Since its 2020 premiere, Bridgerton has won viewers’ hearts through its social politics, steamy romances, and highly stylized (and slightly modernized) Regency-era aesthetic. Pastels and ruffles team with embroidery, lace, and elegant, piled-high hair. With the most recent extension of the Bridgerton world—Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, premiering today on Netflix—comes even more elaborate coifs and higher-reaching lengths. The prequel spin-off features an enormous collection of breathtaking wigs (think traditional rolls encrusted in diamonds) to visually communicate the rise of young Queen Charlotte, played by India Ria Amarteifio.
Amarteifio as young Queen Charlotte.Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’s hair department head Nic Collins says that the creation of the wig collection was all down to characters, story progression, and thoughtful, innovative texture.
“It was really important to us to have all textures of hair represented,” says Collins, whose team relied on everything from 1,000 tiny cocktail sticks to rickrack trimming in order to achieve desired results. First the department worked in the parameters of the Regency period’s existing hair shapes (within creative reason), then incorporated centuries of Black hairstyles, from braid work to coils, to create something that, thus far, has not been represented.