how I would
have imagined the fashionable world to be, this world of
the town in Regency London. So as soon as I
walked amongst those wrecks and the Bridgetin world, it just
felt like this was a world that was coming to
life in a way that I'd never seen before. So
it was really exciting. Bridgeton is a totally bespoke kind
(12:27):
of production. All of the costumes, headpieces, fascinators, accessories, dresses,
three piece suits, a lot of it was made by hand.
There's not an artist that came through our doors that
didn't think that this show was going to be a
version of a Jane Austin novel. Am I right, Yeah,
you are correct. I think you feel it when you watch,
(12:51):
and you can feel the energy. The costume design, hair
and makeup teams also gave us a kaleidoscope of personality,
addressing each member of the show's brilliant ensemble, from wig
to heal. There are a lot of shows whereby the
background that's just considered the background. An our show, the
(13:11):
background is considered pretty much as much as the foreground,
and everyone had at least two of something. As an
end result, there were seventy five hundred pieces of costume made,
seventy five hundred pieces that were made in soft goods.
That's a very large amount, Okay. John basically created a
(13:35):
background world that was spectacular, and it was pushing all
of the costumers to a point that they hadn't been
pushed before because this world also hadn't been created before.
One of the main ways Ellen and John pushed the costumes,
as they said, was to play around with the color palette.
(13:58):
Our first jumping off point of what we felt the
Bridgeton world was going to feel like and look like
was absolutely not regency at all. It was more modern,
It was bolder. It was a tiffanique of box with
some citrus fruit inside. We can't forget that the Featheringtons
(14:21):
had the fruit and side yeah, Featherington's add the fruit
and side here's production designer Will Hughes Jones. Whenever we
made decisions on what we were going to do, it
was always always in collaboration with Ellen, the costume designer
on the most simple level, making sure that the doors
are wide enough and big enough to get the Queen's
wig through. What we did a lot of is look
(14:42):
to the livery of the Bridgeton servants and the Featherington
servants and used their livery colors as the complementary colors
within our walls. Because if you look at a Featherington servant,
you'll see that colors in their costume relate to the
colors in the set, so they almost disappear into the
walls in some places, which is what servants were meant
(15:04):
to do in that period. We kept the color palette
very rigid for the characters, so that whenever the audience
was in a blue space or a cream space, they
knew they were in Bridgeton world. Whenever they were in
yellows and greens, you knew you were in the Featherington world.
Oh astonishing, Madam de la Qua. Yeah, because you were
(15:24):
able to be in advance this time, and since they
eben do you have some fabrics no one else seemed
to runt. There were two others just like it, Lizzy Bedington,
Mine will have to be taken in. Of course, mine's
perfect and mine is yellow. When Nicola came into our
fitting room for the first time, we photographed her with
(15:48):
different color yellows, yellow, green, orange, to see which citrus
color she could wear really comfortably and wear well, and
not in a funny way and not an attacking way,
but really as a serious character. And what you see
is what we found. Let's circle back around and get
(16:09):
into character development. So as Hannah was saying, fashion was
a representation of status in a way to exhibit power.
In Bridgeton, costume was the megaphone of this adage. For instance,
the wealth circulating in this society is obviously over the top,
but Ellen and John wanted to tell us a little
bit more about what's going on behind closed doors. The
(16:33):
description of the feathering Tins was always very clear, and
that they were new money and they wanted to fit in,
and that they were not brought up in the social
circle of the Bridgetins nor anyone close to them, and
they were like the new kids on the blocked and
(16:54):
unrefined and so what you see is what Porscha Featherington
believes to be the fashion of the day and gives
her girls some tools that she thinks they're really going
to help them get noticed, get noticed and be married,
(17:14):
and they are the opposite of what the Bridgeton world
looks like. I do apologize, Lady Frezrington, but first there
is a matter of your account. I was clear to
your Let me stop you there. Our bills will be
settled in full as soon as you've made miss Thompson
soon to be bridgeton her gown and the other items.
(17:37):
I'm afraid that he's not possible. Perhaps you might find
another terrorists what you're liking across town. You asked it
an interesting question about the Modiste and her dark dress. Earlier,
I asked John why the Modiste or Madame Delacroix played
by Katherine Drisdale, always wears dark dresses. Featherington's were over
(17:59):
the top, and the bridget Tins had beautiful clothes, and
why wasn't she wearing beautiful clothes? And this goes back
to character. Allen explained to her that she was like
Coco Chanel, so she was going to be in a
dark dress. You actually meet the actor, then you can
put it all together. But if we had made dresses
for the modiste without seeing her or talking to her,
it may have been a different thing and may not
(18:21):
have worked. Once she understood the period, she understood Coco
Chanel and dark, she understood pearls, and then once she
put that into present day, then she accepted that and
that helped her look and helped her character. Unless there's
something in a character description where a character has to
do something within a scene or whatever, the costume can't
(18:44):
wear them. We don't want the costume to come before
the character, you know. There were things that we did
to break convention. For example, Simon's character when we first
met Reggie, what we found immediately, and I do say this,
it was immediate that he could wear the period. It
(19:05):
actually suited him so perfectly that it was a pretty
quick fitting the first time we met him, wasn't it, John?
