Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton, Netflix’s Bridgerton Season one (2020)
Eloise Bridgerton’s 7 Best Costumes from Season 1 of“Bridgerton”
Eloise– Claudia Jessie
Costume Designers – Ellen Mirojnick & John Glaser
Bridgerton: The Smash Hit
On December 25, 2020, Bridgerton Season One dropped on Netflix. Based on a series of books by Julia Quinn, the show features an ensemble cast. Season one follows the first book, The Duke and I which covers Daphne, the eldest daughter and her romance with Simon, a Duke.
Bridgerton has since became a massive success soon with a strong fan-base. The show prompted a new aesthetic known as “Regency-core.” Thanks in part to the costumes and sets.
This is reposted of my article originally on Hubpages
As it’s the spooky season and I already did a Fleur de Lys Costume post last year, I thought why not do an Esmeralda from Notre Dame de Paris Costume post?
Esmeralda wears two costumes in Notre Dame de Paris; her green act one costume and her white prisoner costume in act two. If you WANT to get super technical there are two other “costumes” she wears. One is a weird lab coat-looking costume as seen in the original 1998 Paris production and a red rose costume worn in London and Russian promotional pictures.
This post is just going to focus on the green dress. There are a few takes on the this costume and for even more info you can read this article. Very simply there is the swirl-like velvet version and then the takes on that version which use some form of pattern, mainly tonal florals. Then there is the Italian version which uses patchwork lace. And lastly there the 2016 redesign.
The green color can appear more like golden-olive green but darker tones can be used like in Korean version.
However there are a few design elements that remain consistence. Her dress is is an A-line silhouette with a v-neck with 3/4 bell-sleeves, and is roughly floor length with a high slit up the leg. There can be sparkly details like metallic thread or sequins. Italian version however doesn’t have an sparkly embellishments.
These picks are more based on over-all vibes rather than getting an exact matching dress which would need to be sewn. Also not including the redesign version as it a very unique dress.
Bada as Esmeralda Korean version Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris Esmeralda has darker hair compared to Fleur de Lys. Most of the time it’s the performer’s natural hair but wigs are used. The Wigs are dark brown, black or even reddish tones. Her hair is traditionally long with some form of wave to it. If you hair is already long and a darker shade, you’re good but if not you don’t need a wig if you don’t want to wear one.
Fun Fact: There has been at least one Esmeralda who has rocked short hair, Melanie Renaud.
This costume is very simple as it’s just white short sleeves dress with a brown rope belt. However like most things in life the devil is in the details. For instance you can add tears and burn marks to make it all your own.
Phoebus and Esmeralda, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)
Her costume is a white dress that is super simple, undecorated with short sleeve. No frills & very minimal. You could already have something like it in your own closet but if you don’t;
Esmeralda white dress does have tears in it. Mostly around the neck, the hem, and at the shoulder and knee. However I think you can be creative as your wish with the amount you add and how much distressing you do to the dress. There are loads of distressing tutorials online and youtube.
If you opt to do burn marks be safe! Materials like cotton can burn and leave marks but synthetic fibers (i.e. polyester) will just melt. I recommend just going for the look of burns rather than actually putting a flame to it. Don’t be like Frollo; Fire isn’t the solution and can lead to serious injury. Do not risk your health and wellness for a costume.
Djali, Esmeralda, and Phoebus, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)
Since this dress isn’t as iconic as Esmeralda’s other costumes, you can be a little more creative in whatever details you choose to add so have fun with it but try to avoid flames.
So you want to fit in with all the Barbie costumes this Halloween but still want to have a costume related to Hunchback?
That is a very unique and super niche problem. To be a fair a pink Esmeralda look COULD work very well. There is also the fact that Esmeralda, Phoebus and Quasimodo were all given the doll treatment.
But which character from a version of Hunchback of Notre Dame has that stereotypical Barbie look? Who is blonde and wears pink? The Answer is….
Julie Zenatti as Fleur de Lys Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris’ Fleur de Lys . Fleur de Lys’ costume in this version is relatively simple, especially the design from 1998-2015. It’s consists of a pink sleeveless dress with darker pink dye marks and some sparse crystal details. The length is a dealer’s choice as you can make it mid-calf to floor length. Also low-high (or high-low) hemlines are fine as they are used in some productions. Though if you want, you can go shorter. If you already have a sleeveless pink dress, or gown, in your closet go for that one but if you don’t have a pink dress on-hand here are some options.
