In the case of Bridgerton, the series starts in 1813. Terms of Use Get Your First Look at Shondaland's 'Bridgerton', Bridgerton Cast Questionnaire: Golda Rosheuvel, ‘Bridgerton’ Cast Questionnaire: Jonathan Bailey. The story behind the engagement ring Brooks Koepka designed for Jena Sims, Jason Sudeikis ‘100 percent knew’ his awards-show hoodies would go viral, Paulina Porizkova, 55, claps back at ageist critics of her lingerie photos, Cher slammed on social media for George Floyd tweet, Inside Queen Elizabeth’s close bond with her sister Princess Margaret, Pregnant Lauren Burnham and Arie Luyendyk Jr. planning move to Hawaii, Best star snaps of the week: Babes and their babies, © 2021 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, 63 million-plus households already watching Season 1, The 27 best celebrity bikini pictures of 2021 — so far, Grammys 2021 red carpet: See how celebrities dressed up for the show, The 21 best-dressed stars in Grammys red carpet fashion history, The best at-home looks from the Critics' Choice Awards red carpet. Even some historians have applauded it. But nobody was wearing a bonnet on a Shondaland show. It was a great layout for it, but also, it overwhelmed us; that’s when we realized this was going to be a lot of work.”. Daphne Bridgerton and her mother, Violet Bridgerton, attend to needlepoint in their drawing room. From bodice-ripping sex scenes to orchestral Ariana Grande songs, Netflix’s “Bridgerton” is definitely not your mother’s period piece. In our case, Mr. Pearl made the corset so that it rests on top of the ribs and has a half-cup that supports and lifts the bust so that you have a blossoming of the bosom. And when the principal photography for Bridgerton was released, it looked as if costume designer Ellen Mirojnick took Quinn’s descriptions to heart. They were half corsets, not going all the way to the waist, just sitting under the bust, and they have to have a cup in them that’s different from a Victorian corset, which molds the body to give it a tiny waist — like 19 inches. 'Bridgerton,' 'Schitt's Creek' and are among the sows and films that were announced as nominees for the 2021 Costume Design Guild Awards. “With the success, which is thrilling, we just don’t want it to look tired in two years,” Mirojnick explained, adding that she hopes audiences in 10 years will “dig it” the same way. And they had a choice to walk away at that point. And it was because of that shorthand from Still Star-Crossed we were all on the same page. Liam Daniel/Netflix Throughout the series, there is "synergy between the sets and the costumes," production designer Will Hughes-Jones told journalist Valentina Valentini Q&A … Bridgerton costume designer Ellen Mirojnick details how the costumes for the Netflix melodrama were created, how many there are in Season 1, and more. Bridgerton’s costume designer, Ellen Mirojnick, who worked on Shonda Rhimes’ How To Get Away With Murder, is profiled in Town and Country. EM: We did take certain shapes off of a bonnet to create other kinds of hairpieces or adornments in order to complete a look. That was the emphasis of the woman’s body at the time, your eye went directly to the top of her décolletage. “It’s a careful choreography that needs to be paid attention to. We draped, we had overlays, embellishments, and that experimentation led to our finished product, which was always meant to create an illusion romance, of fluidity. VV: What were the first steps to recreating that look to become what we see in Bridgerton? Do Not Sell My Personal Information. How does his shirt come off? Your Ad Choices His first wife, Empress Josephine, followed that style and the British took their fashion sense from Paris; that’s how it influenced London’s look. Then we broke it down into shapes, wildness and tameness. And while fictional gossip columnist Lady Whistledown has the scoop on court scandal, Mirojnick is the reigning expert when it comes to the show’s warehouse full of 7,500 costume pieces, all assembled by her team in the five months prior to filming. Bridgerton costume designer Ellen Mirojnick explains her spin on Regency style. “He still has his own style and his own independent point of view, but it [becomes] a little bit more married into the time that we are living in through the story.”. VV: What else did you do with fabrics and color and design to modernize the look? Calling all 'Bridgerton' fans! EM: That’s a perfect way to describe it. By Erica Gonzales I think that in one of the conversations I had with producer Betsy Beers and Chris we were thinking about colors like a sorbet, and also French macaron colors. The characters wear their finest clothes and jewelry in every episode. Also, enjoy the video featurette below that reveals the massive undertaking of dressing Bridgerton. JG: Bonnets bring everything down. We don’t really mix in the later decades of the 1800s, we stay below 1820 and keep within that feel of what Regency really is. While binge-watching eight episodes all at once may make it easy to pass-over the nuances, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick found subtle ways to build story through the sweeping gowns and flowery suits throughout. Her personal essays can be read in the Los Angeles Times and Longreads. “We only had a short two-week prep period on Still Star-Crossed,” remembers Mirojnick, who’s designed such notable projects as Behind the Candelabra, The Greatest Showman and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and received numerous accolades for her work in the New York fashion scene and beyond. “Although he is so much of a rogue and so handsome … how he evolves is that he becomes a bit more sophisticated,” said Mirojnick. This latest period-drama sensation is a frothy fantasy full of embellished ball gowns, extravagant jewellery and feathered headdresses. She has written for The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine and Variety, among others, and contributes to Shondaland.com regularly. But we just kind of forgot about that. The person responsible for these flamboyant outfits is 71-year-old New York native Ellen Mirojnick, the prolific costume designer behind cult hits such as Fatal Attraction (1987), Wall Street (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992). And you could see the flow of the styles. 