And what we learned with the men was what they
could and couldn't wear, And so with Reggae, what we
learned from dialogue with the actor of who Simon would
(19:26):
become and where does he come from and what is
his story? Before we got into his story was that
he left London. He traveled around the world at that time,
and when coming back into London, he came with different
trinkets from Afar. He was independent. He did not grow
(19:48):
up in his adulthood with the TN with other people
looking over his shoulders. He was not interested in becoming
the marriage material as the other men set out to
become in the social season. And so with that we
knew that we didn't want to kind of tie him
(20:09):
up all through his neck and wear a stock and
be formal. So what we did was open his shirt collar.
When opening his shirt collar, we said, well, let's just
try a scarf inside. Now. It could have looked too
pretentious or it was going to be correct, And immediately
we knew it was correct because he could wear it,
(20:32):
he could wear it perfectly. And so putting his pieces
together were somewhat simple because it was very clear from
the get go that his coat needed to be a
certain shape, his waistcoat needed to be a certain waistcoat.
His shirt could be black and it could be great
and his neck be exposed, and that was certainly not
(20:55):
of convention at that time, no, not at all, So
we took that liberty. But you don't know it. When
you look at him, you think he is of that time,
but a bit you feel an independence from him. He
doesn't look necessarily different, he just has a different spirit.
So his difference comes from the character he portrays. Daphanie,
(21:19):
though absolutely beautifully sets the tone for what we're about
to see throughout the series and understand Daphanie's introduction, Daphanie
was the jewel in the crown, or shall we say
I always thought of her as a porcelain doll. Daphanie
actually is the only one in the series that has
(21:43):
practically no adornment at all. It's just color and shape.
That's Her accessories are tiny. There is nothing that is overdone, overblown.
She is just a breath of beauty and that was
what needed to be now. Of course, her ball gowns
are exquisite, and they are beaded and stoned, and there's
(22:07):
different design to it, but it's only in the fabrication.
It's simplistic elegance. It's pretty difficult to achieve, to be
honest with you, because you want all of her movement
to be just perfect. Because she is pristine, she has
a purpose and as our story, of course unfold, it
shifts only as a good Shondaland story could. And as
(22:32):
she matures, if you will, she is not such a
porcelain doll any longer. She becomes a bit more of
a mature woman. And we did that simply by color.
Her clothes became more real, like she became more real
to me, and the fabrics conformed to the body a
little more. As she gets older too, and that was
(22:53):
her evolution and point she becomes a fuller, richer woman
as time goes on. You can feel her flesh more
then it all being simple, icy and pristine with the
richness and the duskiness of color that kind of penetrates
her flesh color a bit. You could feel her more.
(23:17):
You could feel her pain, you could feel her want,
you could feel her confusion. That's Stephanie's evolution. Here's Bridgetine
(23:41):
creator and showrunner Chris vanduson on how he and actress
Adua and Doe used hair, costume, and makeup to tell
us more about Lady Danbury. One memory specific to Adua
was really early on in the process, and Adua had
just gone for her first costume fitting, and she was
just doing her first consultation with our hair and Makeup
(24:04):
department about the character of Lady Danbury, and the one
thing Adua wanted was she wanted her hair always pulled
back because she wanted full vision of everything. I thought
this was so genius on an aduous part, that Lady
Danbury is a character that sees everything, and you know
she comments on all. So to have an unobstructed view
(24:26):
of everything happening, to have a completely clear view of
all the proceedings reflected in her hair and her makeup,
I thought was just a genius idea and I loved
it from the beginning. Her presumeal plans to separate from
her grace have not yet changed. They have not neither.
It appears your ability to somehow hear every piece of
(24:46):
gossip and transpires, and as tone, when will you accept it?
