There comes a time in some teen girls’ lives when they put on the fanciest dress they’ve ever worn, do up their hair and makeup to the nines and present themselves before their friends and families to announce their arrival at life’s next chapter. No, we’re not talking about the debutantes in Bridgerton. We’re talking about quinceañeras and the soon-to-be 15-year-olds in Latinx and Hispanic communities around the world as they commemorate their entrée into womanhood.
“It’s all for a girl to feel beautiful and for families to come together,” explains Gipsy Rodriguez, who co-owns Moda 2000, a family-run quinceañera dress shop in Anaheim, California. Rodriguez received a letter from a woman named Vanessa who described her sister Miley’s love of Julia Quinn’s books and the Netflix series, and expressed that she wanted to throw a Bridgerton-inspired quinceañera. Moda 2000, along with Netflix's Con Todo, stepped in to help.
“Back in the day, when the [quinceañera] tradition just started, it was to present a woman into society, like [in] Bridgerton,” explains Rodriguez, noting that modern quinceañeras are no longer meant to signify that a girl is ready for marriage — instead, they’re a celebration of her journey into adulthood.
Part of that journey involves a showstopping dress. Quinceañera dresses are essentially lavish ball gowns. And just like the elegant cap-sleeved, empire-waisted Regency dresses worn in Bridgerton, quince dresses have their own unique features — voluminous hoop skirts, vivid hues and extravagant embellishments. For Miley’s gown, Rodriguez looked to Bridgerton Season 2 to meld the two.
“This season, we saw a lot more Champagne, rose gold, metallic [dresses],” says Rodriguez. She designed Miley’s dress to feature glitter tulle to match Bridgerton’s metallic color palette and added a corset and cap sleeves.
The crowning feature was a vermillion-colored cape that was an homage to the ones that Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) wore to go exploring. Some of these adventures flew in the face of expectations for women of their station. In her full quinceañera look, Miley bridges the shores between tradition and rebellion, reality and fantasy, community and individuality — finding her own path in the process.
Click here to see Miley’s reaction to her Bridgerton-inspired quince gown at Moda 2000, and visit Con Todo for more!
