This 1 Color In Bridgerton Has So Much Hidden Meaning

Bridgerton usually makes headlines for what is bold and obvious in the show: intense desire, honest pining for a forbidden lover, and exuberant declarations of love. But there’s a lot going on behind the scenes to help audiences get invested in, and root for, the main characters. In Season 2, as Kate and Anthony (and audiences) enjoy their slow enemies-to-lovers journey, one color, lilac, symbolized more than words could ever say — even if those words are “you are the bane of my existence and the object of all my desires.” So, what is the importance of lilac in Bridgerton Season 2?

Although most fans started catching on in Season 2, the importance of certain colors started back in Season 1, when Simon’s family wore mostly red and the Bridgertons donned mainly light blue. As TikToker CatQuinn pointed out, by Season 2, Daphne often wears lilac, the perfect blend of red and light blue, symbolizing her connection with Simon and how their love pulled together these two powerful families.

Lilac, the flowers, are also very present — in one of the first shots of the Bridgerton home in Season 2, it is absolutely covered in a halo of lilac flowers. Daphne also directly mentions the symbology of lilac flowers as she prepares an arrangement with her mom. “You may wish to add in lilac, symbolic of first love,” she says. But this isn’t new to Lady Bridgerton. In the first episode of Season 2, when viewers finally see how Lord Bridgerton passed away, it is revealed that a bee stung him while he was picking lilacs for his wife, as they wereher favorite flower. In true Shondaland fashion, Lord Bridgerton dies in an act of love.

Later in the season, as Lady Bridgerton comforts Anthony through his trauma surrounding Lord Bridgerton’s demise, she’s seen leaving lilacs at her husband’s grave. Interestingly, in the Victorian age, lilac was known as a symbol of remembrance, often worn by widows to honor their loss and grieving period.

The hidden meaning of lilac doesn’t just lay with the Bridgertons, though. In an interview with Fashionista, Season 2 costume designer Sophie Canale said she was intent on making lilac a much bigger symbol than in Season 1. Canale doesn’t work alone — she told Harper’s Bazaar that Bridgerton Season 2 had a huge costume team of more than 120 workers who styled, embroidered, and embellished over 700 costumes every six weeks in a completely in-house studio. This team made sure to bring lilac front and center.

When this season’s diamond, Edwina, first meets Anthony, she’s wearing a bejeweled lilac dress. The feelings of the possibility of first love between the two are fleeting, though, as viewers’ attention quickly turns to the fiery passion between Kate and Anthony. Like her sister, Kate is wearing lilac when she starts to really feel strongly about the Viscount on the Pall Mall field... although her dress is quickly dirtied when they end up sandwiched next to each other in the mud. Her lilac dress being muddied so quickly could symbolize a loss of innocence and warning for hurt to come, or it could also simply show that what Kate and Anthony have is unlike any regular first love, but a more complex, messy connection.

Additionally, when Kate and Anthony finally kiss, Kate is wearing a beautiful shade of lilac. Some of their other “firsts” also involve lilac — in the steamy montage scene of the second-to-last episode, after Anthony begs Kate to “go inside” to no avail, Kate’s regency undergarments are revealed in the exact same lilac shade as the dress Anthony first kissed her in.

Beyond all of the obvious connections to lilac, Canale told Fashionista that "[Lilac is] also bringing the family together." After all the drama and pain caused by Kate and Anthony’s lies, their love still brings everyone together, and Canale’s costume design helps make that obvious.

As the season draws to a close, Kate’s dresses become darker and more jewel-toned, which she also seems to prefer in points of the season where she has more independence — like during her unaccompanied morning horse rides. Symbolically and literally, she’s moving from first love in lilac to lifelong commitment in a deep purple the second time she and Anthony meet on the Pall Mall field — this time embracing their passion for one another.

Bridgerton Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Netflix.