Latest / The Art of Costume Podcast / Bridgerton (S4) with Costume Designer, John Glaser - The Costume House with Spencer Williams

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Bridgerton (S4) with Costume Designer, John Glaser - The Costume House with Spencer Williams · The Art of Costume Podcast

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I am so pleased to be here with the costume designer of the
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hour. Costume designer John Galazer of
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Bridgerton is so good to see you again.
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I've been dying to talk to you ever since I binged Bridgeton
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season 4 all in I cannot wait to talk to you
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about it. As always, it's exciting to
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begin a new season of Bridgerton just to see how the show has
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changed and evolved and how our favorite characters have grown
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since the last time we put it down and just how the world
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itself has changed. But before we get into the
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characters, one thing I wanted to talk about, one thing I
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immediately noticed was it's autumn this season season.
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So with that, I noticed that you all immediately embrace that in
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the costume. So how did that seasonal shift
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influence the costumes and the overall palette within the
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season? It was the first time we shot in
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the winter and the and the and the fall, but it's was still
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supposed to be spring. Because we have a stock of
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clothing, we couldn't vary too much from that palette.
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And also because of we followed the rule.
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The Bridgeton's were certain colors.
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Each family wears a certain color palette.
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We still stuck to that. We toned everything down
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slightly for two reasons. One is because we were doing
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upstairs, downstairs. So the principal characters
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couldn't be too far away from the downstairs characters
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because they ought to interact. So we made some adjustments so
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that it wouldn't be such an abrupt color palette between the
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two worlds. And also, we had a funeral, and
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it's the first time that we ever used black, Black, you know,
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that actually wore black dresses.
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Everybody wore a lot of black. And the actors were thrilled.
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They were like, oh, black violence, you know, something
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besides blue-green, pink, you know, salmon.
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Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
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We're going to get into the black later because there
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definitely was a lot of use of black for the first time in
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Bridgeton, like I think ever, but we'll get into that.
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But I always love diving into the leading man each season, and
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I've been especially excited to talk about Benedict and his turn
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into Spotlight since he's my favorite Bridgeton brother.
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He feels most artistic and free spirited.
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I love a Vogue interview where you reference Joseph Fiennes
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from Shakespeare in Love because that to me is like the most
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perfect way to talk about him. Can you talk about developing
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Benedict's wardrobe for his leading man moment and how you
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balance his romantic hero status with his bohemian qualities?
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He's very free spirited, artistic, kind of a little bit
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wild, but you know, he always brings it back together.
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I did Benedict with with a a Dougie Hawks who's in charge of
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the men's wardrobe because he was also going to the to the to
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the country. We took away his urban look a
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little bit, became a little more world looking.
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And also because he was experimenting with his
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sexuality, we loosened him up, didn't make him so formal so
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that it gave him a, you know, some a little so he could
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express himself more freely. We took his color palette, took
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it away from the Bridgeton standard color palette and made
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it with warmer tones. We also made him less refined.
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We roughed him up a little bit because he was the leading man
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and. He always had like the open
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collars. He was like you said.
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Like, a lot more free. Yeah, less restrictive.
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We wanted to see his body more. We wanted him to be able to be,
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like I said, to express himself sexually.
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And also because he's the leading man.
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We have to make him look enticing to, to, to, to
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everybody. So that's why we like was less,
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less, less restrictive, Yeah. And another costume moment I
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loved of Benedict's though, is when we get to the cottage and
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also when we get back to Bridgeton.
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House too is his his fun robes he loves to throw on though
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whenever we see him in his bedroom moments though his fun
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like colorful print textile robes.
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Can you just talk about those for a moment?
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Those are always fun. He's giving me some inspirations
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for walking around my own They're.
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Actually, you know, I, I call them robes, but they're
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technically called banions. And again, he had one in the
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country which was not as formal as the one that he wore in in
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town. We just wanted patterns that
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were for like art, art Art Nouveau to help people.
