This Christmas, my favorite gift wasn't under the tree or tucked carefully away in my stocking. The best gift I received this holiday season was on the front page of Netflix dot com. As strange as it may sound, it was from a person named Shonda, who knew absolutely nothing about me. Shonda Rhimes' period melodrama "Bridgerton" (opens in new tab) was released on Netflix on Christmas Day. The costumes (opens in new tab) were as perfect as candy. The dialogue was English acrobatics. The sex was gorgeous.

But, IMHO, all of those elements stood on the shoulders of the show's most major and quintessential success: it was the brainchild of the show's hair and makeup designer, Mark Pilcher. And, as is perhaps obvious, Pilcher went to work and took the rest of us to school.

"I love researching before filming, studying books and paintings from the period. I pull ideas from old movies that most people have never seen."

"I show the inside story behind the wigs, ribbons, and tiaras.

To portray Bridgerton's eldest daughter Daphne, played by Phoebe Daimber, as a true peerless woman, Pilcher turned to Audrey Hepburn, the epitome of a peerless woman. Says he, "It was essential to make Daphne very simple and natural, our English Rose."

He specifically referenced Audrey in her role in the 1967 film War and Peace, set in the same 19th century as Bridgerton. Pilcher, however, was not a purist. She obviously fudged a few things, such as Daphne's bangs. Daphne's bangs were not common in this period, but there are traces of them in the paintings."

And Pilcher called on an unlikely cinematic reference to pull it off: Nellie Oleson as Allison Arngrim in the 1970s TV adaptation of "Little House on the Prairie." The Cowper family, he said, "is the wealthiest family on the show, so their financial privilege is also represented by the ornamentation and elaborate staging." Look closely and you'll see flowers and ribbons made of hairpieces as well as stiff basket weaves and antlers. And here's a fun Easter egg: when Cressida tries to trick Prince Friedrich in episode 3, Pilcher sculpted wire braids into the shape of a crown as a visual cue that she should be a princess.

Due to the nature of the production schedule, the hair team was constantly waiting for the costume department to reveal the look they created for the whimsical Queen Charlotte, played by Golda Rochevell. After choosing wig colors based on the tones of the dress and jewelry, Pilcher sketched and designed the queen's look. Next, Adam James Phillips, the show's primary hair stylist, set and dressed the wigs with the help of the entire team. Says he, "It was a round-the-clock effort to get Queen Charlotte done in time for the ball."

Of course, with adversity comes great reward. I am most proud of the queen's wig," Pilcher continues. 'It celebrates her afro and dreadlocks, but recreates the silhouette of her time.'

Not all Fetherington reds are the same. The Fetheringtons' family's native red hair comes from Julia Quinn's novel, but Pilcher concocted the reds for each of the actors. I looked for a color that would match their complexions."

The idea was to make it work when we saw them as a family."

And while most of the hairpieces you see on the show are custom-made, vintage, or from Pilcher's personal collection, scroll down IG and you are very likely to come across Fetherington's ornaments. He says, "I found some perfectly obnoxious multi-colored costume jewelry online that would match the colors of their fancy dresses."

But most of them did. Pilcher recalls, "If we were shooting a big ball or tea party like the Trowbridge Ball, there could be over a hundred wigs and hairpieces on the set." However, characters such as Mrs. Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell), Marina (Ruby Barker), and Prudence Fetherington (Bessie Carter) all wore their own hair, with pieces braided in as needed.