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Since Bridgerton’s premiere, costumes have enlivened the series’ fantastical take on Regency-era England — one motorized wig and pearl engagement ring at a time. In Season 4, the stunning sartorial world-building continues, and for this latest installment, the costume designers, embellishers, milliners, jewelry makers, and hair-and-makeup designers up their creative ante, starting with the Bridgertons’ jaw-dropping masquerade ball in Episode 1.
For this party, which sets up the season’s main love story between Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), the costume team — which includes costume designerJohn Glaser, associate costume designer Dougie Hawkes, and assistant costume designer George Sayer — created 172 unique looks, while hair and makeup designer Nic Collins and his team assembled approximately 160 wigs. The opulent occasion is a season highlight for sure, but the fashion feats don’t stop there.
Keep scrolling to explore some of the most elaborate looks from Bridgerton Season 4, including the masquerade attire of Sophie, Benedict, and Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel), as well as the queen’s fabulous day wear, through exclusive up-close and detailed photos of the gowns, wigs, jewels, and more.
THE
MASQUERADE BALL
SOPHIE and BENEDICT’S MASQUERADE OUTFITS
Forced to serve as a maid for her stepmother and stepsisters after her father, Lord Penwood (Arthur Lee), dies, noble-born Sophie is torn between two worlds. The Bridgertons’ masquerade ball, however, is her first chance to step fully into her rightful role. “We wanted Sophie to have a moment to feel beautiful and like a princess,” showrunner Jess Brownell, who also wrote Episode 1, says of the character’s initial appearance as the “Lady in Silver.” Because of her social standing, Sophie can’t be named “the diamond of the season,” but she can shine like one.
As a brand-new character and the season’s romantic lead, Sophie needs to grab the attention of both the viewers and the rakish Benedict the moment she first appears onscreen, even with her identity concealed under a mask. To achieve that eye-catching aim, Glaser requested a lot of sparkle, and the embellishers delivered.
“For Sophie’s dress, we created tiny appliqués, beaded with sequins, bugle beads, and seed beads, and gave final touches with crystal beads and a sparkle pleated tulle in every single appliqué,” says head embellisher Maria Gomez Patino. “We used a lot of Swarovski crystals as well — hundreds of crystals.” The process of beading and manipulating fabric by hand, “took ages,” according to senior embellisher Jack Hopkins, and six people worked on the gown at once, continuously layering handmade frills. “This had to be the showstopper,” says Hopkins. “It was her first time coming out into the world, and she really needed to shine.”
In Julia Quinn’s third book, An Offer from a Gentleman, which Season 4 is based on, the gown Sophie wears to the masquerade ball originally belonged to her grandmother. In the series, however, it was once Sophie’s aunt’s dress, allowing for a slightly more modern design. Sayer used Italian silver lamé chiffon and a structured sleeve with a cream base to make the look feel fresh but still romantic.
While Sophie’s attire was meant to stand out, Benedict’s served a more nuanced purpose. “He has to wear the clothing, and it can’t wear him,” explain Glaser, Sayer, and Hawkes. “The goal is you don’t remember what he’s wearing to the ball — you remember him.” The inspiration for his understated but appealing look was the film Shakespeare in Love, and it was informed by the wardrobe department’s overall strategy for the leading man’s style this season. “We loosened him up, changed his color palette to dark teals and blues,” the team says. “It’s not a fancy Bridgerton boy, it’s a sexy Bridgerton man. [He’s wearing] open shirts, and he’s in the phase of being cavalier.”
According to Brownell, Hawkes, who oversaw the men’s costumes, in particular, is responsible for the alluring essence of this Bridgerton brother’s clothing. “He always brought a real flair to Benedict’s looks,” the showrunner says. “There’s a romantic sensibility with Benedict, as if he’s Byron — a poet or something. Benedict presents as an artist who really embraces who he is on the outside, in the way he swaggers and dresses and talks.”
SOPHIE’S MASK, SHOES, AND GLOVES
By its very nature, a masquerade ball calls for partygoers to dress as someone — or something. Costumes at Violet Bridgerton’s (Ruth Gemmell) event included a sheep, chess pieces, and the sun, among many more. But only Sophie needed to actually be in disguise, which made creating the right mask for her Lady in Silver look challenging. “It was a harder piece to work on because it had to do a lot more than the other masks,” says head milliner Sarah Blackmore. “Obviously, the viewer wants to be able to understand who she is, but we want it to be believable that Benedict might not know.”
After some initial trial and error with a smaller mask made of lace, the team landed on a demi-mask adorned with what Brownell calls “magical little touches,” which Sophie would have thrown on at the last minute. “The idea is that she made it really quickly before she came to the masquerade.” For those fairy tale accents, the embellishers were again brought in. “To make sure the dress and mask coordinated, we used the same elements and crystals and lace,” says Gomez Patino.
The dress is period, and the shoes are fantasy.
