‘Bridgerton’s Costume Team Preview Inspirations Behind Season 4’s Masquerade Looks
Preview
On an ordinary day in October 2024 crew goes about their work day on the Shepperton Studios lot, but inside the soundstages, something magical is unfolding as Bridgerton‘s Season 4 masquerade ball is filmed.
TV Insider and Swooon were on site to observe the event and caught up with the creatives who helped bring the epic sequence to life. Thrown into the middle of the enchanting production, we saw extras aplenty donning some of the most fascinating costumes, ranging from sheep, chess pieces, and a rabbit to a horse, sun, and a phoenix, and these aren’t even a fraction of 172 looks crafted by the costume team, and that doesn’t even account for Season 4’s leading pair, Benedict (Luke Newton) and Sophie (Yerin Ha), who were present in all their fairytale glory.
And the theme for the event held by Lady Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell)? Midnight in a Woodland Forest, inspired by the fantasy and magic of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Utilizing antique pieces from the 1930s and 1950s throughout the ball, including Francesca’s (Hannah Dodd) necklace, the costume team delivers a dazzling dreamworld where one can actually believe in love at first sight.
As fans of both the show and Julia Quinn’s book, An Offer From a Gentleman, know, Benedict will encounter the mesmerizing Lady in Silver at his mother’s ball, unaware of her true identity as a maid named Sophie Baek. While Season 4 makes way for plenty of upstairs-downstairs dynamics, the masquerade is all about fantasy.
In the book, Sophie’s gown is found in an old trunk and is described as being an older style, but that didn’t exactly work for the show, as costume designer John Glaser shares, “We actually tried that, and it didn’t look right. It looked out of place. We needed something that looked good on her that blended in with the rest of our cast and the other people at the ball.”
George Sayer, who serves as assistant costume designer, shares that “we did have a historical reference that we looked at, but it was still with an empire line, and that was the starting point for that.” In other words, Sophie adheres to the Regency era style, so she looks of the period, but Glaser admits it was important that “she has to stand out from the other people.”
Meanwhile, when determining Sophie’s Lady in Silver mask, Glaser says, “We actually started with a smaller, more delicate mask, but… the whole story is based on Benedict not recognizing her. We had to go with a larger mask that hid her cheeks, so you don’t see her facial expressions, you just see her lips, and you see her eyes, and that’s driven by the story.” The smaller mask they originally planned on “wouldn’t have served the purpose of the storytelling,” Glaser reiterates.
And for any fans concerned about Benedict seeming silly because he can’t remember Sophie after the ball, Glaser points out that “We’re lucky in the fact that we also made [several attendees] that have masks which are kind of the same shape as hers,” noting that she’s “A little camouflaged in there.”
As for Season 4’s leading man, the costume team admits there isn’t much of a theme going on, but there was a particular inspiration that aligns with the ball’s Shakespearean theme. “We know he’s a bit of a romantic, he’s a bit of a poet, he’s a bit of a writer, and a painter, and his whole bohemian lifestyle was quite key,” assistant costume designer Dougie Hawkes explains. “So I decided to do a whole Shakespearean bard feel to him.” In particular, Hawkes cites, “We decided on paying a bit more of an homage to something like Shakespeare in Love and created that sort of Joseph Fiennes, devil-may-care poet look.” The black color comes from the pages of Quinn’s book.
Part of the reason the team didn’t put too much theme into the look, Glaser says, is because Thompson, “He’s a natural sexual idol. He’s got a great charisma, you don’t have to do a lot… It’s one of those classic cases where he wears the costume, the costume doesn’t wear him.”
Regarding Francesca and her husband John’s (Victor Alli) looks, Glaser points out, “She’s unthemed, she and her husband don’t have that much imagination.” As TV Insider observed on set, Francesca’s pink ball gown is rather simple, as is John’s black suit, but upon closer observation, his mask offers a little something extra. “It’s a little Celtic tweak,” Hawkes points out regarding John’s tartan-patterned mask, an homage to his home in Scotland.
Violet Bridgerton’s look, on the other hand, is inspired by the ball’s theme, “She’s Titania, Queen of the fairies from A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Sayer explains. “She was scripted. She started off as Queen Elizabeth I, but they were like, ‘That’s too severe, that doesn’t seem like her.'” Glaser adds that they tried a Georgian character on her, but that didn’t work either. “And we fell upon Queen of the fairies.”
“We’re trying to make her softer and a little bit more romantic,” Sayer notes. “Because this season is… she is softer and more romantic,” Glaser adds.
As for Eloise (Claudia Jessie), we saw her Joan of Arc costume up close, noting the beaded detailing replacing chainmail, and the blue color swapped out for the silver armor one might typically find. “We wanted a bit of a combination between an evening dress and a character and armor,” Sayer shares. “We used that heavily beaded fabric to represent the chain mail, and then we had a brilliant friend of mine build her some armor to go over the top of it, so it was just a total hybrid between the two.”
Sayer adds that it was important to go with blue because “We didn’t want to distract from Sophie.” But, as Glaser points out, “it’s Bridgerton blue,” to which Sayer echoes, “it’s Bridgeton blue, yeah, with a bit of gold.”
Get ready to see even more costumes when Bridgerton Season 4 arrives, and stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes exclusives here on TV Insider and Swooon.
Bridgerton, Season 4, Part 1 Premiere, Thursday, January 29, Netflix
Bridgerton, Season 4, Part 2 Premiere, Thursday, February 26, Netflix
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