I know I wanted her to have that gaze that
is as we were saying, it's all about strategy. I
didn't want any I don't. I don't feel she's a
she's not fussy. She's can't be doing the fuss. You know,
she's old enough, she's rich enough, she's free enough. I
don't need fuss anymore. I want a hat. I'll have
(25:08):
a fag. I'll have a cane, let's go. Yeah. Early
on it was Adu and I talking and discussing the
character and what I had seen for her, and you know,
it's such a collaborate process, and you know, coming up
with characters backstories, and I really wanted Adua's thoughts and
what she thought about her character and how she thought
(25:29):
she would dress and how she thought she would look,
the freedom to not fiddle. M She's not fiddle, So
I wanted lots of clean lines of her. That's why
I wanted the hats, because I wanted her she's a widow.
I wanted her to embody the masculine as well. And
there's something about a hat that's kind of it's slightly Yeah,
I know what the Bohemian land is. Mmm. I know
(25:50):
those painters. H So there's you know, come on, I'm
having a party. No, it's just for the girls. So
there's all that going on as well. That's just it's
about women being in their power, I think, and I
think a lot of the time it's not just women,
but I think a lot of people hide their power.
(26:10):
A lot absolutely, they hide their power. You know. Nelson
Mandela has that thing about saying, don't hide your light.
Don't hide your light. And I think a lot of us,
and it may be part of the strategy. There's always
a little bit of I'll just make myself slightly less.
I don't want to put you off. I think for
black people a lot of the time, that's that sense.
(26:31):
We're just going to have to pull back a bit here,
because I don't know what you think about us. I
shoppened my wit to my wardrobe and my eye, and
I made myself the most terrifying creature in any room
I entered. Danbury is who she is. She has money,
as I say, she's got the ears of the Queen,
she's got status, she knows the way things work. Her
(26:52):
husband's dead, so she's nobody's chattel. She's free. She can
just do her thing, and I think part of her
thing is going. I don't want to do the curly things. Ay,
gone gone, gone, gone gone off we go, Yeah, I
don't need to. This life is much more interesting than Matt.
Thank you. That's half an hour and never get back now.
I could be having a nice stiff drink, where I
(27:12):
could be looking around my kitchen garden or seeing how
the paneapples are growing, or you know, or reading the
latest whistle down, or you know, whatever it may be.
When Lady Danbrey comes on set with all of her
amazing clothes, she commands attention. I think so the costuming
really worked for me in that regard. It's like she's
only pleasing herself. She's not trying to communicate anything else
(27:36):
to the world apart from her power in her presence.
It's almost like Queen Elizabeth the First with those big
lace ruffs. And I think that's absolutely right for Lady
Dambrey as a character. It's really striking distinctive. Look. It's
not in keeping with any of the other families that
we see, for Bridge Turn her much softer colors or
(27:57):
the Featheringtons, who are just off the chart, hey in
the clothing and you know, well, I want to be
Lady Dambrey, so I want Lady Danbry's war chapes. So
office say, I'm going to say it was amazing, and
it made a lit really powerful and strong because you know, yeah,
I wouldn't mind a little bit of that action in
my own war Chope safe. Yeah. In case you were wondering,
(28:21):
one character that was added that I was obsessed with
in a way that just was unhealthy and really kind
of crazy. Is Queen Charlotte. Yes, Shanda Rhimes has a
favorite character, and the costumes and wigs only cement her
love for this character. First of all, I tried to
convince our merchandising department that we needed to put out
a set of Queen Charlotte wigs. I was like, I
will wear one every day, I promise. Like Queen Charlotte
(28:44):
to me felt like the Beyonce of the day, Like
she just was fierce and fabulous and weird and strange
and amazing, and I just wanted everything she was doing
to be I was like, I want to do that.
There's something about her and the way she's portrayed is
done so beautifully because that idea of I wish to
be entertained. Like she has everything, she has everything she
(29:07):
could possibly want, and she's lonely and she's bored and
her husband is going mad. She's a fascinating creature, and
like the way that she built that character is just
I don't know. I found her glorious. I could watch
her all day. That's another sense of a woman with weight,
with tons and tons of power, who's also still in prison.
(29:27):
She's still in this golden cage that was one of
the real beauties of bridget and as well. Yes she
is Queen Charlotte. Yes she sits on the throne. But
I think there's a real, real feeling of community and ensemble.
Here's Golden Russia, Velle. You know, we're all together in
(29:48):
this world. Yes, there is a hierarchy and a status
because it's that is just you know, reality, but emotionally,
emotionally between all these women, I think there's a real
bonding of sisterhood and girl power. You know, Queen Charlotte
is just diva diva. But that's so true what you say.
(30:11):
I think we all are actually gravitating to that character
because there's a roundedness. She is relating. That's the word
I was looking for. Can you relate to her? Of course.