Try to avoid dresses with boho styles as that doesn’t fit Fleur de Lys. Think classic or even glam looks.
Pink Dress Options
Lilly-Jane Young as Fleur de Lys 2012 Asian Tour Cast Notre Dame de Paris
Julie Zenatti as Fleur-de-Lys with Patrick Fiori as Phoebus, Notre Dame de Paris
For shoes any type of heel can work so long as it’s pink. This is a “Think Pink” costume. To be honest as long as the shoe is pink go for it. Maybe not a sneakers though.
Anne Meson as Fleur de Lys in the Las Vegas Cast Notre Dame de Paris
In Notre Dame de Paris, Fleur de Lys is typically blonde, the foil to Esmeralda. Some productions however opted to have Fleur de Lys use their natural hair colors. In those productions the Fleur de Lys straighten their locks and the Esmeralda has wavy hair. So if you don’t not want to wear a wig or dye your hair at least straighten it. You can also add flowers or crystal into your hairstyle.
Disney’s Esmeralda’s costume is a great Halloween costume idea. This is because it is super recognizable and made up for easy to get pieces, some of which you may already have in your closet.
But Disney’s Esmeralda has another costume, well technically she has three but no one going to wear her white prisoner costume plus who would recognize that one? I’m talking about her Red Festival of Fool look. Which also highly memorable.
Esmeralda’s Dance Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
This one is a little hard to DIY. You might be to be a little more crafty with either sewing and/or with a hot glue gun. Never doubt a hot gun glue, they are great in a pinch. But let’s see what one can buy readily for this costume.
What you’ll need for this Costume:
Since you’re going to need Sheer purple fabric for the flutter sleeves and gold trim, let’s start with those.
The Sleeves
Between you and me, the purple of the sleeves is more of a magenta and you can just use a scarf instead of getting fabric. Also this means you can have a finished edge if you use the hem. Also note if you’re going for it Esmeralda’s sleeves have slit up the center.
Esmeralda’s trim in the movie is flat but you can go in other directions since there are a lot of gold trim option out there (pun always intended). So one option is more screen accurate and the other is a little more fun.
Wrapped around her hips, Esmeralda wears a long sheer purple. If you’re feeling enterprising you can make one, basically just make a long rectangle. If you feeling less enterprising get a sarong.
2nd option for this is if your feeling like going an extra mile you could paint stars, moon and suns on it and create the scarf she leaves with Frollo.
Most of the jewelry she wears are from her other costume so you can click here for options for her hoop earring, cuff, bracelets and anklet however the tiara is a bit trickier.
One option would be to get a plain gold headband and wear it across your forehead. You could also fashion it from the gold trim and some Velcro or a hook and eye. You could use try some epoxy sculpt to make a more screen accurate tiara.
However if you’re as hung up on being accurate you could also just get red and gold tiara to get the impression of the look. A Tiara like this one.
Tiara option #4: Didder Gold Tiaras for Women, Red Rhinestones Tiaras and Crowns for Women Elegant Princess Crown with Combs Tiaras for Girls Wedding Crowns for Brides Women’s Headbands Prom Birthday Party
Hey all, I’m sorry I haven’t been updating and I’m sorry that I haven’t finished watching/reviewing The Magical Adventures of Quasimodo. I’m not going to go into reasons or excuses as to why as they pertain to matters of my personal life and I am not going there on this platform. All I really can say I’m not sure when I will get back to those review posts. Just know that I would like to at some point. For now posts will remain sporadic.
And now an unrelated story.
Helene Segara as Esmeralda Notre Dame de Paris
So I also write Hunchback content on Hubpages. Way back in the before times of 2011 I did a page on Esmeralda’s green costume from Notre Dame de Paris. She wears this costume throughout the first act. You can see that hub here.
On this page I compare the different versions of the costume from production to production. Mostly the costume is fairly consist from cast to cast with minimum differences in the overall design. Basically aside from the Italian version, which deviated in design very early on from the Original French version and the Korean version being darker, the costume has remained mostly unchanged from the original 1998 design.
There some changes though. For instance the costume was getting tighter and shorter especially from 2012 to 2015. Good for sex appeal but not for dancing. In 2021 I decided to update all my hubpages which is still an ongoing thing since many require a lot more work. I should mention that prior to my update of the Esmeralda’s green costume page I hadn’t updated it since 2015, a year before the current World Tour production, can’t really say cast since the cast has changed since 2016.
