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‘Bridgerton’ Making a Scene Video Series: Directing

‘Bridgerton’ Making a Scene Video Series: Production Design

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Director, Short Form Content at Shondaland.com

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Bridgerton

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Hearst Editorial

(upbeat music) - I was fortunate enough to work on season one as an assistant designer. So I was part of that creative world with Ellen and John G. We created this amazing platform and they luckily gave me this whole world to be able to kind of develop on for season two. Initially, everything always starts with scripts and then discussions with Chris Van Dusen, the showrunner, and Shondaland. For me as a designer, I look at fabrics first off. That's my influence for any of my designs because that lends the way of how you're going to make a costume, how it's going to drape, how it's going to sit. I've been really fortunate enough to design three wedding dresses in one season, which has been an absolute luxury. It's such a beautiful thing to be creating a wedding dress and it's a real nice connection to be able to work with an actress that is... That's such a poignant moment for her in this series. And so to be able to go on that journey with her has been really lovely. And speaking to Chris, we were very much like, how Indian do we go? You know, it's kind of getting that balance. So the fabric I chose was a French lace, and then we decided that we would go kind of more into a Regency period "Bridgerton" crossover. I really wanted to kind of keep an Indian element to her and that she would have something that would, you know, be of her past, be her history, her origin. So we decided to create Indian jewelry for her. And that was a really nice touch. - Tying it on was a really emotional experience. I think it is for a lot of people when they try on their wedding outfits. And then filming each scene, especially the scene where she goes down the altar. It was the most immersive moment on the show so far. It really felt like a wedding. And we sort of recorded the rehearsal because we wanted people's like real reactions to that moment and the dress. - It's such a big show and it's so diverse that there's always constantly a challenge. And also you're creating, you know 150 costumes every six weeks. So you're constantly on the move. It's a very kind of, you know, you've really gotta push your boundaries cause even when I'm designing a wedding dress, you know, I still have 30 other characters to think about that may have up to 10 changes during that block. And we shoot two episodes at once and that's seven weeks. And during those seven weeks there are a lot of costumes that we are creating and I've got the most incredible team. I am the most blessed person in the world. So the wedding was always going to be really important. But until I got the script, I then realized that it was set over one episode. So then we were like, wow, this is one costume for the majority of the cast, which is really unusual for "Bridgerton". We had 25 principal actors and we had 130 supporting artists. With that we had the clergy, we had musicians, we had the ladies in waiting, and we really wanted to make it work. It's set outside and inside as well, so that was a lot of embellishment and work on everyone. I decided to dress all the men in evening wear because I thought it'd give a really kind of clean look. - Sophie's team and Sophie herself, like the attention to detail when I go into my fittings, I try on a jacket and I think yeah, this feels like the same as my others, looks like it looks great. And they'll come up with like six things that they wanna change, and then I'll come back like a couple of days later, try on again and I'll just be, oh my God, this feels great. And they're like, yeah, we've done all the adjustments that we wanted to. - When you have Anthony and his bride at the altar, I just wanted this really kind of monochrome look. I think with a wedding dress, you always think about, you know, that moment of the actor walking down the aisle and that's why I wanted the dress to be as long as possible. And also we then added a veil as well to kind of bring in this drama. I wanted as much drama as possible. So to have this amount of fabric as she runs out, really kind of emphasized the drama of the scene, you know, the emotion of it as well. So when I'm designing, I think of those things because I want to add drama into that emotion that she's going through. And I think that's where costume helps. We also have Kate's wedding dress, because there is this moment where Anthony looks at Kate and he sees her in the wedding dress. And over much discussion that we were like, is it the same? Is it slightly different? They're different people. They had to be different. And also Anthony sees her in a different light than he sees Edwina. Edwina is this softer character. With Kate, I kind of wanted to make her look sexier. That's kind of his wish. You know, he's lusting over her. It's about his thought process and how he sees the difference between this beautiful Edwina in this softer manner. And then this sexier Kate that he's lusting over. So to lower that neck line and show a bit more skin on the arms, really kind of... It's giving you Anthony's thought process in a split second. - So I'm just gonna say Sophie Canale designer. Mel Carter maker. Woop woop. Our costume designer and a goddess among women, an incredibly thoughtful and gifted and smart creator of looks for the whole scene. Look at the detail on this. The buttoning, the flare of the cuff there, the tightness here, the puff there that follows the pattern through the shoulder. Sophie will lean into whatever the narrative is. Four different characters to tell their stories in the way they dress. - I'm blown away again by the speed at which they're working and how beautiful. Oh, in fact, this dress that I'm wearing now when I had a fitting in it, I cried, cause couldn't believe I was wearing something this beautiful and and they made it so quickly and it's so stunning. Like I've never worn... I don't wear stuff like this. For the wedding, all of us together, next to each other as well. The intelligence of the palette. And you feel like you're at a wedding because you're wearing an appropriate thing for a wedding. - She's so brilliant and creative and intelligent. It's been a privilege to see just how much work goes into it. And also just how much people are like swans. Like, when the work is really, really good, you don't see it. So they're really the heroes, I think, of the whole thing. We actors just turn up. And if you're walking into a simulated wedding it's gonna give you and allow you to give the performance that would be completely right. (upbeat music continues)

A detailed look at the costumes that play a crucial role in Anthony and Edwina's wedding scene from Bridgerton's second season.