Bustling With 'Bridgerton': Queen Charlotte’s Armor and Softness

Welcome to the first installment of Bustling With Bridgerton, a series where we’ll be celebrating and delving into the costumes designed for Bridgerton’s most interesting characters: Queen Charlotte, Eloise Bridgerton, Penelope Featherington, and Cressida Cowper. Between the releases of the season’s two halves, costume designer John Glaser, along with associate costume designer Dougie Hawkes and assistant costume designer Henry Wilkinson, sat down with Telly Visions to chat about the visual inspirations, character and story arcs that they drew on for each character’s looks as her position in the ton and their experiences with the mysterious Lady Whistledown ebb and flow.

Previously, On Bridgerton

Queen Charlotte’s (Golda Rosheuvel) very formal public style has remained the same since her first appearance in Season 1. Her gowns in Season 3 consistently have the same dramatic, highly ornate style and silhouette that were hallmarks of late Rococo fashion, which enjoyed its peak of popularity in the late 18th century. Rococo dresses leaned heavily on garment construction to emphasize the wearer’s waist-to-hip ratio, using elements including panniers (aka false hips), boning, and stiff stomachers. Rococo dresses featured more embellishments at their most lavish, than you can shake a stick at. The word “festoon” was probably invented to describe it.