In the 2015 update of my page, I added an observation which basically said that the costume needed a redesign because the newer iterations lacked movement. And in 2016 they did update the costume along with some others in the musical.
Hiba Tawaji as Esmeralda
The new version of Esmeralda’s green costume has lots layers of lightweight fabric to show off the performer’s movement.
COINCIDENCE?
Maybe. It is suspect though given the timing. Perhaps my obsessive breakdown of the costume gave the production the idea to do a redesign. Perhaps it was parallel thought. Perhaps my page was one voice amongst many asking for a change. I do not know. More than likely it’s a case of parallel thought and the production and I had the idea independently of each other. The simplest explanations are typically the most likely.
Would I like to think I had something to do with it? Yes I would.
It is nice to see that the costume got more movement since that should add to the overall experience for the audience who is watching the musical live. And I guess I can comment on that further when I see it next month (July 2022) in New York City!
Esmeralda & Quasimodo, La Esmeralda, Kremlin Ballet Company, Moscow
So this pertains to the Kremlin version and not universal to the ballet productions as a whole. For the most part the costumes in this version were pretty great. They expressed the characters and were made for dancing but I had issues with one costume. Can you guess which one?
It’s Esmeralda’s.
Esmeralda Kremlin Ballet Company, Moscow
I can accept them putting her in red. While I fundamentally disagree with the choice I understand it. Red is a striking color and it stands out on stage. I get that and I can overlook that aspect.
Esmeralda & Phoebus, La Esmeralda Kremlin Ballet Company, Moscow
On the whole I do not hate this costume. It’s pretty and a nice darkish shade of red. More like Scarlett. The tutu style of Esmeralda’s and all the tutus appears to be the Romantic style. She has little sleeves that almost like flutter sleeves that add nice motions. The asymmetry is nice with embroidered flower on one side of the bodice and balanced out by embroidered flowers on a hip scarf. As well as chain of gold coins. It does read as naive girly gypsy.
Esmeralda Kremlin Ballet Company, Moscow
However there one aspect of this costume I do not agree with and it’s the color of the under layer of the skirt. It’s black. You can see it most of the time so it’s very noticeable. Why Black? Is it to match her laces? Because that the only other black on the costume. Is to foreshadow her tragic death? Is because red and black as classic sith color and Esmeralda is tempted by the dark side? That was joke but that reason makes more sense than any things else. I really don’t understand this choice. Any other color would have been better. Or was it because black was a safe choice with red? I thought it stuck out.
Alexandra Timofeeva as Esmeralda, La Esmeralda Bellet, Kremlin Ballet Company, Moscow
Not to bring up the book but there are few colors Hugo mentions for Emeralda, Gold, White, Blue and Green. Blue wouldn’t have been a good choice as it’s Fleur de Lys’ color. White might have sticked out too much. Green would have been alright as it would have linked her to her backup dancers. Gold would have matched the cording on her bodice and the coin details so it would have fit into the costume. Pink would also been a good choice as it could have go with the flowers.
Esmeralda & Fleur de Lys, La Esmeralda, Kremlin Ballet Company, Moscow
Speaking of the back-up dancers. There costume are near identical to Esmeralda but in green and they had headscarves. The head scarves are red as elements on their costume especially on the bodice. Their underlayer is also black but it does stick out as much. The layer could have just been for economy and efficiency. This the main titular character however I don’t think saving and money were an issue for her costume.
Esmeralda & Quasimodo, La Esmeralda, Kremlin Ballet Company, Moscow
I really hated the color of the under layer since its purpose is to add grace to her movement but it was an ill-conceived choice to and other well-composed costume.
Djali and Clopin are great ideas to pair with an Esmeralda costume to make a couple costume duo.
Djali Costume options
For Djali there are two methods, one is get a white goat costume
or you can get a goat mask and pair it with is white clothing. I would suggest getting clothes made from fleece for the texture but you can use whatever you have in your closet.
However the most important thing to do to turn this costume from a boring goat to talented Djlai is cutting a hole in the ear of either the mask or costume and putting a gold earring though.