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It's just to express his artistic quality, his his
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experimentation with life. And Audrey Beardsley, if you
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look at all of his prints expresses that.
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So the patterns we it's an influence from Art Nouveau.
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The other thing that we is good to to know is that because of
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Dougie being in charge of the men, Dougie is British and he
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likes to follow history much more than I do.
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So Benedict's clothes are much more grounded and historically
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accuracy and which makes him a little more real.
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He had to be more real this season, to be, you know,
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approachable and to be able to blend with the world that his
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love interest, you know, was coming from.
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Of course, Speaking of that realism, that brings us to our
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love interest, Sophie. Let's get into the ball that
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happens at the beginning of this episode because it it does
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happen at the beginning of the season and every season.
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We always have this huge ball that we are always looking
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forward to talking about. And I, I love you all for giving
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it to us at the beginning of the season, which is super exciting.
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I wanted to start with Sophie because her costume was really
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truly pivotal to the story of the entire season.
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The lady in silver there's so many costumes to talk about in
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this episode, but let's start with her because her costume,
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she doesn't want to be someone who stands out at this ball
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because she doesn't really want to be seen, but because she
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doesn't want to stand out, the audience can't really take her
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their eyes off of her because she is.
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It's not a super flashy costume, but it's so elegant and
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beautiful, though, because it's she's almost kind of just
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stunningly gorgeous and kind of civilian in a way that she just
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has a stunningly beautiful dress.
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Her mask is just very simply gorgeous and it's just very
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Sophie. So I was just hoping you could
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just kind of walk us through the design of Sophie's dress and how
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it really introduces us to meet Sophie and understand who she
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is. When you look at the how she
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chose what she would wear. I know this is not as simple as
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she didn't get to go shopping for it, of course.
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You know, it's, it's, we have to remember something that she
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didn't choose. It's something that was chosen
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for her. It it came from the attic and it
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was supposed to be either her, her grandmother or her great
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grandmother's dress. But that would have made it a
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period that wouldn't have looked good on her and that I don't
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think the audience would have related to.
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So we pretended that it was a dress that maybe one of her, our
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cousins had up in the attic so that it wouldn't be an old, old
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dress. It also had to like you say, she
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didn't want to stand out and it was supposed to be the color,
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but what we tried to do was just make it a very, very reflective
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dress. Not any color, not of the
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silver, just a reflective dress and the and the mask.
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We started out much smaller much, but if we too much of her
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face and they were very concerned about him not knowing
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who she was. So we we had to cover as much of
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her face as possible. It was a large mask, but it was
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a we try to make it as delicate as as possible.
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Also, you have to remember that she even though she is a maid
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now, she came from a wealthy family.
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So she knows how to dance, she knows how to act.
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She knows how to walk in the dresses and and everything.
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And we just made it lots of layers so that it was you really
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weren't sure what it was. You really weren't sure what
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period it was. It was just AI hope.
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It was a pretty dress. Yeah.
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And he also had to be attracted, attracted to her.
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So, you know, it was she had to be very elegant and beautiful.
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Once again, if it really was a dress from the attic, it should
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have been folded and creased and kind of yellow.
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And but that just wouldn't work for the.
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That wouldn't work for the story.
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Right at the end of the day, it's still Bridgerton.
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You still had to be the centerpiece.
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She was basically the bride on top of the wedding cake.
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You know, she had to be the the focal point.
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Yeah, I love that moment when it's kind of reflecting.
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We see her looking up at the chandelier up top and it's
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reflecting off each other. It's gorgeous.
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Oh good. Let's just talk about the
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costume eye candy for a second though.
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We look around a room, we see Penelope as a pirate, Lady
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Danbury as Zeus, that Mondrick says, Cleopatra, Mark Antony.
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I mean, there's just we could spend the next 45 minutes.
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We don't have that time. But just talking about all the
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different costumes in this room, just when approaching a
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masquerade on the scale, I mean, how much thought goes into
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trying to are you were you trying to match costumes to
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characters personality was in the script?
