What to Wear to a Bridgerton Brunch
Are you a fan of the Netflix Regency romance series Bridgerton? I always enjoy a good period drama and was completely on board with this alternative history story since its debut on Christmas Day 2020. They have released each season in a fairly sporadic way with season 2 premiering on March 25, 2022. Season 3 was released in two parts on May 16 and June 13, 2024, followed by season 4 which was also released in two parts on January 29 and February 26, 2026. There was also a spin-off series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, which premiered on May 4, 2023.
I watched the first three seasons and the spin-off on my own until I discovered that my husband’s work friend Viky is also a big fan of Bridgerton and other period dramas. I used to refer to her as just that…”my husband’s work friend Viky”, but I suppose she’s my friend Viky now!
I’m going off track here for a minute…Do you all know how hard it is to make new friends at this stage of life? It’s really difficult! For me, at least. People are unpredictable and overly dramatic and often untrustworthy. I’ve been burned so many times by “good friends” that I now have a pretty high wall built around myself and it takes a really special person for me to let them in. Despite being 20 years younger than me, Viky and I share a lot in common besides Bridgerton and a beautiful new friendship is blossoming because of it. Viky, if you’re reading, thanks for being an awesome friend. I am blessed to have met you!
Back to Bridgerton. For the first of our fourth season watch parties (it is still a party even if there are just two people, right?), Viky came to my house and I made a little lunch buffet of Bridgerton inspired finger foods and desserts. We smoked from my beautiful Grandma’s Bong, which is so perfectly Bridgerton-esque that I renamed it Miss B. and I only bring her out for Bridgerton parties now!
Viky hosted our second watch party and then we continued to take turns until we completed season 4. The episodes run from 52–73 minutes each so we usually only watch two episodes each time. We take lots of smoking and snacking breaks so those two episodes generally take us about 4-5 hours to finish.
A few weeks ago, we got together at my house for our last watch party of season 4 and I decided it might be fun to create a Bridgerton-inspired outfit for the occasion. I didn’t tell Viky, I just got myself dressed for the day, but we were thinking for our upcoming seasons 5 and 6 watch parties maybe we should get dressed up. And another one of Jeff’s work friends, Heavenly, is interested in joining us. So Bridgerton party of 3 will be kicking off season 5 sometime in 2027!
For my Bridgerton-inspired outfit, I combined a new blue and white gingham chiffon dress with a new white floral eyelet duster. The long maxi dress with the cute blue ruffled trim seemed to really suit the Bridgerton vibe with a modern day twist.
I piled on a bunch of pearl and beaded necklaces and bracelets, added a pair of triple pearl drop earrings, and topped it off with my lavender and white straw cloche hat. There is no other lavender in my outfit but the soft shade blends nicely with the blue gingham and the pink floral prints. Plus if you combine pink and light blue, you’ll get some shade of lavender so it’s perfectly coordinated! Finally, my new Furkenstocks in antique white are making their debut blog appearance even though I have been wearing them with much frequency since they arrived a few weeks ago. I also brought out my vintage gold beaded bag. It’s vintage in that I bought it new over 20 years ago. I can’t remember where I got it but it’s just so pretty that I keep for special occasions.
I rarely wear bracelets even though I have two jewelry armoire drawers filled with them. I love the look of a dramatic bracelet stack but I often find them uncomfortable, claustrophobic, and just plain old tedious for daily wear. So it’s a rare occasion that you will see me wearing arm jewelry. The same for rings. I simply cannot stand the sensation of a metal band snugly encompassing the circumference of my finger. I ditched rings years ago, including my wedding ring, because that sensation can literally send me into a panic mode of claustrophobia. And there is no need for our fashion choices to cause us anxiety. That’s just ridiculous. So no rings for me and only occasional bracelet wearing.
Women’s clothing in the Regency era (1795-1837) shifted away from the heavy, structured, and corseted gowns of the 18th century in favor of the lightweight, high-waisted styles of classical Greek and Roman fashion. Key components of women’s fashion during this era included empire waists, low necklines, long column silhouettes, and fabrics such as batiste, lightweight silks, and sheer cottons like muslin and voile. While white was the most common color for women’s gowns during this era, they were often layered with bright outerwear in bold color palettes and interesting prints. Women of this era adored prints including stripes, dots, checks, Indian block prints, and florals.
My Bridgerton outfit seems to incorporate all of those Regency era details from the long flowing silhouette to the empire waist, the low cut neckline, the chiffon fabric, and the mixture of checkered and floral prints. However, the pearl piles around my neck and wrists would have been considered vulgar by Regency era women. Instead, they favored minimalist jewelry with pearls of any sort being reserved for formal evening occasions.
But I’m not a true Regency woman. I am a Gen X’er through and through…fiercely independent, pragmatic, genuinely authentic with a can-do attitude and an “I will wear what I want” mentality. And I like pearl piles for any time of day no matter how vulgar another generation may have considered them!
I really enjoyed this wearing this feminine flowy outfit with my excessive amount of jewelry, but you know that I much prefer my trademark bohemian cowgirl aesthetic. So I took this outfit and turned it boho with just a few changes to my accessories. Stop by tomorrow to see how I transitioned this look from Bridgerton to Boho.
Keeping it on the edge,
Shelbee
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.
10 Comments
Suzy Turner
Oh how I love this, Shelbee! I so wish I lived closer to you so I could join in your Birdgerton parties! I ADORE that show! Same with Queen Charlotte! It was EPIC!
