(Pop Culture)
How The Queen Charlotte Team Put A Glamorous Twist On Georgian-Era Beauty
Hint: So. Many. Wigs.
When Shonda Rhimes introduced the visually decadent Bridgerton in 2020, two things were immediately clear: it arrived when romance — in every sense of the word — was needed most, and that this was a world audiences would revisit again soon. Rhimes built her empire on the singular ability to build more than just compelling narratives, but fully fleshed-out universes filled with endless detail. The newest addition to the Bridgerton landscape, the just-released Queen Charlotte, is perhaps even richer than the original series, stuffed with blink-and-you-miss-it intricacies that make for the best escapist fantasies. Every Queen Charlotte hair moment was meticulously planned and executed, with each look selected to not only fit the Georgian period it depicts, but also reflect the characters’ distinct personalities, motivations, and future selves.
For Nic Collins, the show’s hair and makeup designer, working on Queen Charlotte presented a unique landscape of opportunities and challenges alike. Returning fans of the Bridgerton universe (and learned history buffs) already know the elegant, imposing Queen Charlotte as an adult, the reigning monarch in the original series. This new show, depicting a young, plucky Charlotte’s ascendance to power, meant Collins and her 21-person team were tasked with not only staying aesthetically true to the grown woman Adult Charlotte will eventually bloom into while maintaining Young Charlotte’s unique identity, but also weaving in enough historical accuracy to feel rooted in reality. Ahead, Collins gives TZR an inside look at what actually went in to the breathtaking beauty in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
Fusing Fact & Fantasy
When navigating such an expansive world, planning is, of course, the most crucial element. Collins, who has an extensive background working on period pieces like Downton Abbey and Victoria, explains that step one is an in-depth history lesson that includes countless hours of research and picture collection. “You always find out something new about the period, because we live in an age where we’re discovering things all the time so there’s a wealth of information,” Collins says, mentioning that image collection is probably the most essential — she and the team pulled hundreds upon hundreds, she estimates.
The original Bridgerton series made “Regencycore” fashion and beauty explode upon debut, but while Queen Charlotte toggles back and forth between eras, its largely centered on the Georgian period, which roughly ran from 1714 to 1830-ish — in fact, the Regency is actually more of a sub-era within the Georgian. A key difference between the two? All that hair. One of the best parts of the Queen Charlotte series are the elaborate, towering wigs, which happen to be a very true-to-life detail. “In the 18th century, everybody wore a wig because they had no hair,” Collins tells TZR, “it was a status.” As such, wigs became increasingly large and intricate, and would often be stolen by lower classes — several depictions of clever theft schemes from the era show just how important tall, voluminous hair was.
Children and pet monkeys were often trained to steal high-value wigs from unsuspecting passersby, with marauding bands of wig thieves waiting to ambush stagecoaches on the road.
Staying True To Bridgerton
In building signature beauty looks for Young Charlotte, Collins and her department carefully navigated meticulous references to Adult Charlotte in the original Bridgerton series as well as her appearances in the new show — and balancing it all as updated scripts continued to arrive. This is where Collins highlights 21-year-old India Amarteifio’s collaboration and insight on the actor’s Young Charlotte portrayal.
Rather than introducing a glammed-out, wig-adorned Young Charlotte immediately in the series, Collins, Amarteifio, and the team agreed that she should come in more pared-down and natural, allowing the audience to watch her come into her own through the course of the show with wigs that match Adult Charlotte’s signature styles. “We always decided to keep her in her natural tone and her natural color, which I think was really important and played really well,” Collins says. She explains that Young Charlotte and Adult Charlotte wore “mimicked wigs”, styled and made the same to show the character’s growth. “There's a few wigs that crossover, and that's just to keep that continuity of character, of story, and reminding you that this is why you're here. It is Regency Queen Charlotte’s story, although it’s [also] its own story. And it stands alone — those two women are one, and that, I think, was the drive for us to always bring it back to the story.”
But while there was a real-life Queen Charlotte and actual Regency and Georgian periods, it’s important to note that series is far from a biopic. In fact, Rhimes herself has gone out of her way several times to emphasize that the Bridgerton world is just that — its own distinct entity, more fantastical fan-fiction than a painstakingly true-to-life portrayal.
Collaborating With The Cast
Along with Collins and her 21-member department, much of the character fleshing-out and execution process with a collaborative one with the on-set actors. “It's their character, you know,” she remarks, and “I've always been a designer that loves the input from the actor. They create this person. If you have this strong idea in your head, and you present it to them, and there is reality to the idea, from a storyline, I find that actors will always work from storylines, always. That's the most important thing to them — and that's what it should be.”
Naturally, Collins reveals one of her favorite character to create looks for was Young Charlotte, bolstered by the hard work and dedication of Amarteifio on-set. “And then Gold [Rosheuvel, playing Adult Charlotte], she was amazing,” Collins raves, praising the actor’s physically stamina dealing with towering, heavy wigs for hours on end. “She was brilliant, she really engaged with us. And she really compliments the work, which then just inspires you. You want your next compliment, you [want her] to like the next [look] more than she's just had.”
Keeping track of nearly two dozen team member spread across three locations, conceptualizing and actualizing looks for the characters, crafting hair pieces and accessories in the full-fledged workshop, and taking on one of the U.K.’s most brutal summer heat waves were undoubtedly a challenge, but unflappable Collins powered through and wound up with one of her most enriching on-set experiences ever.
“It's such good fun, and my team was so celebrating the work — on those big scenes, it was joyful,” she shares, smiling. “Everybody just wanted to be there because it looks so good. It was just good all the way around. It was one of those jobs that will always be a great memory.”
