When we watch The Gilded Age, we sometimes see how people like Bertha Russell get corseted in for their day. We would probably be shocked by how much time, care, and effort goes into the prep before stepping out of our house to make a splash in high society. It’s clear to see how someone selects a dress to make a statement, but what about makeup? Are there different ways of impressing with the amount of rouge or resisting garish colors on one’s face? Makeup Department Head Nicki Ledermann reveals that she considers character as much as she does what brush to use for the sprawling cast of HBO Drama Series contender.
Audiences immediately felt an attachment with Cynthia Nixon’s Ada for her warm spirit and her level-headedness. Seeing Ada at her happiest was definitely a highlight of the season, but Ledermann was quick to point out that she wouldn’t put too much makeup on before walking down the aisle.
“Ada is, I think, a real and empathetic person,” Ledermann explains. “She doesn’t want to take the spotlight even though it’s her day. She wants to be herself since she this is what she really wanted, and I think her real self is modest but stronger than people think she is. Ada is a simple beauty in a very natural way, and she doesn’t have to mask herself in any way. She is, in a way, our saint and they let other people shine. That’s how we let her beauty shine through.”
With Gladys Russell entering society, Ledermann tells me that her mother, Bertha, would definitely have a hand in how she would be presented. It’s an arc seen all through the second season, and it’s a way of showing the transition into adulthood for one of New York’s most promising daughters.
“Bertha would want her to get ready exactly like she did,” she says. “Mother knows best, after all. In a weird way, she wants her daughter do as well if not better and, therefore, she is positioning her daughter to go further and further. Gladys going far would be Bertha’s biggest success.”
Maude Beaton is a new addition that makes a hasty exit in season two. Since she is so mysterious and doesn’t arrive with any family, Ledermann was poised with created a palette for a character who, we learn, has duplicitous intentions. Like Mrs. Winterton, she is hiding some aspects of her past, and she puts up a front to pretend to be a certain kind of person.
“We had a different color palette with her, and we went with rosier since we don’t know anything about her,” Ledermann says. “You are tempted to think about what’s the most in fashion, and your mind automatically goes to Paris. We think France. I envisioned her as a little French girl, and I wanted to translate a lot of that into her character’s makeup. Mrs. Winterton isn’t very far off from being another Maude. She’s a grifter, too, so I always think that those two characters would somehow find each other maybe? Sometimes you find your tribe without knowing it. That was definitely something I kept in mind when we made them both up”
It’s fascinating to think about how the differences between the old and new guards in terms of applying makeup to their faces. Does the new rich look to new trends because it distinguishes them and allows the to stand out? Could Mrs. Astor learn something from Bertha Russell? With society at war, not even a shade of rouge can be compromised upon.
“There is the class issue, the money issue, and you can’t forget the old versus the new,” she says. “We wanted to make sure that the working class is very clean and plain. The old rich are definitely more conservative. At that time period, makeup was meant for prostitutes and stage actors. If you put too much on, it’s not respectable. The old rich stayed with more subtle things even though they would still use powders and balms, because everyone wants to look pretty. You distinct yourself by fitting in. The new rich want to change things, so they are comfortable with being bold. They think they are going to have more money than the old guard and have better clothes so they will put things in their hair or try to reinvent things. Or bring things back.”
The Gilded Age is streaming now on Max.