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I mean, just how did this masquerade come to be?
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And then were there just any instant classics for you in
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terms of the costumes in this room?
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I know it's hard to pick a favorite, but what were just
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some of your? Favourites First we we tried to
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come up with a theme for the masquerade party and then we
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began to realize when we did our research that everyone from from
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the Tun would have dressed how they felt, you know what they
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whatever they wanted to wear. So it would end up being a big,
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you know, mishmash. And there were certain things
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that were listed in the script like Lady Danbury as as Zeus.
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But we came up with the with the pirate for Penelope.
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And we just came up with things that we thought were interesting
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to their character and their and their and their, their
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personalities. And we just wanted it to be a
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big potpourri of everything. And that's why there's no,
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there's no, everything's not the same color.
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It's everything is just a big mishmash.
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Yeah, we try to make things up that were the like their their
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personalities always as as a Joan of Arc.
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That was my favorite by the way. That one was gorgeous.
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That was a Bridgeton, Joan of Arc.
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Yeah, I mean, but you know, that's an that's a a good
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reference point is that she was to be a Joan of Arc, but we
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thought, well, that's large, so who cares?
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But so we made her a brigidge and armor of Joan of Arc.
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You know, we tried to bring things that related to their
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past to their family. Penelope as a pirate, 'cause she
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is, she was supposed to be a writer from the period, but no
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one would have known who that writer was.
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So we just said, well, let's, let's make her a pirate.
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And that's also because of Colin.
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When he came back in the season before, he came back as like,
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not a pirate, but he was like, we call him like the Marlboro
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Man. So it it's just kind of all work
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to work together. Colin gives strong pirate vibes.
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Yeah, yeah. And also it's like lady, Lady
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Bridgeton. It was a little Easter egg into
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what she was about to do. You know, she was loosening up.
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She was becoming more sexual. So we made her as very
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diaphanous so that it was kind of a little pre teller to what
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was what she was going to be doing that that season.
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Yeah. Oh, I didn't even think about
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that. I really was kind of the
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precursor to her talking about how she wanted to have a lot
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more fun than. Her future and.
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Yeah, I didn't even think. Of it that way.
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Loosen her up and and Lady Danbury is always in in in
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charge. That was a perfect opportunity
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to show that even if he was Zeus she was better than him.
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You know if you notice her staff was bigger than his staff.
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Just little things like that. Yeah, right.
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That's a good one. Well, we move on from the
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masquerade ball and we get to introduce some fun characters.
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We have to talk about Sophie, Stepmother Arminta.
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One thing that immediately stood out to me was her use of black.
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Like we mentioned earlier. And we don't see black often in
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Bridgerton, dare I say almost ever.
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And her wardrobe to me almost feels like armor.
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And I wear black almost all the time and it doesn't necessarily
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make me evil. So I wouldn't say the same about
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her. So how did you use color,
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silhouette, and texture to establish her presence amidst a
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ton? She was actually, you have to
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remember that she was in mourning, so she would still be
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wearing black. And we treated it as exactly as
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you said, as her armor, because she's not an evil person.
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She's a misunderstood person. She did some evil things, but I
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think it was, you know, she was. She was on her way.
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A couple person. So we really use lots of lots of
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different textures so that if she was just one piece of fabric
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or one fabric, things could reflect off of her.
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But if you notice everything that she had had lots of lots of
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textures because we wanted we wanted her to be able to absorb
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things and not like a sponge. But you know that things
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wouldn't reflect off of her because she should be.
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She should be receiving all the emotions from everyone that's up
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is around her. Even though she looks like she
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was evil and mean. We wanted her to be just a
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misunderstood person. And using black made her also
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very mysterious in the in the tongue, because we, like you
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say, we never use black. Yeah.
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So yeah. And we got a double dose of that
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too when we got to see a funeral scene as well in Bridgeton.
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Was that an interesting challenge for you and the crew
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as well too? It was a it was a not a
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challenge, but it was kind of a relief because to pick Blues and
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misty colours all the time, it was like, oh, this is a black.