Your friend, Viky, sounds fabulous too…and so cool that Heavenly might also be joining you for the next season. I’m very envious as I don’t have anyone to have Bridgerton parties with. My best pal is more of an anime gal (which I’m not a fan of lol)….luckily we do share a big love of witchy stuff so we shall be enjoying a big Practical Magic party for two LOL when it comes out!
I LOVE your outfit—such fun that you decided to do that ready for the party. The shoes look so freaking comfy too, Shelbee!
Sending you huge hugs
Suzy xx
PS I know what you mean about making friends but I just recently made a new one, who is also American! Sadly, she will soon be returning back to you (well, Mexico!) so I shall have to make the most of our friendship over the next two months! xx
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Aw, Suzy, thanks so much! If we lived near each other, we wouldn’t just be having Bridgerton parties. I would join your Practical Magic watch party and other witchy activities. And we would surely have lots of shopping excursions together, too! Heavenly is 30 years younger than me but she is such a bright joyful light of a human being! I think it’s important to have friends of all ages. Younger friends keep us young and in touch. Older friends offer us wisdom and grounding. And friends our age can relate to all the aging stuff in real time. I will always exercise discretion in making new friends at this point in my life but I will never discriminate based on age, race, religion, or any other characteristics that make us different. People with different opinions and views who come from different backgrounds and have different experiences can offer us new perspectives that help us evolve and grow into the best versions of ourselves. Good friends are hard to find so we gotta hold onto those friends when we are blessed to find them! I am so sorry that your new friend is retuning to the North American continent. But Zoom is an amazing thing! Nancy in the Netherlands and I have been doing monthly Zoom calls for years and she is literally one of my very best friends and we have never met in person! As much as I can dislike technology sometimes, I am so very thankful for video calls! Sending you lots of hugs, my friend.
xoxo
Shelbee
Nancy
Oh that is so much fun to watch together! And what a great outfit! How nice that you found a new friend in Viky. I agree that is not real to find people who are interesting and kind enough to spend time with. But to be honest, I’m perfectly happy with the small group of friends around me. I know you are too. And I feel the same about bracelets. They annoy me, but I do think or looks great when I wear them.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am definitely happy with my small circle of true and trusted friends and I am blessed that you are among them! Friends are so hard to find that I had to find you on the other side of the world! As much as I hate certain technology things, I am also so grateful for it because it has connected us!
xoxo
Shelbee
Alex
I absolutely love this! My friends and I were actually just talking about doing a similar idea since one of them has a beautiful outdoor garden like the one you’re at. It would feel very regency area to do a tea party in there between episodes.
I adore your dress! I’m the worst with trying to figure out how to switch a dress that I would consider one aesthetic into another, so I’m amazed at how you were able to change it to a more Regency-style aesthetic with some pearl necklaces. Thanks for sharing!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Alex! Oooh, I hope that you and your friends decide to move forward with a Bridergton garden tea party! I definitely see things a little differently than most people especially when it comes to clothing so these genre transitions come pretty easily for me. I think you just need to let your imagination run a little wild sometimes!
xoxo
Shelbee
Anna
I have nothing to say about Bridgeton, I haven’t watch a single episode and have to intention to start. Sorry, if I hurt your feelings, Shelbee, it’s just not for me. I do however love your outfit, I thinkg it was a marvellous idea to get dressed for the occastion and hope your frined Vicky appreciated it. And I totally agree with you on wearing pearls anytime of the day.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Anna! It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all that you don’t like the same television show as I do! We all have different tastes in all sorts of things and that’s never a reason to get upset. Variety is the spice of life, after all. And I really like variety…in style and fashion, in books and television and movies, in thoughts and opinions. What a boring world it would be if we all liked and believed the same things, don’t you think?
xoxo
Shelbee
Marsha Banks
I love Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte! The fashions on that show are just amazing! But, I can’t imagine wearing those corsets squishing you so tightly and pushing the girls up to your chin (or in my case, chins)! Did you know they picked the colors certain families wore on purpose? Our house is a Bridgeton called that after a road in the county where our builder lives, but I still call it a Bridgerton every once in a while!
I love your outfit…all the layers and colors and textures. It’s just a treat for the eyes. I really love pearls draped and worn like that, too. I feel the same as you do about earrings and rings. Bracelets don’t bother me near as much. It’s rare for me to wear any jewelry unless I’m going somewhere or doing a photoshoot.
Ah, yes! I definitely know how hard it is to make friends in your middle years. We moved when I was 57, and it is very hard to break into groups that have back stories as well as shared histories. That’s one of the things I didn’t expect to find when I became a docent…friends who love the same things I do. We are all fairly close in age, but I’d welcome a friend who was any age. I’m so glad you’ve made a new friend and possibly another.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Marsha, thanks so much! As much as I love the storylines in Bridgerton, the fashion might be the main reason for watching the show! It is all just so good. The colors and the prints they wore really speak to me. Of course, I particularly like the really obnoxious getups worn by the most annoying of the characters. Hahaha. The corsets I can do without though. Earrings used to bother me but as long as they have hooks instead of posts I rarely notice them anymore. I actually have been changing a lot of my post earrings to hooks so I can wear them more comfortably. It makes me so happy that you embarked on your docent adventure with little expectations for making new friends and then you found some of the best people there! I admire that you put yourself out there…and the benefits are evident! You seem so happy and fulfilled, my friend. Keep shining bright!
xoxo
Shelbee