Bridgerton Revisited : Women, Fashion & Society in the Regency Period

Bridgerton Revisited is the first book to place the hugely successful Netflix production Bridgerton in its historical context, the Regency Period of English history which ran from around 17295 until 1837.This eagerly anticipated book is in three parts: Part One examines in detail the social history of the Regency, and is obviously the most recognizable to viewers of the series released so far by Netflix. As such it takes in all aspects of Regency society as enjoyed by the landowning and titled aristocracy in their opulent houses, with their lavish fashions and impeccably prescribed conduct and manners. We learn of the affairs, adultery, sport, leisure and the ardent pursuit of illicit sex in brothels, gambling houses and taverns, of Regency LGBTQ and the endless scramble for the best marriage match as played out in the extravagant balls and at the endless visits and soirées.Part Two takes a close look at the production itself and discusses its historical accuracy in relation to what we discovered in Part One, and the divergences from that history. Using first-hand evidence from the creators and writers of the production we explore the ‘alternate history’ underscoring the series, not least the controversial issue of racial diversity in the casting. Part Three looks at the other side of the coin: the plight of the vast majority living and just surviving in Regency England, amidst the routine squalor, poverty, vagrancy, prostitution and occupational disease, workhouses and domestic and sexual abuse navigated daily, particularly by the women of the day.