26 Secrets About "Bridgerton" From The Team Who Created It

"There's nothing that's arbitrary about the work we do."

Netflix / Charlotte Gomez / BuzzFeed

Earlier this week, we had the honor of speaking with the show's costume designers, music composer, and set decorator to discuss the visual and audial masterpiece that is Bridgerton. Here's everything that we learned:

🚨Major spoilers ahead!!🚨

1. According to costume designers Ellen Mirojnick and John Glaser, there wasn't a specific costume that was difficult to design — the real difficulty was the scale of the series.

Liam Daniel / Netflix

"It was the size of the show that was the largest challenge," Ellen said. "That was really the hardest, not a single costume."

2. Overall, 7,500 articles of clothing were made to create 6,000 costumes. For the principal ladies — Daphne, Violet, Eloise, Penelope, The Queen, Marina, Lady Danbury, and Lady Featherington, to name a few — it took UPWARDS OF A WEEK to create ONE dress.

Liam Daniel / Netflix

And that doesn't even include fittings, fabric buying, alterations, etc.

3. BUUUT, if they had to choose the ONE character it was hardest to design for, they agreed on Lady Featherington.

Nick Briggs / Netflix

"We had identified at the very beginning...[what each character's] silhouette would be...we shifted Lady Featherington's and at that time we had to determine, along with our corset maker, what the best way to achieve [the way we wanted her to feel] was," Ellen said.

4. When referring to the costume style for the families, the Bridgertons were referred to as "the Tiffany family" and the Featheringtons were referred to as "the Versace family."

Tiffany & Co. / Versace

"People talk about the Featheringtons, from the books in particular, and how their clothes are ugly, but we never set out to make ugly gowns or ugly combinations of things. We set out to do delicious things, audacious and prominent. They are like refined pastry. I mean, they're very refined, always, in a traditional sense," Ellen explained. But with the Bridgertons, "they're very fine, very old money, traditional. So that turned out to be blue."

5. Daphne's color palette changed as she grew as a character.

Courtesy Of Netflix

"Daphne always wore blue, that was her favorite color in the beginning, in her innocence stage. Her colors changed as she evolved and as she became the Duchess, a married woman with her own ideas," Ellen explained. "We actually deepened the palette a little bit, made it a little dustier, a bit richer and deeper. And that helped us kind of arc the story a bit without changing the silhouette. After she's married, you could still see the powdery and refined and pretty look, it's now just a little heavier."

6. Ellen Mirojnick said when Regé-Jean Page (Simon Basset) walked into the fitting room, "it was clear he wouldn't be anything similar to the men of the ton."

Netflix

"He was an independent spirit. He was a rogue. He was dashing, and he had traveled. I think our most important element that we hooked into was that if he traveled and he was independent, he would have different ideas," Ellen shared. "Traveling the world, and wherever he landed during that time, gave him the opportunity to see and feel different things and go against convention. So immediately, he wears a black shirt, and immediately, he's not done up through his neck."

7. Simon always wears a broach, which belonged to his late mother.

Liam Daniel / Netflix

*Cries in Regency era*

8. Marina wears a necklace with an eye pendant to represent her love, George.

Netflix

"That's just to symbolize that she has a lover that nobody knows. Usually, the miniatures were up to the person, so people knew who they were, but they wouldn't display them. She has an eye. So she's the only one who knows who her lover is," John explained.

9. It was actually Adjoa Andoh's idea that Lady Danbury wear a top hat and use a walking stick.

Netflix

"When they first come in the fitting room, we would chat for a minute, we'd show them the lookbook, and then we would look at colors on them and see what silhouettes worked on them, see what really resonates with that actor. And immediately, it was deep, rich tones with Lady Danbury. And Adjoa felt an immediate affinity," Ellen revealed. "We worked very closely with one another so that she could feel comfortable in the colorations and the fabrications that we chose for her."

10. According to music composer Kris Bowers, the first pieces of inspiration for Simon and Daphne's theme were "some piano pieces Chris Van Dusen sent me by Ravel."

Liam Daniel / Netflix

"We kept talking about having this really modern sound. And so I tried a couple of different approaches. The first one, I tried using orchestral instruments and sampling them as though they were part of a pop track or a hip-hop track, and that wasn't really working," Kris explained. "It was a bit too modern and out of place. And then we tried the opposite direction and went really traditional. And that wasn't really working either. So, I went back to those piano pieces, and tried to listen to those for inspiration for the rest of the score. And that was kind of one of the first aha moments that really unlocked a sound for us."

11. Simon and Daphne's theme changes throughout the season as their relationship changes.

Netflix

"The theme, the first time we hear it, it's really mysterious and very romantic, and sexy, and dark," Kris shared. "The only time early in the season that we hear it in a really optimistic form is that final dance scene at the end of Episode 1. ... But from that point," he continued, "the theme goes into all these twists and turns. Sometimes it's really unsure and kind of vague. There's a moment when they're at Hastings house, and they're really distant from one another emotionally, so the theme is played with that kind of feeling. But it doesn't appear in a bright, happy, optimistic way until the end of the whole season."

12. They also have their own individual themes.

Liam Daniel / LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX

"Simon has his own theme that has this dark, rooting kind of sound to it. And then Daphne, her theme is first heard during her presentation to the Queen. It's called 'Flawless, My Dear,' and that's her theme that we hear grow throughout the season. It represents her anytime that she's kind of feeling anxious," Kris shared.

13. Kris Bowers arranged the "Strange" cover, which is the score that plays in the background as Simon and Daphne consummate their marriage.

Netflix

"I think you're just focusing on where the couple is at when they're in this moment, especially Daphne, because she's experiencing this realization over the course of the season with what's actually happening when they're having sex," Kris said. "Once she decides to take more control of that situation, what does that sound like? Keeping that in mind was the most helpful and important thing, so that it musically helped tell the intention of that scene, so that we feel like we're in a different place by the end of it, emotionally."

