{"id":246023,"date":"2026-01-22T11:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/246023\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:24:10","slug":"the-bridgerton-costume-designers-on-how-they-reinvented-period-romance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/246023\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bridgerton costume designers on how they reinvented period romance"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Bridgerton returns to our screens, Lady Whistledown\u2019s gossip is one hook of the historical romance, but the show\u2019s fashion has become another central obsession.<\/p>\n

When it comes to Regency-era costuming, Bridgerton is constantly trying to make its clothes feel new yet timely.\u00a0 For season four \u2013 which returns to Netflix in two parts, January 29 and February 26 \u2013 designers drew upon one of the most sensual garments in period drama history: Mr Darcy\u2019s wet shirt from 1995\u2019s BBC TV series Pride and Prejudice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Colin Firth made the men\u2019s period full-sleeve shirt iconic for the Mr Darcy moment,\u201d says Bridgerton\u2019s men\u2019s associate designer, Dougie Hawkes. \u201cI was involved in that [1995 Pride and Prejudice production] many, many years ago, but I think ever since then, I\u2019ve always wanted to better it personally.\u201d<\/p>\n

That ambition comes to fruition in Bridgerton season four, through the protagonist, Benedict, played by Luke Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been, since season one, trying to perfect the men\u2019s shirt in its betrayal within Bridgerton, and I think we finally got there this season,\u201d Hawkes says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Luke Thompson\u2019s pulled it off for the lake sequence, which you will see in this one. I think it really just, literally, the shirt looks fabulous, and it\u2019s, I\u2019m very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bridgerton.<\/p>\n

Luke Thompson (Benedict Bridgerton) in Hawkes\u2019 shirt design (Liam Daniel\/Netflix\/PA)<\/p>\n

It is a detail that neatly captures what Bridgerton does best \u2013 taking something rooted in period drama and reimagining it through a modern lens and fantasy. As John Glaser, the lead costume designer for this season, puts it, pure, historical accuracy is \u201cnot what the show is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawkes sums it up more expansively, noting that \u201cJohn [Glaser] has bought the word spectacular to design of Bridgerton, and I think that is the best word to sum it all up [\u2026] as a viewer, you really should want to see something that\u2019s spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n

Season four embodies that ethos more than ever before. For the first time, Bridgerton properly ventures below stairs \u2013 into kitchens, corridors and servants\u2019 quarters \u2013 asking its costume designers to make two worlds coexist.<\/p>\n

\"Bridgerton.<\/p>\n

Season four explore the servant\u2019s quarters, \u201cdownstairs\u201d, for the first time (Liam Daniel\/Netflix\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen [we were presented] with the scripts and the outlines, it was obvious that it had a new dynamic compared with previous seasons,\u201d Hawkes explains. \u201cThere was a lot more contrast between the glamorous pools, and we were now introduced to what goes on below stairs. So that dynamic was a very new thing for us [\u2026] We had to present it to the viewers as a new thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Glaser, that shift was an opportunity: \u201cWe also had to make [it clear that] the downstairs [is] as interesting as the upstairs has always been, which was a nice challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The difficulty lay in getting the balance right. \u201cIt was blending the fantasy of the upstairs with the reality of the downstairs. So a new area for us to balance the two worlds,\u201d says Glaser. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t be so extreme that they didn\u2019t work together, but they still had to look and appear differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crucially, \u2018downstairs\u2019 in Bridgerton is never dull.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot at all,\u201d Glaser insists, when asked whether it meant toning down the flair. \u201cBecause we set boundaries. You know, how far you can go with the downstairs, [but it] still had to be glamorous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawkes agrees that it \u201cwasn\u2019t as gritty as perhaps it would have been [\u2026] the apron bows were all very designed and precise, whereas maybe, in reality, it would be just a string [\u2026] but that\u2019s the fun of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Glaser puts it, \u201cA lot of things that would have just been functional [\u2026] were functional, but at the same time they were pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bridgerton.<\/p>\n

Ribbons and scalloped trims were used in the servants\u2019 costumes (Liam Daniel\/Netflix\/PA)<\/p>\n

