Teenager brings Bridgerton to life with wardrobe of period fashions
MEET the fashion-obsessed teenager from Yorkshire who looks like she’s walked straight from the set of Bridgerton with a wardrobe full of 300 handmade historical outfits.
Eleanor Shendery, 16, from York, painstakingly crafted her outfits over a total of 3,000 hours.
She wears the floor-length gowns while visiting castles, stately homes and on historical re-enactments.
She started making her own dresses aged 12 after her grandmother, Ann Gill, 79, taught her to sew.
Eleanor, an A-level student, said: “People used to say I dressed like something out of Pride and Prejudice – but since Bridgerton came out, everyone thinks my style is really cool.”
Eleanor has always loved history and one of her first projects was to make an outfit from the Tudor period. She said: “It was a brown Tudor gown made from some curtains my parents were throwing away. I made it over the course of two or three days.”
Eleanor spends days on her designs and reuses pieces of material she finds in charity shops to be as sustainable as possible. She said: “It doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby – people should express themselves. I got a pair of curtains my parents were throwing away, some of my mum’s friends have donated some spare fabric they had.”
Eleanor has to wear a uniform at school but likes to incorporate Edwardian-style blouses and jewellery in her day-to-day style.
She wears a lot of ‘preppy’ skirts anddresses–anddescribesher outfits as “cottagecore”. A lot of her clothes are second-hand and her favourite app to shop on is Vinted.
Eleanor says she feels “lucky” that she gets lots of compliments on her outfits – and says people are “indifferent” at worst. She said: “I think most people really like it – especially since Bridgerton came out. I’ve never met anyone who isn’t supportive.”
But the sixth-former is finding her hobby hard to balance alongside schoolwork. She said: “In 2022 I made 75 dresses, in 2023 it was about 30, and this year I have only made seven so far.”
When she finds time, Eleanor attends many historical re-enactments, meet-ups and events where she has had the opportunity to meet others who share her love of period fashion.