14. For "pretty obvious reasons," a Kanye song was nixed from the soundtrack.

Netflix

"There used to be a Kanye cover in there," Kris revealed. "We decided to have me approach composing something that felt similar and had a similar sound to it. But that was one we didn't [wind up using]."

15. In the scene when Daphne plays the pianoforte, the notes being played are musically accurate.

Netflix

"I'm not sure how they actually did the footage, but the recording, the audio, is actually me playing," Kris shared. "I'm not sure if it's her hands and someone taught her, or if there's a stunt double, but the notes that are playing are correct. We sent sheet music so the the actors could get familiar with it. I'm not actually sure how they shot those scenes, but it looks really incredible, especially being a musician, it was really great to see them pay so much attention to detail."

16. Though Alexandra Patsavas (the music supervisor) was responsible for orchestral pop song covers, Kris said he'd love to hear a cover of a Beyoncé song in a potential Season 2.

Kevin Mazur / Getty Images

"I'd love to see some Beyoncé in there, too. I think that'd be great, to have some Queen Bey."

17. Max Richter's score for Mary Queen of Scots heavily influenced the Bridgerton score.

Focus Features, Netflix

"I think that the way he approaches traditional music, and makes it sound a bit more modern, was a big influence for me. And then it was interesting period wise, because one of the things I tried to do in the early attempts was to be really, really time appropriate and specific with what it was going to sound like," Kris said.

"Some of the early pieces I wrote were my best attempt at trying to sound like Beethoven or like composers that were specifically in the 1800s." But ultimately, that was just "a little too stuffy and a little too old school. French, romantic, early 20th century composers were actually a bit bigger of an influence because I felt like it really captured the romantic feeling that we see during most of the story."

18. Harpsichord was the main instrument used for "The Latest Whistledown" (Lady Whistledown's theme) and the piano was the main instrument used for "We Could Form an Attachment" (Daphne and Simon's theme).

Liam Daniel / Netflix

Kris added, "The boxing sequences have a very different sound, like there's a solo violinist, which isn't really heard [anywhere else] and some of the more militant and metallic sounding percussion was used for battle sequences or action moments in the show."

19. Because of the pandemic, the entire score was composed virtually, with musicians playing at home alone across numerous time zones.

Netflix

"It definitely wasn't a normal scenario. Usually you're all together person. And for something like this, we would have had at least 30 musicians playing together. The musicians just show up, they play, and that's all they have to worry about. [In the pandemic] each musician is recording themselves, they have to set up their own space, they're recording at home and dealing with whatever life is throwing at them in this crazy time, as well."

20. Kris didn't discover Lady Whistledown's identity until the show had already filmed a few episodes, impacting how he proceeded with her theme.

Netflix

"I just chose to keep her theme and Lady Whistledown's theme separate throughout the whole thing. I think that the creation of Penelope's theme came from this place of her being unseen. So it was much more of pining, almost sad theme. And I think keeping that as her theme throughout the season really helped us throw off the scent of her having the wit that Lady Whistledown has. I think it's going to be interesting to see how, in future seasons, we can try to either meld the two of those things, or how much we keep those things separate, or how much we play with the idea of playing a little of Lady Whistledown's theme under Penelope's now that we do know that it's her."

21. Aside from the orchestral moment at the end of the pilot, "What Women Do Best" is Kris Bowers' favorite score.

Netflix

In case you forgot, it's the scene when Lady Bridgerton spilled the tea about Lord Berbrooke's illegitimate child to get Daphne out of marrying him.

22. Gina Cromwell, the set decorator, revealed that a total of 293 sets were used on the show, including "every room corridor and staircase, plus all the locations."

Liam Daniel / Netflix

She also said that "about 30% of the scenes" were shot on set and the rest was shot on location — primarily west of London, in Bath, and north of London, in Yorkshire.

23. Clyvedon had about six locations to make up the one manor.

Netflix

This includes locations in the south of London, Bath, and Yorkshire. Simon's office was located in Wilton House on the South Coast, which was 400 miles away from their bedroom, which is in Yorkshire. "I just think it's really funny that she's looked all over the place, but really [she would've] had to wander around for hundreds of miles to find him."

24. The Hastings courtyard was actually built inside the studio to better control the weather.

Netflix

"So, it's not a ballroom, it's a cold courtyard," Gina explained. "We had a huge tank underneath to collect the water, because you can't just rain in a studio and have it just go everywhere. It's got to be properly collected. So there was an enormous range of pipes and things going on. I mean, from my point of view, I was just involved with making sure that there were flowers, always flowers, and that there was food and pretty things like that. But I know that from the point of view of the audience, they were (hopefully) fooled into thinking that it was actually an outside set."

25. According to Gina, "not that many" sets were repurposed to look like a completely different room, but that was the case with the Featherington drawing room and Lord Featherington's bedroom.

Netflix

"The girls' dressing room at the Featherington's becomes Lord Featherington's bedroom. When we did the girls' dressing room, that was actually early in the first block of shooting, and Lord Featherington's came in at the end. So, in order to save a lot of effort, we choose to redress it."

26. And, last but not least, the Queen's garden party was the hardest set to decorate.

Netflix

"It was a summer garden party, and it was the middle of December," Gina revealed. "That meant that the entire garden had to be dressed with flowers, artificial flowers, in order to give it the feeling that it was the middle of the summer. Every single flower bed had to be dressed with roses. I mean, it was a massive job to get that done."

Wowza! This just goes to show that a series is only as strong at the people behind it! Can't wait to see what this team does for *fingers crossed* Season 2!

Some responses were edited for length and/or clarity.