Dearest reader, the time has come to place our bets for the upcoming social season… the ton is abuzz with activity, for season 2 of Bridgerton is upon us! The Netflix anthology, based on the classic romance novels by Julia Quinn, has returned to bring us more love affairs, scandals, steamy moments, and brightly colored Regency costuming. With the cherry blossoms blooming in Portland, I feel like Lady Whistledown, and just like her, I’m bringing the receipts!

Justine Vanderpool Photography — Your author by Justine Vanderpool

But first, what exactly is “the ton”? Comprised of roughly 1,500 families & 10,000 people, the ton was the Georgian social elite. Fashionable, titled aristocrats and all their accompanying vices would migrate from their country estates for the London social season, which ignited a sort of feeding frenzy for those in the marriage market. Lasting about 100 days and nights from spring into summer, this was the time to make your mark on the most powerful people in society. Your social standing would rise and fall with the choices made throughout the season – none of which would be more important than that of marriage.

We’re aware of how women were exclusively focused on marriage and childbirth in past centuries, but we forget just how grim this situation truly was. A glamour has been pulled over our eyes with romantic tales of princes and dukes, but for most women (with or without social standing), marriage was the singular way to provide stability for themselves for the rest of their lives. A marriage was more akin to a business merger than anything else – hence the emphasis on a woman’s dowry. Her accomplishments (be it painting, singing, languages, or riding) in combination with her appearance and breeding would be considered. Women of great beauty from large, healthy, titled families would inevitably be considered an admirable investment by the bachelors of the ton.

The social season was an exhausting, expensive time that required the participation of every eligible aristocrat. From 8-3am, the days were taken up by teas, balls, picnics, races, operas, and dinners. A new dress was needed for every event (if one was able) along with accessories. This kept the town modiste quite busy, as the average cost of a single dress would be £50, or roughly £3,567 ($4,673) in 2020.* Wedding dresses or more extravagant dresses would be £200 or more (≈£14,300/ $18,733). Factor in the cost of running a gorgeous home for the season, the domestic help required for such events as balls and garden parties, and tickets to the theatre (if not a family box), and the reasoning for the preening and peacocking nature of the aristocrats becomes apparent. It would require a minimum of £900 (≈£723,500/ $947,750) for most girls to debut with the richest families paying more than £15,000 (≈£12mil/ $16.5 mil) for a single season.

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The costuming is as rich as one would expect for a such a price tag, but as for me? I love the balls. Bridgerton does an excellent job of demonstrating the personal flair each hostess would bring to their event. Notice how Lady Danbury’s kick-off soiree is a flowery, classic affair of high taste, but the recently widowed Lady Trowbridge’s ball included bohemian performers, acrobats, and exotic delights. The new Duchess of Hastings’ was a grand celebration of love in blue & white. It’s difficult to find exact figures, but one estimate suggests a single ball at a cost of £1,500 (≈£1,419,000/ $1,859,000).

Such things sound so outlandish, a distant concept from another time. But it’s not too different from Christine Quinn’s $1 million+ wedding on Selling Sunset, the $100,000 Kylie Jenner spent on Stormiworld, or any of the over-the-top themed Kardashian bashes. Imagine if you had all the money and influence in the modern world to throw the party of your dreams. Post-honeymoon, women of leisure were expected to narrow their focus to babies and balls, so healthy boys and legendary parties were the indicators of success. And if that was your job, what elements of your personality would you showcase? What would be your hook?

However, not all parties were exclusive events. Public spaces like the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens were a whirlwind of entertainers, food & drink, and exhibits of wonder (like the electric lights strung up in trees in the season 1, episode 1). The price of admission was all that was needed to attend; such spaces were frequented by all manner of folk.

The men would frequently escape the demanding schedule by attending their men’s-only clubs. They could bet on who would marry who over cigars and brandy. They could get a respite from their social duties before the following morning’s events.