9,008, This story has been shared 8,523 times. ELLEN MIROJNICK: One hundred percent. We basically painted the show. A typical Regency-era accessory. “There’s nobody in the world like [Mr. Pearl], no one.”. Ellen Mirojnick and John Glaser took Regency silhouettes, colors, and designs for both the women and men of 'Bridgerton' — and completely turned it all on its head. VV: What is the signature style of Regency London? Bridgerton Features 7,500 Glorious Costume Pieces Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick opens up about the grand endeavor of bringing the Netflix series to life. There’s something psychological about the bonnet that would never have worked in this show. The first season of Netflix's hit series "Bridgerton" is filled with lavish parties and balls. While Mirojnick originally looked to “probably every decade from 1813 forward” for ideas, the show’s distinctive looks are now making their mark on 2021. 250,052, This story has been shared 64,587 times. The enormity of the production lay partly in the fact that they essentially had to clothe the whole of London in 1813. That in itself is just words, but then when you put images to those colors it is so exhilarating. Costume designer Ellen Mirojnic is behind the opulent gowns and headpieces seen on the Bridgerton clan and their cohorts in this alternate-universe version of 19th-century high society London. And during that time surrounding the Napoleonic Wars, there was a shortage of luxurious fabrics, mostly silk, so designers used muslin and cotton. It’s always by color, shape and adornment. Liam Daniel/Netflix Throughout the series, there is "synergy between the sets and the costumes," production designer Will Hughes-Jones told journalist Valentina Valentini Q&A … “I was given the pilot script which ended up being our basis for the logistics, and the creative decisions happened more organically as we began to create the costumes,” says Mirojnick, whose two-story warehouse headquartered about 100 cutters, hands, embellishers, embroiderers, tailors, sewers, dyers, milliners and jewelry makers, all of whom worked together to create the confectionary costume look of Bridgerton. Things along those lines,” explained Mirojnick, who looked to showrunner Chris Van Dusen’s script for cues. EM: Everything really does go back to the Shondaland esthetic. I also looked at what resembles the period best in a modern sense. 11 December 2020 by Kara Kia. John and I really don’t like getting that call halfway through saying we need to pull back, and that never came. Don’t you think John? We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. Get Shondaland directly in your inbox: SUBSCRIBE TODAY, How 'Bridgerton' Pushed 'Period' to the Max, You’re Invited: Behind the Scenes of ‘Bridgerton’, This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. ‘We had to create a costume house that was making mens and womens clothing, inside and out, from underwear to shoes, there was nothing out there that we could use,’ she explained. ", Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window). We ended up using a lighter version of the classic British ceramicist’s Wedgwood blue — carved ceilings that looked like French pastry, wedding cakes, images that just felt like the Bridgerton world and the world of aristocracy. So, we decided on that Regency silhouette, which would be constant in both the male and female characters, and from there we used every single fabric we could find and every color, nothing was excluded at all. Does she rip it off, or does it come off? In Bridgerton, the use of color was an important way to both acknowledge the past, but to also draw in a modern audience. EM: The silhouette is similar to a Grecian silhouette. For the women, it’s an empire line, it’s very slim and it accentuates the cleavage. Bridgerton's Costume Designer Reveals How Dior and Chanel Inspired a Modern Regency Wardrobe. Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Your California Privacy Rights “We had a shorthand already and knew their aesthetic,” says Mirojnick, “so the overall feel of the show became clear just from one conversation with Chris.” Adds Glaser: “That script gave us the information needed for all eight episodes. In costume designer Ellen Mirojnick’s 30-year career, she’s never worked on a bigger or more ambitious project than Bridgerton. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. The Costume Designers Guild has revealed the nominees for its 23rd annual CDG Awards for film, TV and shortform. JG: That look comes from Napoleon’s obsession with Greek and Roman aesthetics. JOHN GLASER: It’s so true. Is it easy for his trousers to drop? Would you wear Lizzo’s butt-baring cutout dress? Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick reunited with executive producer Shonda Rimes for the innovative regency romance — and as the 63 million-plus households already watching Season 1 can attest, the show’s clothes are truly the “diamond of the season.”, “My main objective was to create a world that was aspirational, that I could take regency and twist it enough and be able to add modern elements,” Mirojnick told Page Six Style. EM: It was pretty spectacular — it was a little bit of both, exciting and daunting. Daphne Bridgerton and her mother, Violet Bridgerton, attend to needlepoint in their drawing room. Every item on this page was chosen by a Shondaland editor. EM: The second part was that we had to shift the color palette. Ahead of its Christmas Day release, Emmy Award-winning costume designer Ellen Mirojnick talks us through the series’ showstopping outfits. Over the course of the season, his steamy scenes required the costume team to consider not only how the characters dress, but also how they undress. Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and the Duke (Regé-Jean Page) donned dazzling costumes for the glamorous balls on "Bridgerton. EJ: First, we looked at paintings, fashion and other images online and any other place I could get them from the period. VALENTINA VALENTINI: It sounds like Chris Van Dusen really trusted you to just take the reins and go with the flow. Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick told Insider about the meaning behind each character's jewelry. When we needed to cheat, depending on who the character was, we would make a different corset to actually smooth the body underneath the dress so that we could make everybody look the best that they can look. With a large ensemble cast, it’s impressive to hear that Mirojnick created specific costumes for each of the principal players, from Daphne Bridgerton to Penelope Featherington. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. VV: You were able to get Mr. Pearl, the famous corset couturier. As for Daphne’s love interest, “Bridgerton’s” dreamy Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page)? The number and type of scenes that the scripts called for ranged from poor neighborhoods to lavish balls, from Hyde Park dueling grounds to Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. Take a look at the costumes from the hit Netflix series Bridgerton, and you might find yourself transported back to your childhood. Below, Shondaland talks in detail with Mirojnick and Glaser about Regency fashion, the painter who influenced their color palate and the famous corset maker they were able to snag. “We had to build everything from soup to nuts, from shoes to millinery, inside and out,” she explained, adding that she couldn’t possibly choose a favorite from the “visual feast” of the series’ 6,000 complete costumes. VV: What was the approach for the color palette for the two families? Then you have an image in your head of what it feels like. What was that like working with him? "Bridgerton's" incredible costumes are a huge reason why the show is one of the top original Netflix series of all time! "Bridgerton" costume designer Ellen Mirojnick discusses the secrets of the show's style — including how she created clothes for all those sex scenes. From the very first reading of the show’s outline, she and her co-designers John Glaser and John Norster knew their task was going to be on a grand scale — both in scope and look — but Mirojnick and Glaser had worked with Shondaland previously on the period romance Still Star-Crossed, so they were up for the challenge. In the weeks since the show’s release, “regencycore” corsets and dresses have reportedly begun trending. Maia Soltis, a junior in CFA studying costume design, said despite “Bridgerton”’s wardrobe straying from historical accuracy, she did not think it distracted from the performance but rather drew attention to the story. There’s so much contradiction between these two families, so we looked at how we could bring them together and how we could separate them. There’s hardly anything with a hard line — it’s all illusion and visual magic. This story has been shared 250,052 times. The men are dandies and that’s always fun to do because of the color combinations, the fabric combinations and the textures are very bold — they’re roguish and handsome at the same time. Costume designer Ellen Mirojnik spoke to HelloGiggles about the secret messages hidden in each character's wardrobe, from Daphne and … The costume designer estimated that the principal characters alone required roughly a thousand pieces. I do a lot of work based on intuition and feeling. We were able to hire the best artisans in London, and it is exciting to work in those circumstances. If we had all of those people and they were not as talented, it would have been a mess and a nightmare. Netflix’s new costume drama Bridgerton is a candy-coloured period piece with a difference — an irresistible romp populated by debutantes and dandies that throws off the shackles of the genre, combining diverse casting and queer romances with sex scenes that’d make Jane Austen blush.. But they didn’t. "Bridgerton" costume designer Ellen Mirojnick speaks to L'OFFICIEL about bringing a modern twist to Regency fashion for Netflix's new period drama. Not intended as “a history lesson,” her costume choices instead created “a new feeling for 1813 that absolutely fit with the modern twists and turns of the show.”. 14,754, This story has been shared 9,008 times. To source the show’s many eye-catching baubles, Mirojnick collaborated with jewelry designer Lorenzo Mancianti, who was “constantly on a hunt” to create and find pieces that were “as real as [they] could be” from cities including Spain, London and Rome. It was beautiful, and the rounder and the smoother they were, the better they looked. VV: What was the creative thinking behind not using any bonnets? In fact, Bridgerton is projected to be one of Netflix’s top five original series — and a major reason for that is the amazing costume design in the show. Mr. Pearl did that perfectly for all the girls. “He created the shape of the corset that just hugged underneath the bosom … shaping the cups of the corsets and the shoulders so that the bosom was without a question accented in the most beautiful way,” Mirojnick gushed. 64,587, This story has been shared 24,428 times. There was a similar premise for dressing the cast of Bridgerton. Privacy Notice JG: The look book had it all — we’d show the historical picture, the history of the fashion, then something from mid- 20th century and then something from, say the 1990s.