Tea at Trianon: A Bright Twist on Regency Style

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, January 29, 2021

A Bright Twist on Regency Style

As I said before, I do not care for Bridgerton, but the sets are to die for. From Architectural Digest:

For the Bridgerton estate, the exterior was filmed at a red-brick Georgian mansion in South London known as Ranger’s House. “The building was over 100 years old, and the whole idea of clean lines was a difficult thing to pull off,” says Hughes-Jones, “so we built the majority of the interior rooms on a soundstage.” The Regency interiors represent the styles of the period, from soft blue medallion patterned fabric and swag and jabot draperies to marquetry tables and chairs with ebonized wood. Hughes-Jones and his set decorator Gina Cromwell had almost all of the furniture and vast draperies treatments completely built from scratch for the 250-plus sets. Due to the large number of items needed, improvisation was often necessary. “We had our graphic designer create a vinyl print to use on top of the console tables, and it looks just like marble and marquetry,” he says.
The color Wedgewood Blue (synonymous with the English fine china and porcelain line that was popular during the Regency period) comprised the color palette for the Bridgertons, appearing in the interior color schemes and the Empire-style gowns for the female characters. Details are of the utmost importance, and both families have their own insignia that adorns the costumes, hair ornaments, and the interiors. The Bridgerton symbol is a bee, while the Featheringtons employ a butterfly motif. (Read more.)

Many home decor outlets are now reflecting the Regency style. From The Zoe Report:

"The walls of the Featherington estate are almost solely full of neutral pastels, which is also shown in the way they chose to dress for the Queen’s garden party," Trepte says. "Pale blue, lilac, faded olive, and cream set a simple, yet elegant backdrop to the drama unfolding in their home." To double the Bridgerton impact, try one of these hues in a floral patterned wallpaper. Choose something that's removable and/or only cover one accent wall if you're someone who regularly likes to change things up. (Read more.)

From Town and Country:

The Bridgerton estate was filmed at Ranger's House, a Georgian red-brick mansion in South London, but to achieve the bright scenes and vibrant colors for the show, British production designer Will Hughes-Jones and his team built the majority of the over 250 sets on a soundstage. Along with it, nearly all of the furniture, draperies, and wall coverings were custom-built, with Hollywood magic tricks like vinyl-topped consoles made to appear like marble and marquetry.
Viewers, however, want the real thing. "Since the release of Bridgerton, we’ve seen sales for 18^th-century French antiques grow by 99 percent," says Anthony Barzilay Freund, director of fine art at 1stDibs. At the time, King George IV was a major francophile, so British nobility would have collected and commissioned French antiques and furniture, spanning different periods for the Regency mix we see on Bridgerton. (Read more.)