The pumps that Sophie borrows without permission from Lady Penwood are emblematic of the luxuries of society that have always been just out of reach for the well-educated maid, and they were created by a brand that many in our modern world covet. “The shoes are a modified silver Jimmy Choo heel,” Glaser, Sayer, and Hawkes say. “This show falls between period and fantasy. The dress is period, and the shoes are fantasy.” For an added pop — and as an important plot device — the already flashy heels were also bedecked with shiny shoe clips. “John Glaser was very specific about how the shoe clips should look and that they would play a key role in the story,” says jeweler Helen Christie. Like with much of the jewelry featured this season, the shoe clips have a 1940s-inspired design and are “shield-shaped.”
Like with the shoes, the costume department drew inspiration from another designer brand for Sophie’s gloves. They feature a monogram, the design of which is a blend of modern luxury design and the Penwood family crest. And, the fabric chosen for the gloves isn’t actually period-accurate. “Then they would have been leather, and that doesn’t look good on camera,” the costume team explains. “To make the glove spark, we had to find the right material — an old satin.”
BENEDICT’S MASK AND BRACELET
Using casts of Luke Thompson’s face created by the hair and makeup team, Blackmore and the other milliners were able to create a molded domino mask for his Bohemian character. The size and shape are very similar to many of the masks worn by the other partygoers, but Benedict’s was made of leather, so it stood out slightly but didn’t pull too much focus. “It was meant to fit him perfectly and allow a romantic, masculine feel, but be quite simple so that it didn’t take away too much from Sophie, for example, or the rest of his outfit or his face,” says Blackmore.
At the start of the series, jewelry head Lorenzo Mancianti was asked to create a bracelet for Benedict that the character would wear at all times, for an unspecified sentimental reason. “In this period, everything had a reason,” he explains. “This is important. It is his signature.” In the Regency period, a bracelet like this would have likely been made from hair — often of a deceased loved one — but this one was created with wax thread. And because Benedict wears it in every single scene, the jewelry department crafted four identical versions. Mancianti identifies the piece, with its intricate gold braid, as one of the most difficult to make this season.
THE
QUEEN’S MASQUERADE LOOK
For most of the attendees, Violet’s masquerade ball is about escapism. With the illusion of anonymity, they can enjoy themselves more fully, free from the pressures and expectations of the ton. But as the one who oversees society and sets those very expectations, the queen has no need or desire to hide her face. “At the masquerade ball, Queen Charlotte is quite defiant, actually,” Rosheuvel says. “She refuses to wear a mask. She’s the queen.”
“There’s no point trying to disguise the queen,” Blackmore concurs. “She wouldn’t really take part in the festivities. She may attend a ball, but she wouldn’t necessarily cover her face, because it’s a little below her.”
Even without a mask, Queen Charlotte’s masquerade look is, of course, exquisite. And, like with so many of her costumes, her wig is the centerpiece. Featuring a heart-shaped outer cage crafted from hair and silver leaf, this wig is a nod to her enduring devotion to George and his love of astronomy. “Queen Charlotte’s cage is a star formation from the constellation,” says Collins. “Inside this cage, there is a replica of the nuptial crown that George gifted to her, also made from hair.”
QUEEN CHARLOTTE’S MASQUERADE DRESS
“She’s not dressed in a costume at the mask ball,” Mancianti points out, adding that the outfit is still “very queeny.” The jewelry team chose floral pieces, including a necklace and bracelet, to match the hand-painted flowers on the fabric of the dress. The gown’s ornamentation — particularly the bows that frame the bodice and cascade down the opening of the overskirt — reflects the embellishment team’s sculptural approach to their Season 4 wardrobe work as a whole. “This season was more couture, it was more structural,” says Gomez Patino. “Even the bows weren’t just bows.”
QUEEN CHARLOTTE’S MASQUERADE NECKLACe
THE
QUEEN’S DAY LOOKS
THE “TREE OF LIFE” WIG
Her Majesty is dressed to impress every single day — not just when she’s attending a ball. This season, she wears 19 different wigs, and most of them are cage wigs. “Queen Charlotte never repeats a look,” says assistant hair and makeup designer Giorgio Galliero. “She has a new wig for every story day. If you see the wig in more than one scene, it’s because it’s the same sequence.” This wig, known as the “Tree of Life,” features 13 branches, each representing one of Queen Charlotte’s children. The acrylic gray hair is intricately braided upward to form the shape of a tree. It’s an artistic take on the Apollo knot, a top knot-style trend that began to rise in popularity around 1815.
QUEEN CHARLOTTE’S DAY WEAR
“The Queen is just gorgeous this season. She has the most amazing dresses,” says Gomez Patino. “Every single dress of the Queen’s just blows your mind for sure, especially if you see the details. Sometimes people will see it, sometimes not, but we put a lot of technique in.” One such technique used by the embellishment team this season is called ronghua, the creation of flowers from fabric and metal.
The jewelry department crafted more than 700 pieces for Season 4, each following Glaser’s “eclectic” direction. Among Queen Charlotte’s collection were giant jeweled necklaces, rings, and brooches, and much of the jewelry was from the 1940s and 50s.
See these costumes and more at the Bridgerton masquerade ball and beyond on Netflix, now streaming. And once you’re done, debrief the romance with host Alison Hammond on Bridgerton: The Official Podcast.