Regencycore style may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Because even though Bridgerton made empire-waist gowns and corsets galore pretty popular, leading lady Simone Ashley says the constricting attire caused her to tear her shoulder.
“I had a lot of pain with the corset,” the 26-year-old star told Glamour UK. “I tore my shoulder at one point!” In fact, she was so snug in the set that putting on her own shoes was out of the question — she had to hit up the wardrobe crew for help.
Figuring out that she couldn’t tie her own shoes was only part of the learning curve with corsets. The actress also had to alter her diet to fit into the costume.
“On my first day, I was like, ‘OK, first day as a leading lady, got to eats lot of food, be really energized.’ So I had this massive portion of salmon and that’s when I needed to be sick, basically because I was wearing the corset,” she recalled to the outlet. “I realized when you wear the corset, you just don’t eat. It changes your body.”
The actress went on to explain that she even had a smaller waist “momentarily,” but her body returned to its normal state when filming wrapped up.
While corsets certainly may not be the most comfortable attire, the show’s costume designers Ellen Mirojnick and John Glaser previously told Us that they were key to meshing the “historic reality” of the Regency era with the “Bridgerton fantasy visual.”
“This period focused on the upper parts of the female stature. A little control of these body parts is needed enhance this enticing focus … The world’s most celebrated corset artist, Mr. Pearl, helped us blend the period accurate corset with the Bridgerton fantasy,” they explained.
Glaser and Mirojnick went on to say that the tight corsets “allowed the charters’ personalized silhouettes to still have the Regency appeal and showcase the beautifully historically accurate empire waist.”
Of course, corsets aren’t the only item making their way from season one to season 2. Fans of the Netflix show can expect just as much glitz and glam too. After all, the costume designers feel that every accessory aids in storytelling.
“Every bow, shawl, necklace, sheer glove, floral headpiece and color palette tells us something with just one glance. We chose to freely embellish … not so much a historical look … but a fantasy look creating the Bridgerton style,” they said at the time.