While the core of the story is naturally the blossoming love between the younger members of the ton, I find the outliers of the marriage market more interesting. The Viscountess Bridgerton is the clear matriarch of her family but must infuriatingly yield to her immature son Anthony. Lady Danbury answers to no one. Her family history is yet to be revealed, but she wields significant power over the ton. Penelope is considered little more than a useless expense of a dowry to her marriage-minded mother, Lady Featherington.

Incidentally, her story more than anyone’s reveals the pitfalls of such a system. A good husband doesn’t simply provide a comfortable estate or an enviable title. As complete obedience was a requirement of women in marriage, there was a reliance upon men to be well-behaved. A good husband would not commit acts of violence against their wife, nor exhibit signs of vices such as substance abuse or gambling. Monogamy was a laughable concept, but discretion was nonnegotiable.

The late Lord Featherington’s gambling almost caused the ruin of his family over and over again. Lady Featherington spends most of her time finding the way out of her husband’s messes. Her churlish attitude can almost be excused, given her own disastrous marriage. If I’m honest, I thought her husband’s death to be the best thing for her. But now, she is subject to the whims of a distant male family member who ejects her from her own bedroom – and is expected to be appreciative of such a situation!

Many of us today laugh at the concept of the Temperance movement, which was primarily pushed by married women and eventually led to Prohibition. However, it was a rational response to similar situations as Lady Featherington’s.

Women were left without resources for their families when a husband didn’t work or gambled and drank away incomes. They were often objects of censure for their husband’s failings. By design, very few women had respectable ways to earn wages if a husband didn’t provide for his family. Some turned to prostitution, but once branded as a fallen woman, it would be near impossible to recover.

Some women were deemed not of marriageable quality yet were still completely reliant on the favor of men; Siena, the opera singer, was of considerable talent but would be thought of similarly to the model-cum-escorts of today. She comes across as a bit of a whiny side piece who is constantly pressuring Anthony Bridgerton into a more formal relationship. What is only alluded to is that when, at the urging of his mother, Anthony decides to do the “right thing” and breaks up with Siena, her financial backing is lost. His relationship merry-go-round has dire financial consequences for her, and absolutely none for him. Is it little wonder then that she must choose a more stable patron? To echo the words of the modiste Genevieve, “Women like us must make our own way in the world.”

Why are we so enamored of shows like Bridgerton? The simplest answer is that we enjoy romantic historical dramas. While that’s certainly a component of it, it is merely the vessel for the heart of the show. As the wealth gap grows ever larger, social issues loom ever closer, and the end of an era draws ever nearer, the fetishization of money, luxury, status, & leisure becomes king.

We have seen this time and time again – the Gilded Age and the Jazz Age are more recent examples of such phenomena. Social media and influencer culture is just its newest reincarnation. Members of the ton are just ancient influencers; Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, had such social power in fashion, politics, and social issues that she is still talked about today. The Kardashian family is little more than a modern version of the 2nd generation Vanderbilts, or perhaps even the Bridgerton family. I have no doubt that the original selfie queen, the Countess de Castiglione, would have been a close personal friend of Kim.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are simply enamored spectators – butchers hoping for a lucrative contract, faithful gossip readers, footmen and errand boys for the rich praying for less rent and more coin. Things haven’t changed, even if the fashion has.

Let it be known, dear reader, that another season portends more extravagant expenses! And I will be here with my quill and calculator, ready to report on them all.

*2020 is the most current year for measuring value of historical prices in early 2022

Sources:

https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/?s=bridgerton

https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/

https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/a34730007/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-regency-london-bridgerton/

https://logicmgmt.com/1876/season.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgiana_Cavendish,_Duchess_of_Devonshire

https://bookshop.org/books/fortune-s-children-the-fall-of-the-house-of-vanderbilt/9780062224064

https://bridgerton.fandom.com/wiki/Lady_Danbury

https://bridgerton.fandom.com/wiki/Lady_Trowbridge

http://www.vauxhallandkennington.org.uk/sgdetail.shtml

https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/a34967557/behind-the-scenes-of-bridgerton-inside-the-sets-of-the-vauxhall-pleasure-gardens/