With the second seasons of PBS’ “Sanditon” underway and Netflix’s “Bridgerton” set to bow Friday, March 25, few periods in history are hotter right now than the early 19th century, known as the Regency in England (after the Prince Regent who would become George IV); the Napoleonic or neoclassical era in France and the Federal period in the United States. In another word, the age of Jane Austen but also the Romantic poets (Byron, Keats, Shelley).
Based on contemporary American author Julia Quinn’s novels, “Bridgerton” is an alternative-history series in which the “ton,” or British high society, is fully racially integrated. (Regency England made slavery illegal, though it was still legal in the British colonies. Nonetheless, Regency England was still distinctly racist.)
A committed abolitionist, Jane Austen introduced her first Black character in “Sanditon,” her last, unfinished novel, which centers on the developers and inhabitants of a seaside resort. Among the residents is Georgiana Lambe (Crystal Clarke), an heiress from Antigua who, despite her wealth, beauty and wit and a surprisingly accepting white society, feels herself isolated even as she is besieged by suitors. The one friend she can rely on is Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams), the story’s Elizabeth Bennet-like heroine, and now the addition of Charlotte’s marriage-minded younger sister Alison (Rosie Graham).
To get you in the “ton” spirit, Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship has a Bridgerton pop-up that you can shop here. From the Wedgwood x Sheila Bridges Harlem Toile de Jouy china ($100 to $325) to Malone Souliers 85 Pointed Toe Pumps ($795) to Tracy Reese’s Hope for Flowers twist frock dress ($408), you’ll feel like one of the Bridgerton sibs, ready for romance.