The one time I really truly shouted out at the screen,
and the thing I shouted at was forcing hair. My husband,
(30:34):
I was like, what I was like, forcing forcy Oh,
that's fantastic, forcing to google for forcing for the especial
explanation of forcing. Yes, oh my goodness, that's hilarious. I
love that. So it just tickled me. So it brought
me so much joy. I've just come back actually from
(30:57):
let me think a seven hour wig fitting and makeup
for Bridgeton and like different different lips and different this
and lashes and do you know what I mean? It
was like literally being created there and then in the
room just to try and kind of see, you know,
what was going to work, and different colors and different
(31:20):
shades and different kind of textures of hair that would
look good, and different kind of ideas of how black
hair looks, do you know what I mean? And how
and how you can create the kind of like an
African infused eighteenth century you know, come on, wig for Bridgeton.
(31:46):
I mean, it was Those guys are incredible, really incredible. Yeah,
I mean, you know, the reality is you put a
work of art on top of your head, you know.
And I called them works of art because they were,
I mean, they are extraordinary pieces truly. And you know,
some of them would have like double wigs, so there's
(32:10):
a wig on top of the wig. Some of them
would have like numerous cages inside them where you know,
the hair is built up and kind of made around
the cage and the cage gives height and space and
you know, do you know what I mean? Yeah? So
I remember there was one time when I was wearing
(32:31):
the big afro and my head started to get quite hot,
and I was like, I was thinking to myself, what
can I put because you can't take the wig off?
And I thought what can I put inside? Because I
could get unjust underneath the wig. I was like, I
need something to just cool that down. And Adam, the
(32:54):
guy who had created the wigs, Adam James Phillips, had
I don't know whether you know, the combs with like
the metal, the metal little bit and then you got
a little bit of a comb. And so I was like,
give me that. Can I have that comb? And he
just gave it to me and his face was like
what Earth should do? And I managed to get it
(33:15):
up into the scalp and underneath the wig, and it
was it was like I was putting ice up there.
It was glorious. And I said to Adam, have you
got any more of those? And I ended up with
about four stuck around an inn and it was it
was like it was genius and it was just really
(33:37):
a ventilation systems a ventilation system and also called it
down and I was like, and there are pictures, and
I posted pictures on my Instagram. It was great genius.
It was just like, this thing is happening to me,
how can we work it out? And this is the solution.
You know. The weight of Queen Charlotte and her crown
and everything else that comes with that character definitely played
(34:01):
a whole lot into the way Golder represented her on screen.
I mean this character carried a lot of weet literally. Yeah.
I always had a chair by the side of set
because you know, when you're wearing something heavy on your head,
and then something like the costumes heavy as well. I
(34:22):
mean that's I'm double corseted. I have a pannier and
under skirt, the skirt of the dress, and then the
long train of the jacket, so that's a lot of
weight to carry. Most takes, I would there would be
a chair by the side of you know, the scene,
and I would take the weight off basically and chat
(34:47):
to the crew or I just kind of hang out
with everybody. And they actually made me a leaning post
because right at the beginning it was putting a little
bit of a strain on my lower back. So they
made the post, which is basically about my hip height,
and it's got a little padded ledge and you lean
(35:07):
over the front of it so that it takes the
weight off the spine. So you would see me just
kind of lounging. People will be going past, going you're right,
gold I'm sorry, Yeah, I'm just leaning. I'm just leaning.
(35:31):
The power of clothing. I think that actually allows us
to kind of literally pull threads on fashion history and
Carson's design and unravel clues about people in history and
the characters in Bridgerton. I think it's really important that
Bridgerton makes us ask questions about history as well, and
(35:51):
we ask what did it really look like? What's the
truth of a diverse community? What kind of opportunities does
people really have? That there's a space for us to
tell the Israel histories alongside all of the kind of
energy and interest that Bridgeton has created. Hannah, once again,
(36:13):
thank you so much for all of your expertise and
your knowledge and your beautiful way of putting words together
and walking us through this fashionable society and the world
of Bridgeton. It's a fun topic, isn't it. Is there
any more colorful, sparkling, you know, kind of interesting topic
(36:34):
costume and Bridgeton No No, This was so great. Thank
you so much. Thanks again for listening to this episode
of Bridgeton the Official Podcast. Return to hear more stories
from behind the scenes. Make sure you like, subscribe, and share.
Bridget In the Official Podcast is executive produced by Lauren Holman,
(36:54):
Sandy Bailey, Holly Fry and me Gabrielle Collins. Our producer
is Chris Van Dusen and our editor is Chandler Maze.
Thanks for listening. Bridgetin the Official Podcast is a production
of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get
(37:16):
your favorite shows.
Host
Gabrielle Collins
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