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Here we go. But and, and we really didn't
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use black. We used dark, dark, dark blue,
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dark brown, dark green. We kind of danced around the
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black. Even though it appears black,
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it's not always black. Interesting.
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Yeah. It's funny though, it's kind of
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like everyone still was in. Like there's still like similar
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silhouettes though too. It was like everyone was still
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themselves, just in. We just made a black and white
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movie. Yes, we just went, which I
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loved. Another thing that I love, which
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might be a little bit of a underrated moment, was I I loved
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all the time we spent downstairs.
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You know, we often spend a lot of time upstairs in all the
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glamour, but we spent a lot of time downstairs of all the
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servants this year. And I was fascinated by the
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Bridgeton maid uniforms that we got to see this year.
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So I was wondering if we could talk about designing the
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costumes for the servant class and perhaps maybe the research
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behind these uniforms. Wait, the the Bridgeton's always
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had, have always had the livery and the maids, But you have to
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remember that we've only seen them up upstairs, so they've
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always been the pretty people in it, in their nice clothing.
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When we go downstairs, we couldn't go too realistic.
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It's a very it's that Bridgeton is a fantasy show and that
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downstairs world, it's definitely a fantasy world.
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If you notice, no one was dirty. Everyone was always clean.
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They had nice fresh clothes every day.
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You know it wasn't it 'cause it still has to be the Bridgeton
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look. And each family has their
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household staff. It's like the are Aremento's
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family was the most realistic because that was the oldest
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family. Of course, the maids that end up
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with at Cressida's, they're the most flamboyant.
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So it's the the maids and the staff still reflect the feelings
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of the of the family. But there was there was nothing
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real about it. I mean, people just it just was
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a fantasy world. But because like I said, because
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we have to be have the downstairs work with the
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upstairs. If they were too far apart, it
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wouldn't have blended in the right.
18:19
Way sure. Yeah.
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Well, it was a lot of fun to see the the quote UN quote made wars
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in this season. Speaking of we talked about this
18:28
last time. My favorite character is
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Cressida Calper. So I was so excited in the
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second-half of the season when Lady Penwood, formerly known as
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Cressida Calper, returns in all of her bows and glory.
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I mean, that one costume when it's just bows and bows and bows
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is absolutely batshit crazy. I loved it.
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Can we just talk about the return of Cressida and just what
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we were thinking with that first costume we see her in with all
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the bows? It must have been just a lot of
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fun to just return to this character for just her.
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Quick return. What interesting is that in her
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world, she's also misunderstood, just like Airmenta, except she's
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pink. If you look at the bows, the
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bows are just it's more a texture.
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It's more again, so that she's absorbing the world.
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She's another misunderstood a person, but she has to look like
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she's a Dick, but she's not. She's really smart.
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She's misunderstood, she's been tortured.
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And again, that is her, her armor, her armor is pink.
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Arementa's armor is, is is is is black.
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And if you notice, the bows, even though their bows are very
19:47
architectural, they're kind of hard bows.
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It's not like it's not pretty. It's not little girl bows.
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They're very sophisticated, like origami, because she's smart.
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She just wouldn't walk around like in a big bow, you know?
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Yeah, Even though they're bows, they're not bows.
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It's it's armor. It's it's like armadillo.
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Yeah, basically. They're actually like the two
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most similar characters. In the show.
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Which is hilarious. I love it and I love talking to
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you, costume designer John Glaser.
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This has been so much fun. Thank you for talking with me.
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I love talking about the show and.
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Thank you. I cannot wait for more.
20:28
Thank you so much. I will let you go so we could
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let you go and start working on some more Season 5 as well.
20:35
Thanks Spencer all. Right.
20:36
Thank you. Bye.
20:38
The Costume House with Spencer Williams is a production of The
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Art of Costume. This episode was hosted,
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produced and edited by Spencer Williams to discover more
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Visit theartofcostume.com or follow us on social media at The
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