This Tuesday I got to attend the virtual panel presented by FIDM with Bridgerton costume designer Ellen Mirojnick. I got to hear all about the styles that inspired her the most while creating the costumes for the standout first season and now I am sharing them with you along with some juicy tidbits about the making of the show! I was so excited to attend this event because I absolutely loved this series and of course the costumes were one of my favorite parts. I actually read all of the original books and was so excited to see the television version. While the TV show is definitely different than the books there were so many elements from the original stories that I recognized in the costumes and it was so fun to see them come to life!
Ellen revealed during the panel that she was the first hire made by the show which shows just how important the costumes are to creating the Bridgerton world. I loved that this show and Ellen put so much importance on the costumes and really made them a featured part of the story. Ellen told us that she and her team created custom looks for every single actor on the show including the background actors! So now if you'll excuse me I am going to sign up to be a Bridgerton extra for next season lol! Just kidding but apparently they even got custom jewelry too! Ellen started by showing us her mood boards which she created to inspire her throughout the season. She and her team used the same mood boards to work off of so that everything had the same feeling according to Ellen which I think she definitely accomplished! I loved how she described her ideas for each family in the series. She told us that the Duke was all about jewel tones, while the Bridgerton family pallete was inspired by French macaron boxes! I can definitely see those colors reflected in the series after re-watching some of the episodes it is honestly the perfect description! She described the Featheringtons colors as a fruit basket and said that she had the most fun designing their over the top costumes. She told us that it was an experiment for her and her team to see how much they could add into the costumes and that even when they thought it was too much it ended up working. They layered jewelry and accessories as well. Butterflies are the mark of the Featherington house according to Ellen and they hid butterflies in the costumes "almost everywhere you could think of" she said to us. One of the examples of this I noticed was Penelope's dresses and accessories where she wears butterflies in her hair, on her wait, and even embellished on her dress. Ellen also talked about the fabric they used to create the exquisite designs. They combined different patterns and fabrics to create the myriad of styles and designs in each scene and had a team to hand embellish every costume! One thing I found really interesting is that Ellen said that the break between the historical styles and the styles in the show was the weight of the fabric. Since the characters in the show have a lot of movement Ellen and her team made sure to use lightweight fabrics that would flow elegantly and be easy to move in. Apparently regency fabrics were much heavier so thank goodness we have modern fabrics now! She did mention that of all the characters Queen Charlotte's costumes probably ended up being the heaviest because her outfits and hair had to be the most over the top. She said the piece the actors found most annoying about their costumes were the corsets which every woman in the show wore. I can definitely imagine how wearing an authentic corset would get old but wow what an experience!
Ellen also talked about the making of the show. As the first hire she was able to integrate her vision for the costumes and the inspiration she used into other aspects of the show. She talked about the great teamwork on the production team and how everyone worked together to create a cohesive vision. The costume team was able to work together with the production design staff to match the colors for each scene and even make sure that the characters homes reflected their personalities as much as their wardrobe. I noticed that right away about the show and I honestly love this idea it really makes you feel like you are in a whole other world while watching the show. She also revealed that the show was actually shot in many of the most famous historic homes and palaces in England. She said that the sets they created in the studio were mostly the family homes and most other scenes were actually shot on location! She described it as the show that traveled across England and I am over here getting more and more jealous of the Bridgerton cast!
Ellen talked about the research she did before starting her design process and she pointed out that her objective was to create a whole fantasy world for the Bridgetons rather than to be confined to being historically accurate all the time. She said she was actually inspired by multiple decades including the 60s and even used the Chanel Spring Summer 2019 collection for fabric inspiration. She said that the royal and decadent feel of the Chanel collection was great for what she was going for in the Bridgerton series. I am definitely going to be taking another look at that collection now because who doesn't want to feel like a member of the "ton" even in the modern day!
Ellen also talked about how she communicated each character's unique personality and eccentricities using accessories and jewelry. All the jewelry was custom designed and filled with sparkly jewels. She described it as the "exclamation point at the end of the sentence" on her characters. She talked about how Daphne's character was inspired by Audrey Hepburn's style so her accessories were very understated and delicate while the featheringtons were more baroque. And of course the queen had the most of everything. Another thing that Ellen explained was why the Queen's style and waistlines were so different from the other characters in the show. This was another really interesting point to me because I noticed it right away while watching and was wondering why the Queen was not "in style" like the rest of the ton. However Ellen explained that this was actually a historically accurate depiction since the Queen during the Regency era never changed her waistline after getting married and becoming queen so when the waistlines rose she kept her dresses the same. I honestly love this and find it so inspiring that even back then this Queen was all about waring what she looked best in and embracing personal style so I love that they kept it in the show as well!
All in all this panel was super fun and informative. I loved getting to see behind the scenes of one of my favorite shows and I came away with some style inspo of my own for recreating some Bridgerton style.
