The Truth About Bridgerton's Elaborate Hairstyles
People have been buzzing about Bridgerton ever since the Regency-era romance hit Netflix. The writing and acting on the show are both excellent, but a true period drama also needs some out-of-this-world flair to really sell it. Fortunately, Bridgerton has this in spades.
A lot of work went into creating the elaborate hairstyles on the show, such as Queen Charlotte's voluminous 'dos. Every time we see her she's rocking a new wig and this was very much by design.
"When we started filming, I actually had a conversation with Chris, the showrunner," the show's hair designer Marc Pilcher told Harper's Bazaar. "And he basically was like, '[The queen], she's got nothing left in her life... She's got nothing else to do but try clothes on and go to parties and balls.' So I said, 'Well, why don't we give her a different wig every time she goes to a ball and it would match her outfit?'"
One of Queen Charlotte's hairstyles on Bridgerton required five wigs
He added, "What I also wanted to do was show her African descent, because when you look at portraits at the time, there were very few portraits of women of African descent with those looks."
For one of Queen Charlotte's hairstyles, Pilcher set out to create "the biggest 'fro that you've ever seen," a feat that required "literally five wigs sewn together." Pilcher was worried that he might have "gone too far" but he had nothing to be concerned about. "You were just waiting for the producers to go, 'No.' But, of course, she walked out, and everyone was like, 'Oh, my God, you look amazing,'" he said.
Golda Rosheuvel, who plays Queen Charlotte on Bridgerton, was delighted by the wigs she wore on the show. "Marc and his team were really joyful in the fact that they were going to represent Black hair," she told Essence. "It was incredible. It was such a joy and such a creative experience to wear those wigs."
Daphne's hair on Bridgerton paid tribute to Audrey Hepburn
For the character of Daphne, Pilcher wanted a simpler — but no less stunning — look. Daphne's subdued fringe was inspired by screen legend Audrey Hepburn. "Daphne needed to be youthful, simple and elegant," wrote Pilcher in an Instagram post, adding that he took his cue from Hepburn's role in War and Peace. "This film although made in the 50s was also set in the Regency period," he said. "This look sorted Daphne to the ground."
If you look closely, you can actually see Daphne's hairstyle evolve on screen. "Initially, it was just a sort of small, straight bang that went all the way across," Pilcher explained to Harper's Bazaar. "But then as we progressed, Chris wanted it to feel softer rather than a full bang... And then in later episodes, we cut more sort of feathery bits just to sort of loosen it up even more, because he wanted to see a progression of the softness of her as we went through — that's how they came about."