Sean Flanigan On the Crowns of Hair All Throughout the Second Season of ‘The Gilded Age’

The higher the hair, the closer to being the toast of New York City…

The Gilded Age features stunning costume design, and nothing makes more of a statement than a big, feathered, textured hat. But what do those hats sit upon? Why, the mountainous, glorious hair of the women of both old and new money, of course! Thanks to Hairstyling Department Head, Sean Flanigan, the women of The Gilded Age are always ahead of the game by a hair.

Most of the women of New York City during this time period keep their hair up and away from their faces. I couldn’t help but wonder why we never see their hair down? Flanigan reveals that it indicates about one entering society.

“Gladys has her hair down in season one,” Flanigan says. “Women, if they are not out in society, would wear their hair down. People knew that she was Bertha’s daughter, but she didn’t have her coming out yet. We do see their hair down in bedroom scenes or in hallways in their home. Marion and Agnes will have theirs down as they get ready for bed.”

The characters of The Gilded Age would stick with a hairstyle once they found one in fashion. Some people, like Ada or Agnes, might find a signature look and stick with it, and Flanigan says there is a clear different in how the old money and the new money establish their hair. It provides variety within specific circles.

“Harper’s Bazaar would have fashion plates, and that’s something we would look at since there aren’t a lot of pictures of women in this period,” he says. “We went with that direction of style and fashion. It’s, obviously, over the top since we are clean and polished. Julian [Fellowes] wanted us to lean into that. We went in that direction, which was so fun for us, and I pulled a wide parameter of the period. The older characters in the show would’ve held onto their style. If you look at Agnes compared with Bertha, you will see a clear difference. Bertha’s is smoother and more fashion-forward. With my team, I have given them that window, and I let them create and play with their characters. That way all of the characters are getting a different hand on them, so it wasn’t just me doing everyone. I will look at things and tweak things if they need it, but everyone will have a different feel and look but they are all in the guidelines of the period of my designs.”

Even though Ada is excited for her wedding, not much was changed for her big day. How very Ada, indeed. Flanigan wanted to lean into the character’s natural, simple beauty to shine through.

“We don’t change much with Ada,” Flanigan admits. “Once we establish her curls, my right-hand, Christine [Fennell], does Cynthia’s hair. We don’t see Ada with vanity, so we keep her simple and clean. It works so well with her character since she’s a simple style. The back of her hair is a simple twist, and she’s so different than, say, Agnes. It’s a different approach to the characters.”

Agnes / for someone who is so rigid, what would it take for Agnes to change anything
Christine Baranski’s Agnes van Rhijn is more rigid than some of the other characters, and her hair reflects that. Flanigan admits, though, that they changed some of her silhouette from season one to season two, and he collaborated with Kasia Walicka-Maimone, the costume designer, for some of the looks.

“We changed her from season one to season two,” Flanigan confesses. “Her curls are very period, and Christine is so funny because we had the period braids over her head in the first season. She called that the Broomhilda. A lot of women had switches and clusters in their hair to match their color to add to the shape. We played with that in season two, and she has a knotty twist on the top of her head. We call that the brioche. I love when we have Christine in the chair and we put all these elaborate things on her head, and she will be wearing her casual clothes before putting on her sunglasses and leaving the trailer. When she gets in the amazing costumes, and she looks incredible. Sometimes we will have to work around a hat and put a different piece here or there. It’s such a collaborative effort between Kasia [Walicka-Maimone] and our team, and it was always so much fun. We never view anything as a problem–it’s a puzzle. The Broadway side of the actors are use to this kind of thing, and they give us permission to go wild. It feels like we are doing Broadway show every day.”

When we started gabbing about hats (obviously…), Flanigan surprised me by going into some of the mechanics of adjusting the hair depending on the size of the chapeau. There’s padding and a lot of balance involved. The next time you see Carri Coon with an elaborate hat on her head, you will know that Flanigan and his team worked tirelessly so that everything stays in place.

“A lot of the hair pieces we put in literally padded the tops of the hair,” he says. “There is a mesh netting in the hat, so we can pin the hair into the hat. Once the wig is on, it’s balanced on their head so they are comfortable and then the hat doesn’t move. It becomes part of their head. There are days where the sound department where the sound department asks us if we can put the mic up through the hair since the costume is sometimes so elaborate and it’s making noise. I would literally pin the microphone to the top of their head on top of their wig. Then I could lay the mic under the curls and then the hat goes on top of that.”

The men get some love too. Larry Russell, for example, have easy curls that tumble down his forehead. While it doesn’t take as much work as Agnes’ brioche, there is some special care involved.

“I think it’s just a light pomade,” Flanigan says. “He’s got great hair, so it’s pretty easy to style. Morgan [Spector] is the same way. With George, I put gel in his hair, put the curls where I want them and go over on the diffuser. It looks kind of pomade-y, but it’s more of a helmet.”

Are there any hairstyling trends we should keep an eye on in 2024? Flanigan doesn’t think that 1882 will be making a comeback any time soon.

“I feel like the hairstyles would be more for a wedding, I think,” he ponders. “It’s much more matrimonial feeling nowadays. You don’t see a lot of young girls styling like this, but you do see them in bridal magazine. I could see The Gilded Age crossing over into weddings or proms. This period is very concerned with keeping the sides very tight and the sides are very pulled, as opposed to when you get to the turn-of-the-century. That’s more Downton Abbey with the out-sweep, but we haven’t gotten there yet. We play with that with Denée’s hair since the African American texture naturally lends itself to that shape.”

The Gilded Age is streaming now on Max.