It’s the talk of the Ton - Bridgerton is finally back. Season three focuses on Colin and Penelope’s love story, adds several new characters and locations, and delves into the backstories of existing supporting characters such as Cressida Cowper and Lady Danbury. Bridgerton’s highly elaborate, fanciful set design is key to the creation of the specific and stylised universe which the characters inhabit.
This season, production designer Alison Gartshore and her team enhanced the existing visual identity of the show, to make every element feel even more luxe, vivid and expansive. In her words, there was a sense of ‘let's just turn the dial up to 11.’ Gartshore trained in theatre design, which has influenced her take on the show’s ostentatious environments: ‘I have a natural tendency towards the theatrical, which gives that sense of flamboyance and extravagance that people want to see. I think we've been quite bold with the colour this season.’
Gartshore stresses the importance of considering character when developing the look and feel of the spaces. ‘When I read a script, I'm very much invested in who the characters are. So you start to build a picture of colour palettes and textures for them,’ she explains. ‘What we provide as a background to them has to complement and enhance what the action is and who their characters are.’ This involves collaboration with the costume team, to work out how the costumes should match or contrast with the sets.
The tagline on the promotional posters, ‘even a wallflower can bloom’, hints at Penelope’s journey across this season. Gartshore describes the visual analogy of light and shade that her team used to echo Penelope’s arc: ‘we often used trees, or created shadow for her to be in. And then she steps out into the light in certain scenes. So that was one of the themes that was running through the whole production really.’ In terms of costume, as Penelope evolves, her taste in dresses becomes less garish and florid, reflecting her increasing distance from her family and the forging of her own identity.
A new set that Gartshore is particularly proud of is the Cowper household, which helps to expand Cressida’s storyline. In stark contrast to the Bridgertons or Featheringtons, where there is a symbiosis between costume and interior, the austere feel of the Cowper interiors is at odds with Cressida’s pink, frilly dresses, and much of the wider pastel-hued world of Bridgerton. ‘I think it's quite surprising when you see her spaces, you start to understand why she's not quite as nice as she could be’, Gartshore adds.
Other sets debuting in season three include the newly inherited home of Will and Alice Modrich, which Gartshore’s team filled with shades of gold and russet to reflect the house’s previous, elderly owner combined with the green tones of Will’s club. As they settle into married life, Kate and Anthony have acquired a new apartment in the Bridgerton house, which Gartshore wanted to infuse with the ‘sunset colours’ of India to express Kate’s influence; ‘the spice colours, the soft pinks and yellows, the very warm, buttery creams.’
Bridgerton is known for shooting at stately homes, with Alison’s team transforming these already spectacular places through set decoration. New locations for this season include Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, used as new character Lord Hawkins’ home, and Osterley House in west London, which appears in a ball scene. Gartshore explains the challenges of using these locations: ‘we have to be exceptionally careful in the way that we work, we have to always work within the rules that the stately home lays down and they can be quite restrictive.’ But with these challenges come great rewards; the houses provide a base of historic authenticity atop which more playful and anachronistic design elements can be added.
A new aspect of design that Gartshore relished working with this season is the introduction of themes for the balls. Of the opportunity to expand on this popular element of the show, she explains that ‘we could get more into a specific style of design for each ball and custom-tailor them for what the script required.’ A highlight in this regard is the Eros and Psyche-themed ball that Queen Charlotte hosts in episode 4, replete with ballet dancers, Ancient Greek architectural elements and a huge custom-designed mosaic floor that depicts Eros and Psyche (but which also gives the impression of Colin and Penelope).
Gartshore says of this particularly baroque scene: ‘it was scripted that the Queen was going to present a ballet dancer and I thought well, how would she actually do that? She's the Queen, she'd build a theatre inside her palace. Of course she would. So that was the starting point for that particular ball. And obviously, the legend of Eros and Psyche; it's the ultimate love story, isn't it? We looked at lots of different art through history that represented Eros and Psyche.’
The rigorous research period, described as a ‘layering process’ by Gartshore, provides an essential foundation for drawing up concepts and designs. This ranges from consulting her vast library on subjects such as Georgian architecture, interiors and colour theory, to visiting stately homes around the country: ‘I always look very closely at wherever I'm going,’ she says. ‘I take lots of photographs of little details that I notice: colour palettes, sections of carpet, a painting or a sculpture that just catches your eye, or even samples of marble.’
Design inspiration can also come from the unlikeliest of places; an eye-catching, kitsch rounded bed with pale pink silk curtains that appears in one scene with Colin in a bordello, was inspired by the style of 1970s French knickers. Additionally, Gartshore avoided looking at other Regency-set period dramas, instead taking design cues from classic musicals such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and My Fair Lady, the frivolity and technicolour of their mise en scène; for Bridgerton is ‘not about pure period design. It's a pastiche, and it's fun.’ These eclectic references are woven together to create an aesthetic sensibility perfectly attuned to other elements of the series, from the tongue-in-cheek humour to classical reinterpretations of pop songs.
Overcoming all the challenges and seeing the final work on-screen is particularly rewarding for Alison. As she puts it, ‘you can't do this job on your own, you've got a big team around you. Everyone is equally important. And it's only when all of the pieces fit together that you get the full picture. That's the most gratifying thing, watching everybody's hard work come together and create this thing that people love. It's amazing.’
