Glamour recently published a behind-the-scenes look at the costume design process for Bridgerton Season 4, primarily focusing on the elaborate, ostentatious masquerade ball designs.

Making Masquerade Magic

According to the costume designers, the Bridgerton style is “fantasy regency,” meaning it’s inspired by Regency-era fashion but in a way that suits the style rather than the period’s accuracy.

The show began in 1813 and is now set around 1817-1818, with all the season’s costumes based on historical and artistic research. Certain aspects of Bridgerton costuming are also heavily symbolic, such as the signature color schemes for different families and character hairstyles.

Costume designers estimated that they dressed between 180 to 200 actors for the masquerade ball. They also stated that at least 100 to 150 wigs were created solely for the ball.

“When I found out that the first event would be the Masquerade Ball for Season 4, we were really excited. It was great as a new team coming in to go straight into that level of creativity. It’s Regency characters going to a ball in fancy dress, their version of what their fancy dress would look like. So it’s really eclectic, each person has their own unique style for this ball or character that they base their costume upon,” stated Nic Collins, Hair and Makeup Designer, Bridgerton.

“If you went to a real masquerade ball today, some people would come in their street clothes, and some people would go crazy and have their costumes, and that’s what we wanted to show. Just that. Even though it looks fanciful, it’s based on what we thought people from the time would actually do,” stated John Glaser, Costume Designer, Bridgerton.

They designed a black costume for Benedict to contrast and highlight the brightness of the visionary Silver Lady costume. The design for Benedict was loosely based on Shakespeare, a nod to Benedict’s status as the artist and poet of the Bridgerton family.

Designers also noted Queen Charlotte’s wigs, which are as elaborate and creative as ever. Her wig for the Masquerade ball is a cage constructed entirely of real hair, representing the universe and stars. This alludes to her husband, George, who has a passion for astronomy. Inside the cage is a replica of one of the real Queen Charlotte’s crowns, which was given to her by King George.

“The process of making these wigs starts with the design. From the design, a cage maker comes in and builds the cage, which is what holds the hair. There’s a lot of hair to put on these. Then the design is broken down into elements. It can take 6-8 weeks to make all the elements. And then, eventually, when all elements are ready, the wig is assembled together and styled. She has 19 wigs altogether this season,” stated Collins.

Some rewrites were needed in order to get the design for Sophie’s masquerade dress just right. In the book, the dress Sophie wears belongs to her grandmother or the mother of Lord Penwood. However, after playing around with an earlier dress style and finding this didn’t work, they instead made the dress her aunt’s so that they could work with a Regency style instead.

Additional details of Sophie’s costume were also inspired by the character writing. For example, Sophie’s mask needed to cover most of her face so that it would make sense why Benedict’s character can’t recognize her. And the glove she wears is embroidered with a family crest on the inside, which is the clue he uses to trace it to the Penwood house. `

“I’m really hoping that the viewer just aesthetically thinks it’s like a dream. It doesn’t matter where the camera moves. There’s something to visually look at and in awe. Some of the style in the costumes, the detail, the room itself is beautiful, the interactions… It’s absolutely worth every minute of hard work,” stated Collins.