Clopin costume option
Disney’s Clopin is harder to buy items for given that his clothes are two tone but fear not you can get an approximation of this costume. You’ll need yellow pants or better yet leggings, a purple shirt, long or short sleeves though long is better. You’ll also need a yellow cape or shawl or poncho. If you’re the crafty type you can sew some bell to the hem. In addition you’ll need a few accessories, like a gold earring (see above,) a purple venetian mask, a hat, and black gloves. The hat is a little tricky as purple renaissance hats are not in a ready supply but I tried to give some options of hats that could work.
Pants
Cape
Mask
Hat
near shape of Clopin’s Hat with a feather
Jester hat with the right colors
Gloves
If you want a ready-made-costume, this one is close, just add a gold hoop earring, the mask, a hat and black gloves.
Now that 2016 Award Season is over, let’s look at some gowns that are reminiscent of Esmeralda costumes, or something that an Esmeralda could wear. I’m 100% positive these gowns are in no way inspired by Esmeralda, it’s all coincidental.
Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon wearing Oscar de la Renta at 2016 Oscars
This gown is an Oscar de la Renta wore by Reese Witherspoon at the 2016 Oscars. This gown has a lot of commonalities to Disney Esmeralda’s costume. First off, the color, it’s a lovely rich shade of purple. The silhouette is very similar to Esmeralda though longer.
The exposed corset details with the vertical boning is similar Esmeralda’s corset especially with it being on the waist right below the bust. The volume at the bust also invokes Esmeralda’s peasant blouse.
It being strapless also helps, as Disney Esmeralda had exposed shoulders.
Saoirse Ronon
Saoirse Ronon wearing a custom Calvin Klein at 2016 Oscars
This gown is a custom Calvin Klein that Saoirse Ronon wore at the 2016 Oscars. It is very reminiscent of Esmeralda costume in Notre Dame de Paris, in its color, deep v-neck and the abstract spiral pattern. This pattern which is created with sequins would be perfect for Esmeralda’s Notre Dame de Paris costume more than some those floral patterns they get for the costume.
Zendaya
Zendaya wearing Marchesa at 2016 Golden Globes
This gown was designed by Marchesa and Zendaya wore it at the 2016 Golden Globes. I have made it clear I don’t care for Esmeralda wearing red but it is a go to color for her character so I can’t fight it. There is something about this gown that screams Esmeralda. It could be the tiers which is a very dancer type of silhouette which work for Esmeralda.
Zendaya in this gown looks very similar the the design of Esmeralda on the Notre Dame de Paris poster. She might be a good candidate for Esmeralda actually if they ever did Notre Dame de Paris as movie or in States again or a general musical.
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith wearing Versace at 2016 Golden Globes
This gown was design by Versace and Jade Pinkett Smith wore it at the 2016 Golden Globes. This gown seems to be to like a merger of Esmeralda’s two Notre Dame de Paris costumes. You have the color and slit of her first act costume with the cowl neckline and sleeve detail of her prisoner costume.
Rachel McAdams & Sophie Tuner
Rachel Mcadams wearing an August Getty Atelier dress at 2016 Oscars
Sophie Turner wearing Wearing custom Galvan at 2016 Oscars
These two gowns aren’t ones I would compare to Esmeralda’s Notre Dame de Paris costume, though the colors are on par her fist act costume but I wanted to note the slits on these two gowns, it how the slit on the NDdP costume should work. Not the ugly curved thing they do.
Tori Kelly
Tori Kelly wearing Gauri and Nanika at 2016 Grammy Awards
Also the Gauri and Nanika gown that Tori Kelly wore at the 2016 Grammy Awards was the perfect Esmeralda color. The gown itself is lovely though it is not really that reminiscent of Esmeralda.
One of the greatest things about Disney’s Esmeralda’s costumes is how easy it is to translate into difference type of costumes and how easy it is to buy components for.
One type of trend that is easy to turn Esmeralda’s costume into is a Hipster. Let’s face it who doesn’t love Hispters in an ironic way.
HDE Women’s Jean Style Cute Skinny Jeggings Fitted Pants Low Rise Moleton DenimSkinny Jeans are to hipsters what a hunchback is to Quaismodo, necessary!
SOHO GLAM
Button Up Plaid Flannel in Blue TealOK, this a two-tier suggestion, This Flannel shirt works as her hip scarf and corset you just have to tie it around your waist.
FUNOC® Women Ladies Baggy Beret Chunky Knit Knitted Braided Beanie Hat Ski CapTo capture Esmeralda’s headband go with a pink muffin hat, nothing could be more perfect for an Esmeralda hat.
