How ‘The Buccaneers’ Put a Fresh Twist on Gilded Age Fashion

The show’s costume designer Giovanni Lipari shares his modern approach to dressing five American heiresses for TV.

If you haven’t seen The Buccaneers, imagine the perfect frothy blend of period piece and coming-of-age dramedy: Bridgerton meets The Bold Type. Based on the posthumous Edith Wharton novel of the same name, the show follows a group of American heiresses — Conchita Closson, Honoria Marable, Mabel Elmsworth, and sisters Nan and Jinny St. George — as they navigate tradition, romance, and friendship abroad during the Gilded Age. The girls represent New Money newcomers to the world of Old Money London society, and the resulting culture clash has enough melodrama to have you thanking the television gods for the show’s second-season renewal. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll gasp at the visual splendor of a pink marble staircase.

When it comes to the costumes, there are enough ballrooms, bodices, and tulle to satisfy any Masterpiece Theater-lover of historical fiction, but Apple TV+’s surprise hit went fresher and brighter with its fabrics and colors to match the characters’ modern spirit. The costume designer Giovanni Lipari, who led the direction alongside Kate Carin, says he sought to cultivate a lightness on set, keeping designs “sexy and fresh” rather than strictly aiming for historical accuracy.

Ahead, Lipari breaks down all the fashion in everyone’s new favorite historical romance. From corsets to watercolors, here’s everything you wanted to know about the clothing in The Buccaneers.

The Approach

From the outset, Lipari explains that producers on the show wanted the fashion to be youthful and approachable first, historically accurate second. To achieve that balance, the costume designer came up with a guiding principle: Embrace the shape of the 1870s and innovate everywhere else. “[I wanted] to keep the shape of the period,” says Lipari. “So I said, Let's not mess with that… we can change the material. I can do a dress in denim. You know, we can use fabrics from the 1960s.”

That said, the time period still needed to be obvious to anyone watching. “Bearing in mind that time in history has its own [fashion] designs, you know. We need to respect that,” adds Lipari. The resulting look creates the impression of the Gilded Age with all its layers, opulence, and glamour. But The Buccaneers' outfits capture the period’s essence rather than copying its hallmarks from head to toe.

The Inspiration

That freedom to play with colors and materials drove much of what you see on screen. “We want the history not to be heavy,” he adds, pointing to the lighter, semi-sheer fabrics used for gowns rather than undergarments and lighter colors as examples.

Overall, Lipari wanted the feeling of the girls’ costumes to be that of a “watercolor” painting: delicate, impressionistic, and with plenty of gauzy materials to refract light. “This is the lightness of being with these young girls,” the costume designer explains.

The Color Palette

Color, especially, was a driving force of the team’s creative process. “I straightaway looked into the color palette,” says Lipari on his first move after learning he’d be working on the show. “We needed to make a huge distinction between the U.S. world and the European world. That was one of my questions. And so the mood board I started putting together, there were no shapes, there were no costumes, there were simply colors going into it.”

Lipari’s “watercolor” effect was the end result of that, representing the innocence and originality of the Americans abroad. “We simplified. We almost went the other way around with the United States [as compared to historically accurate clothes from that period] with the lighter colors, always making the [American] girls simpler.” The U.K. costumes, on the other hand, were more in line with what Lipari calls a fall or winter color story, featuring darker shades and heavier fabrics to reflect the strong sense of tradition and stricter customs of the European aristocracy.

The Influence

In terms of how he hopes the show will be received, Lipari admits that every costume director’s dream is to reflect the way people dress today: “I see the corset thing. It's happening! I've seen [it] on the street, and girls seem to be actually willing to, you know, do this.” He also agrees that the themes explored in the show are all over Instagram and TikTok today: old money vs. new money, timeless style vs. innovation. These are all concepts the fashion industry still grapples with today.

Between the ubiquitous bow trend, Old Money aesthetic on social media, and the inescapable sheer red carpet dress, it’s safe to say The Buccaneers' fashion is more relevant than ever.

For more InStyle news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on InStyle.