16 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets About “Bridgerton”’s Extravagant Costumes

Beyond the dramatic storylines and steamy romances, the historical series is known for its detailed and colorful outfits

As fans of the hit period drama know, a lot goes into the costumes on Netflix's Bridgerton.

Cast member Luke Thompson will be the next Bridgerton sibling to feature notable outfits front-and-center on the series as his character, Benedict, will take over as the romantic lead in season 4. According to Tudum, the next chapter sees Benedict Bridgerton "loath to settle down" until he meets a woman known as the Lady in Silver (played by Bridgerton newcomer Yerin Ha).

Set in fictionalized 1813 Regency England, the lavish and elegant 19th-century wardrobe is full of the frills and thrills you'd expect of that time. Think pastels, dainty embroidery, empire silhouettes, delicate lace, intricate brocade, puff sleeves and, yes, plenty of bling. However, on the Shonda Rhimes-created series, each costume designer, including season 1's Ellen Mirojnick, season 2's Sophie Canale and season 3's John Glaser, has given the luxe clothing a modern update to bring all the drama, formal balls and courtships to life.

Speaking to Shondaland ahead of season 4, Thompson shared that he's looking forward to the "wardrobe regeneration" that comes with each season.

"One of my favorite things about being on this show is coming in and having a fitting and watching tailors argue about the collar being one centimeter up or down," he explained. "There is real artistry and effort that goes in to those things that you just sort of glimpse past on-screen."

Read ahead for the most interesting tidbits the cast and costume designers have revealed about the Regency-era outfits on the beloved show, from the painful corsets to the symbolism behind each character's color palette.

The outfits are a mix of Regency era and modern-day looks

When creating the costumes for Bridgerton, Mirojnick told Vogue in 2020 that she looked at the Regency period in London for silhouettes and shapes and modern-day fashion for the color palette and fabrications.

"I looked at the Regency period in London through drawings and paintings. We got a flavor of it, and then it was about looking at the different silhouettes and shapes while knowing that this had to be aspirational as opposed to historically accurate," Mirojnick said.

She continued, "We knew that we had to shift the color palette and the fabrications, so from the 19th century, I immediately went to the 1950s and 1960s. The Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition at [London's] Victoria & Albert Museum provided a wealth of inspiration. We looked at Dior dresses, from the New Look [1947] to the present day."

The feathers are a nod to the bonnets of the time period

While bonnets were all the rage in the Regency era, the show opted not to use them on the show. Instead, they gave a nod with various hair accessories.

"We took that half-moon shape and created these straw [pieces] accented with flowers or feathers that sit on top of the head. Another no-no was muslin dresses. There's a limpness to them that we didn't want," Mirojnick told Vogue.

The process of design to execution for costumes is about 40 days

Charithra Chandran (Edwina Sharma) told PEOPLE that the process of "design to execution" for the costumes is about 40 days.

"It was like the first time I felt really emotional on set was when I tried on my first dress," she said.

Mirojnick previously told Vogue that creating the costumes for season 1 "took five months to prepare before [they] went to shoot."

The team designed and created 7,500 costume pieces for season 1

Mirojnick revealed the costume team created "about 7,500 pieces — from hats to shawls, to overcoats — that made up the [estimated] 5,000 costumes that went before the camera."

Daphne had 104 dresses on season 1

Mirojnick divulged to Vogue that of those 5,000 costumes, leading lady Daphne (played by Dynevor) had 104 in total.

Most of the corsets used on the show were half corsets

Many cast members have talked about how uncomfortable the corsets were on the show, but according to Harper's Bazaar, the actors only wear half corsets, which extend to the top of the ribs.

"The corsets were made so that there is a pushup and a blossoming effect on top of the top of the neckline," Mirojnick told the publication in 2020.

Queen Charlotte's outfits are double corseted

Queen Charlotte's extravagant looks involve a lot of work.

"I'm double corseted, so I have the traditional corset, and then, in the coat, there's a corset that I have to wear," Golda Rosheuvel, who plays the royal on the show, told PEOPLE.

With so many different components going into her looks, Rosheuvel added that she has "a lot of training" to carry herself in her costumes, including working out three times a week, eating healthy and getting a lot of fresh air.

"I have to be match fit because it is a whole heap of strain, a whole heap of tension [and] a whole heap of restriction on the body," the actress added.

