“The opera is where society puts itself on display,” says Carrie Coon’s character Bertha Russell in “The Gilded Age.” She is correct, but in HBO’s period drama set in late 19th century New York City, society is always on display and nearly every scene is a showcase for the luxe sartorial indulgences of the elite.
Created by “Downton Abbey” mastermind Julian Fellowes, “The Gilded Age” is a soapy saga in which old money begrudgingly rubs elbows with the nouveau riche. The 1880s were a period of rapid industrialization, political corruption and an ever-widening gap between the wealthy and the poor. And from the series’ very first episode, costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone wanted to capture the spirit of excitement that defined the era. “There were those giant socio-economic differences that were visible daily on the street,” she said. “The ladies of means, the ladies who had money, it was their town, their fashion show. They had several fashion shows a day. That was the extravaganza — a display of wealth, power, sophistication and world travel.”
In Season 2, which debuted last summer, Walicka-Maimone (“Moonrise Kingdom,” “Capote”) built on her vision established in the first season of work- ing within a historically accurate framework that is heightened for visual impact. She drew inspiration from a number of sources — first and foremost the paintings of John Singer Sargent, who specialized in portraits of the upper class. She relished playing with fabrics exploding with rich color, which became de rigueur following the invention of synthetic dyes in the mid-19th century.
Even now, as she pages through the 40,000 images her research team compiled, she’s surprised by how cutting-edge the fashion was in the 1880s: “There was a level of abstraction in those dresses — how colors were put together, how shapes were put together, the organic draping. The freedom of breaking up that classical form was pretty astonishing. There was asymmetry. It’s hard to believe that it was that long ago.”
The whip-smart wife of a railroad tycoon forever striving to cement her status in Manhattan society, Bertha is the most fashion-forward of the main characters. She often wears bold, high-contrast prints with asymmetrical flourishes in lace, as in the season’s premiere episode (which earned Walicka-Maimone her first Emmy nomination) when the ladies dress for church on Easter Sunday.
“Bertha is a super fun character to design for because she doesn’t have the traditions of what is appropriate, what is not appropriate,” Walicka-Maimone said. “She’s pushing the boundaries. At the same time, she’s trying to belong. [Her wardrobe] has to have a newness, so I was looking for colors that are steel blue, pale blue with a crispness.”
On the opposite end of the fashion spectrum are Bertha’s old-money neighbors: sisters Agnes Van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon). These doyennes of the old guard never leave their uptown brownstone in anything but classic silhouettes with traditional patterns and embellishments. Even when Agnes quietly reads at home, she’s dressed in a grand teal gown. “It has to feel like you’re walking through the Metropolitan Museum and absorbing this wealth of history of sophistication, depth of jewels and depth of colors,” Walicka-Maimone said.
The sisters’ niece Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) offered the costume designer the chance to explore how a young woman who grew up in the countryside without a mother might develop her style as she settles into the big city. “There is a certain level of innocence and at the same time, this inner sense of elegance and beauty. She’s a girl who is very aware of herself and her place in the world,” she said.
And unlike Bertha’s daughter Gladys (Taissa Farmiga), whose on-trend wardrobe is largely chosen by her micromanaging mother, Marian “has this independent mind and is kind of rejecting the old-fashioned ideas of her aunts.” Look closely at some of her sophisticated frocks (often in soft yellows, blues and pinks) and you might see a delicate flower print, which Malicka-Maimone incorporated as a nod to the character’s journey from rural to urban.
One of Marian’s closest friends is Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), who comes from an elite Black family in Brooklyn and is beginning her career as a journalist while working as Agnes’ personal secretary. She is always impeccably put together, as when she wears a patterned plum silk gown after attending the funeral for the son taken away from her as an infant.
To design looks for Peggy (and her parents, played by Audra McDonald and John Douglas Thompson), Malicka-Maimone’s team worked with Erica Armstrong Dunbar, a professor of American history at Rutgers University. “Peggy’s world was this fascinating discovery,” she said. “All the designs for Peggy were very much inspired by photographs from the period and descriptions that we found. It was about finding a [style] language that would represent that history in a slightly heightened form.”
This story first ran in the Down to the Wire Drama series issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
Read more from the Down to the Wire Drama series issue here.
