The inspirations were drawn from Bridgerton 4.
Sophie’s costumes in Bridgerton were also inspired by Yerin Ha’s South Korean heritage
The costume designer added some Korean influences to Sophie’s outfits in a special shout-out to the actor’s heritage.
“Her necklace is based on an Asian necklace that’s amethyst, which is the stone of Korea. That’s a little tiny Easter egg to her history that her mother gave her,” costumer John Glaser told The Kit.
Yerin added to Refinery29: “The fact that the costume department even thought about that and nailed the details, it just goes to show how much thought goes into everything, from the set to the costumes.”
Araminta’s look in Bridgerton season 4 was also inspired by someone from modern times
Sophie’s “evil” stepmother Araminta Gun (played by Katie Leung), does something no woman has ever done before in all four seasons of the period drama.
“As far as women in Bridgerton, she’s our first character to wear black,” Glaser told The Kit.
The decision to dress Araminta in black was not because she was supposed to come across as evil, though. Instead, her dark attire represents the fact she’s a widow, who feels separated from the rest of society.
“Her shape and silhouette aren’t Regency – it’s a little 1820 mixed with 1970,” Glaser told Vogue. “We gave her as much texture and subtle sparkle as possible – it’s like this reflective shield that she’s wearing, it’s her armour.
“She has a stronger silhouette than other characters and we never see her skin.”
Showrunner Jess Brownell compared Araminta to Anna Wintour, telling Vogue: “Anna, when you see her walking down the street, you know right away who she is. You’re not afraid of her, but you’re going to respect her. You see her coming and you better be ready. She’s a strong person.”
The costumes at Bridgerton’s first masquerade ball were supposed to look ‘mismatched’
The scene of Benedict and Sophie’s first meeting was an elaborate feast for the eyes, with Bridgerton’s resident costume designer creating more than 172 costumes for the scene.
Costumer John Glaser has opened up how they put together the looks for the masquerade, telling Town & Country: “We actually thought the people from the town would come to the ball, so it would be a mixed match of everything, which is what we tried to do.
“We just thought of each person that would come, what they would make up at home. It’s not a Halloween party, but at a Halloween party, everybody has made their clothes or borrowed clothes. It’s just a mismatch stuff. And we wanted it to be exotic.”
As for the wigs, the team made 160 in total for the scene, with the most elaborate one being worn by Queen Charlotte.
Her elaborate design featured “a heart-shaped outer cage crafted from hair and adorned with silver leaf, and inside sits a replica of the nuptial crown that George gifted her – also made from hair”.
This was a nod to the queen’s late husband, and the Bridgerton prequel Queen Charlotte which followed the couple in their younger years.
The set of the Bridgerton masquerade ball was inspired by one literary classic in particular
It wasn’t just the costumes that the team put immense detail into for the ball scene.
The production designer, Alison Gartshore, themed the masquerade set around William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, adding lots of drapes to the dream-like setting alongside white florals.
Gartshore explained to Town & Country that the flowers were meant to feel like “the servants had gone out into the estate and just got whatever they could find – ivy, twigs, birds’ nests, the odd horn here and there, and they really kind of woven these garlands together from their own land”.
“All the florals had to be white because we wanted to look sort of moonlight flavour to it,” she continued. “It ended up looking really quite magical.”