The costumes are actually pretty comfortable

Despite the corsets being somewhat painful at times, Claudia Jessie (Eloise Bridgerton) told PEOPLE that "the costumes themselves are very comfortable."

"The action is going on underneath," she added. "What I do have is Spanx tights and then a mic pack on my thigh, so actually, my biggest struggle is going for a wee."

The 'Bridgerton' family's muted color palette symbolizes their prominence in society

"They're the prominent family of the social season, so we wanted their color palette to be powdery — these pale blues, silvers and greens that feel like whispers of color," Mirojnick told Vogue.

The Featherington family's bright color palette symbolizes their brazenness

Directly contrasting the Bridgerton family, the Featheringtons wear bright colors because they want to be seen.

"The Featheringtons are new money, and [the mother] Portia [played by Polly Walker] needs to marry her daughters off," Mirojnick told Vogue.

The costume designer continued, "She sets the tone for them as a family, and their color palette is overly citrus because she wants those girls to be seen. It might be too much, but that's not on purpose. She thinks they look beautiful. Portia wears these prints, and, often, you're not sure if she's more like Joan Collins or Elizabeth Taylor."

"They're bolder, brighter and more brazen than everyone else, and everything is overly embellished. They just don't know any better," Mirojnick added.

Daphne's purple wardrobe symbolizes her marriage to Simon

While each family member has a specific color palette, the characters' individual costumes are also purposeful.

"As Daphne gets older, the colors become duskier. The pinks and blues are richer, and the silvers deepen as she grows and matures. She begins as a porcelain doll and becomes a woman," Mirojnick told Vogue.

Once she marries Simon (Regé-Jean Page), she begins wearing more purple, which symbolizes the mixture of her family's blue hues and Simon's red wardrobe.

Eloise's outfits are supposed to juxtapose Daphne's

Unlike her sister Daphne, Eloise's character is a nonconformist regarding society's ideals of what a woman should be, and her outfits portray that.

"She resisted society, either with the length of her dresses or the simplicity of how she presented herself and the tailored-ness of her clothes compared to all the other women in the show," Mirojnik told HelloGiggles in 2021. "She hated the bows, the frills, the lace — anything that was prissy. She's always buttoned up."

Mirojnik said that Eloise's outfits also "ride the line of masculine and feminine," noting, "Her inserts were made of a self-stripe pattern, which is more masculine than feminine."

She added, "There was one jacket in particular that she wore at the modiste, which was taken from a man's takeaway."

Penelope's yellow outfits foreshadow her secret identity

As HelloGiggles reported, Penelope's (Nicola Coughlan) yellow outfits symbolize her lack of courage or being too "yellow-bellied" to express her true feelings for Colin.

The publication noted that, like the Featheringtons, she wears bright colors, but her outfits are less "garish" and "obnoxious" than those of her sisters and mother. This perhaps foreshadows her role as Lady Whistledown since she can blend in with the crowd and not be identified as the infamous gossip writer.

Queen Charlotte's many looks portray the "gaudiness of the society"

"The remit for the queen was that she didn't have any continuity," Rosheuvel explained in a Netflix clip in 2021. "So every single shot that you see her in, she's in something different. So that drove a kind of character choice as well about the gaudiness of the society."

The scoop necks play into the sexiness of the show

"We paid a lot of attention to the scooped necklines and how they fit the bust, as opposed to having a [straight] line that doesn't allow you to see the body," Mirojnick told Vogue.

She continued, "This show is sexy, fun and far more accessible than your average restrained period drama, and it's important for the openness of the necklines to reflect that. When you go into a close-up, there's so much skin. It exudes beauty."

Simone Ashley's corset made her tear her shoulder

In 2022, Simone Ashley, who plays Kate Sharma, opened up about the "interesting" experience of wearing a corset every day while filming season 2.

"On my first day, I was like, 'OK, first day as a leading lady, got to eat lots of food, be really energized,' " she told Glamour UK. "So, I had this massive portion of salmon, and that's when I needed to be sick, basically because I was wearing the corset."

Ashley added, "I realized when you wear the corset, you just don't eat. It changes your body. I had a smaller waist very momentarily. Then, the minute you stop wearing it, you're just back to how your body is. I had a lot of pain with the corset, too, I think I tore my shoulder at one point!"

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