Transformation remains central to Bridgerton\u2019s appeal. Much like Penelope Featherington\u2019s transformation in season three, Glaser teases \u201cthe introduction to other Penwood girls\u201d, but it is the men who experience the most radical shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was one season where the men, especially [Benedict], got to make that transformation, which Dougie [Hawkes] did miraculously, because he freed them up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawkes\u2019 approach to Benedict was rooted in romanticism. \u201cBecause he\u2019s the artist, he\u2019s the romantic, you know, I took him, I tried to push him to the limits of being the kind of Pre-Raphaelite, if you like, and softened him right up. I wanted to make less is more, it\u2019s romantic without being over thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bridgerton.<\/p>\n

Characters Sophie Baek and Benedict Bridgerton in season four (Liam Daniel\/Netflix\/PA)<\/p>\n

Another pivotal journey belongs to Sophie, the illegitimate daughter of Richard Gunningworth, Earl of Penwood, who is introduced this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other transformation would have been Sophie, because she had to travel back and forth between the two worlds,\u201d Glaser says. Hawkes adds, \u201cWe see her in at least three different households, because she moves employment, which is great and will catch the viewers out no end.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is the first time the series has asked a character to truly live in both realms.<\/p>\n

Colour continues to symbolise power, personality and place throughout the different households.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still use the original colour palette from season one,\u201d Glaser explains, \u201cbut saying that, as the characters have matured and developed, our colour palette has matured and developed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bridgerton.<\/p>\n

The designers say the colour palette has matured in season four (Liam Daniel\/Netflix\/PA)<\/p>\n

The signals are subtle and perhaps not as overt as Penelope Featherington\u2019s transformation from yellow to emerald green. When a character enters the Penwood house, says Glaser, \u201c[they\u2019ll] add pink to the aprons, and pink to their hair, to their head pieces \u2013 but [it\u2019s] not blatant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawkes points to a seasonal shift too. The previous seasons have often been filmed in spring, but for season four, it was autumn. \u201cWe wanted to bring those richer, darker, golden leaf colours, if you like, into the costume,\u201d he says, \u201cand that\u2019s very, very evident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bridgerton.<\/p>\n

The designers leant into a more autumnal colour palette for this season, as revealed in Lady Danbury\u2019s attire ( Liam Daniel\/Netflix\/PA)<\/p>\n

Modernity seeps in through details, too. \u201cWith the guys, I\u2019ve really picked on pop culture and art culture and fashion culture,\u201d Hawkes explains, \u201cjust in men\u2019s jewellery.\u201d<\/p>\n

While \u201cwe don\u2019t make an attempt to put an Easter Egg [a symbolic item] in. It just kind of happens naturally,\u201d Glaser says, he does reveal a possible Easter Egg to look out for in the first episode\u2019s masked ball: \u201cSomething that we want to see, if people actually see, is that Benedict has a bracelet. We\u2019ve never used a bracelet on any man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawkes contextualises it: \u201cHistorically, it is there [\u2026] mostly used as a remembrance thing [\u2026] but it\u2019s a piece that I think brings it well up to date.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bridgerton.<\/p>\n

A man\u2019s bracelet is incorporated into the costuming for the first time (Liam Daniel\/Netflix\/PA)<\/p>\n

What unites every decision is a refusal to settle. \u201cWe never give up, and we\u2019re always looking for the better option,\u201d Hawkes says. Whether it is fastenings, trousers or collars, refining is constant.<\/p>\n

As Glaser notes, the series format allows evolution: \u201cWe never like to go fall on our laurels, we\u2019re always looking at it [\u2026] and trying to perfect it and make it look better.\u201d<\/p>\n

That relentless pursuit leads back, inevitably, to the shirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve stopped using white because just it doesn\u2019t [work] well enough,\u201d Glaser says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t film well enough for us, and it just doesn\u2019t fit into the Bridgerton look anymore [\u2026] we\u2019ve taken the shirts into [more] pastel colours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bridgerton.<\/p>\n

Hawkes and Glaser have stopped using white in the men\u2019s shirts (Liam Daniel\/Netflix\/PA)<\/p>\n

In Bridgerton, even a simple shirt carries the weight of romance and reinvention. Season four promises to do the same for the ton around it \u2013 upstairs, downstairs and everywhere in between.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Bridgerton returns to our screens, Lady Whistledown\u2019s gossip is one hook of the historical romance, but the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[10488,143775,156,143774,139017,1094,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-246023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bridgerton","9":"tag-dougie-hawkes","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-john-glaser","12":"tag-luke-thompson","13":"tag-netflix","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}