Paris fashion week: Bridgerton’s dramatic fashion effect

Call it the Bridgerton effect. Netflix’s Regency-era soap has made it as far as the haute couture shows of Paris Fashion Week.

Fashion weeks over the last month have seen a slew of trends, including genderless dressing and the Bridgerton effect. Picture: Kate Jennings/Supplied

Call it the Bridgerton effect. Like blockbuster TV shows Sex and the City, Gossip Girl and even the pandemic sensation Emily In Paris, Netflix’s Regency-era soap has rubbed off in all sorts of ward­robing ways, even making it as far as the haute couture shows of Paris Fashion Week.

Models were adorned in dreamy, baroque-esque pieces, turning the clock back much, much further than the 1980s and 90s — hitherto the decades of choice for international ­designers.

Whether it was twee blouses for a COVID-safe garden party or luxurious evening wear, in Paris the style was on show at fashion houses of such stature as Christian Dior and Chanel.

Bridgerton has moved firmly into fashion's space. Picture: Kate Jennings/Supplied

The two centuries-old look is here to stay, at least for another season, according to Vogue Australia’s fashion forecast published this week.

“Regency” is one of seven key trends set to dominate how we dress throughout 2021, Grace O’Neill writes in Vogue Australia.

The other trends include luxury leather, minimalism with a twist, crisp white suits that reflect the “changing of the guard in the US”, “genderless” design and Roaring Twenties silhouettes — particularly in bridal wear.

A model strides out for Chanel as the fashion house stuck to the Bridgerton theme at Paris Fashion Week.

But from bell sleeves to ankle-skimming hemlines, collections tended to be adorned with Bridgerton references.

Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Christian Dior took it one step further, including white horses as props and positioned tapestries instead of traditional show lights for the collection’s backdrop.

Giambattista Valli interpreted the trend with frothy, over-the-top gowns that wouldn’t be out of place on the Netflix set.

Kitsch and 'so bad it's good' dressing is making a return, with nods to the 80s and 90s. Picture: Kate Jennings/Supplied

“Even before Bridgerton ­became the biggest streaming series in Netflix’s history (82 million fans and counting), designers were being influenced by the ­period, perhaps drawn to the parallels between the simplicity of the 1800s and our new life ­indoors”, wrote O’Neill.

O’Neill detected the presence of “puff-of-tulle gowns so fabulously frothy that they’ll likely end up on costume designer Ellen Mirojnick’s moodboard for Bridgerton’s much-awaited second season”.