44 Bridgerton dresses

More than just a high-society historical romance, Bridgerton is a feast for the eyes and costumes are the main course. Empire silhouettes and opulent gowns pull us into a world that is not so much about historical fidelity as sheer effect. And the effect is exceptionally strong. Join us for a closer look at 44 Bridgerton fits. At the end of this post, there's a table listing where each costume appears in the series.

The gaudy creations Penelope wore in Season one are a thing of the past. This fourth season gown is a whole different cup of tea. The muted green (Penelope's favorite) and gold combination is elegantly sumptuous, but the main thing here is the cut, which fits Penelope like a glove. This style, a smooth line with close-fitting bodice, has to be perfectly tailored. And just look at how the sleeve caps are styled. The series’ designers were really having fun. And you’ll see we’ve got plenty more sleeve-play coming up in this post.

Lord Richard Gun of Penwood, as a member of high society, can afford to be a little extravagant. His embroidered, burgundy taffeta jacket radiates confidence and just a tad of eccentricity. Today, this would qualify as creative black tie for a formal event. If you are one of those men who like to be seen, this could be a good inspiration. Keep the material, modernize the cut, and maybe move the embroidery to a pocket square.

Ah, shimmery shot fabrics. Shiftable, elusive, as prone to sudden changes from the angle of light as a stormy afternoon. Shot fabrics are certainly dramatic. The secret is the use of different shades in warp and weft, which is why they are such shade shifters. You’ll often see shot shantung, dupioni, taffeta, organza and chiffon. Lady Danbury seems to be partial to shot fabrics and wears them often, but this blue and crimson combination is particularly nice.

The brocade waistcoat has been a stylish bit of menswear for centuries. In the Regency period, the cut was quite modern, and there was a rich palette of materials: brocades, stripes, florals, striking colors. Combined here with a linen shirt, the result is surprisingly natural and almost casual.

Lady Danbury is definitely channeling Oz here in this striking emerald green suit. Taffeta and velvet are texturally quite different, but they have one thing in common, a gorgeous ability to reflect light. Every fold, every surface shimmers with vibrant hues at the slightest movement. With velvet, the effect is especially dramatic, because the shadows are so deep. Feel free to use it for details, like Lady Danbury's collar.

Wool is an authentic historical material, and in the Regency period it would have been used for everything from underwear to dresses to overcoats. Benedict's blue tailcoat sports an almost modern cut; if you could only pluck it off the screen, you'd be good to go. Men in the Regency period commonly wore colorful jackets: not just blue, but also red, green, and yellow, in all shades.

Delicate fichus modestly covered the deep necklines that were in vogue during the Regency period—the series doesn’t lie about that; the era was a parade of cleavage. The fichu was something between a scarf and a bib; today we might simply throw on a chiffon scarf or shawl instead. The effect would be similar, making the skin underneath look luminous and smooth.

Eloise is a bit of a rebel in the Bridgerton family and you can see it her dresses, which tend to be more practical and less ornate. The geometrical pleats on this dress evoke later historical periods, as if Eloise were ahead of her time. The fabric is classic, richly colored satin that beautifully reflects light and really plays the central role here.

That short jacket that pops up everywhere in the series actually was hugely popular in the Regency period – it was known as the spencer. In this scene, Violet wears a stunning spencer in duchesse satin with stylized floral elements. The sleeves emerge from a burst of petals, and the double collar almost looks like a botanical illustration. It takes a dense, sturdy fabric like duchesse to pull off a trick like this.

When Alice becomes a lady-in-waiting to Queen Charlotte, she dons a Rococo-style dress in white jacquard with a striking raised pattern. White brocades have a festive, bright look; the pattern adds depth without any other colors distracting from the elegance of the white. This makes them ideal for wedding dresses, for example, when the bride wants a little something special without straying from traditional white.

Floral patterns were very popular in the Regency period. Daintier florals were more common, whereas Violet’s dress features large, striking blooms, but its subdued palette gives it an elegant and natural look. Also note the sleeves of the dress, which are heavily gathered at the armhole into a small loop. Violet has several dresses with sleeves like these, and this is a nice example of the series’ creative approach to costume design.

At funerals, style takes a back seat, but among the social elite of the Regency period, great care would have been taken to express grief properly. Black was de rigueur, as were mourning veils. Francesca's is very delicate, with a ribbon-edged border.

This blue-and-black shot taffeta number has the luster of a precious stone and the depth of an ocean. Pairing shot fabrics with black always creates a high-tension contrast, so keep that in mind when designing a garment. A simple cut without fussy details is best, leaving larger surfaces where the fabric can really stand out.

Here we've got another brocade waistcoat and flowy bohemian-style shirt. The fabric seems to behave like cotton, which is fine historically – it was a common material and easy to come by in the Regency period. But what really caught my eye was the combination of a dove-blue shirt with olive-green brocade patterned in the same shade of blue plus yellow and white. It's an unusual combination that comes off really well.

Lady Danbury's dress features what looks like a print that mimics a blurred ikat pattern. The ikat here looks pretty exotic and really stands out from the florals worn by other female characters on Bridgerton, which is entirely in keeping with Lady Danbury’s character. The color combination immediately reminded me of a certain trendy chocolate bar with pistachio filling – tell me you didn't think of it too. The golden green and chocolate brown are beautiful together, and the sleeves are also interesting, this time featuring a soutache ornament and decorative button.

Looking at the Bridgerton costumes as a whole, the secret to their appeal is nothing too complex, it just comes down to a few key principles.

Bridgerton style combines 3 things:

• Historical fashion elements
• Distinctive materials
• Daring color combinations

The interplay of these factors gives rise to designs that are visually rich without being cumbersome. On the contrary, they leave room for interpretation.

And perhaps that is precisely why the Bridgerton style has become so popular and inspires sewists all over the world. And we say, all the better.