Carrie Coon’s Costume Corner: 'The Gilded Age's "You Don't Even Like Opera"
Welcome to the first edition of Carrie Coon’s Costume Corner, where we honor and unpack the sumptuous and occasionally fantastical costume design of The Gilded Age, with a particular eye on the many gowns of Carrie’s character, Bertha Russell. Costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone has returned for the second season, and if the season premiere’s costuming is predictive, we are in for some true spectacles of design, fabric, and construction. I had the pleasure of interviewing Walicka-Maimone about her work on the first season for a Town & Country piece in 2022 and love her playfulness, thoughtfulness, witty use of fabric and form, and allusions to 19th-century art.
The costuming in The Gilded Age is frequently more eloquent than its dialogue, and no character is more adept at communicating with her clothes than Bertha. Her deft, not-infrequently ruthless, ascension to Manhattan’s highest social echelons despite being horribly gauche in the eyes of Society’s current doyennes is the top draw of the series for me. I’m also a huge fan of Bertha’s surprisingly egalitarian relationship with her husband, railroad robber baron and noted Wife Guy George Russell (played by Morgan Spector, and no relation to the dashing Formula 1 driver who is also named George Russell).
Bertha’s plot in the season opener, “You Don't Even Like Opera”, revolves around her quest for a prestigious box seating assignment at the Academy of Music’s forthcoming opera season. Her first application was turned down, and what follows is her assiduous efforts to play by Mrs. Astor’s (Donna Murphy) excruciatingly genteel and arcane rules, followed by her decision to take matters into her own hands by announcing that she is supporting the newer (and therefore by definition, less desirable) Metropolitan Opera. Having already wined and dined Manhattan’s new and established wealth at a lavish dinner party, Bertha cheerfully welcomes her guests back into her mansion’s reception hall, now transformed into a magical bower, where the famous diva Christina Neilsen performs an aria from the most anticipated productions of the year. Seeing so many of the people who wanted the Russells permanently blackballed from the Academy of Music swept away by the power of Neilsen’s voice — and, by extension, by Bertha’s skilled maneuvering — made me punch the air in triumph. All of which brings us to this episode’s Gown of The Week!
