When the actress Nicola Coughlan joined the solid of Shondaland’s interval costume drama “Bridgerton,” because the younger socialite and secret gossip pamphleteer Penelope Featherington, the hair and make-up artist Marc Pilcher knowledgeable her that the inventive temporary they’d for her character was just one phrase: “dowdy.”
Penelope, the demure youngest daughter of the domineering matriarch Girl Portia Featherington, was to be finished up in garish pastel clothes and gaudy jewellery, with a hairdo clogged with curls — none of it notably flattering. “For the primary two seasons, the target, within the nicest method, was not meant to make me look good,” Coughlan stated in a latest interview. “A number of the Featherington aesthetic was a ‘extra is extra’ method.”
A supporting participant by the present’s first two seasons, Penelope is the principle character of Season 3, which begins streaming Might 16 on Netflix. And as she has moved into the highlight, her whole type has been altered: a change that followers of the present confer with because the “Bridgerton glow-up.”
Gone are the canary-yellow robes and cheesy headpieces. She’s now sporting milder colours and fewer ostentatious jewellery, and her hairstyles are looser and extra elegant. Briefly, she is now not dowdy. “On the first becoming for Season 3, I bought teary-eyed,” Coughlan stated. “It felt like a ‘Fairly Lady’ second. They have been lastly going to let me shine.”
This sort of stylistic reinvention has grow to be widespread apply on a collection identified for rotating actors out and in of its sweeping ensemble, and adapting their appearances accordingly. “When the transition is constructed from aspect character to main character, we predict quite a bit about what story it’s we’re making an attempt to inform,” the showrunner and govt producer Jess Brownell defined. With regards to styling, she stated, “it’s much more heady in terms of the principle characters.”
The phenomenon was first obvious when Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), the eldest son of the Bridgerton household, grew to become one of many most important characters of the present throughout its second season after a stint on the sidelines in Season 1. He successfully changed Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Web page), who was the primary season’s major love curiosity and de facto main man. Anthony’s transition to the lead featured one particularly drastic revision: the removing of his giant sideburns. Although they have been acceptable for an overbearing eldest brother, Brownell stated, “as soon as we bought into his love story, it was like, ‘You gotta go.’” To followers, this transformation represented greater than only a glow-up: It was a full-blown metamorphosis. “The sorcery that [Shonda Rhimes] is doing on these ‘Bridgerton’ males, it must be investigated,” declared one TikTok creator, in a video that has been seen greater than 16 million instances.
For Penelope, the transformation begins together with her make-up, which has been radically enhanced. “In Season 1, she’s speculated to be the wallflower that actually falls into the wall: You’ll be able to’t see her,” stated Erika Ökvist, the present’s lead hair and make-up designer. “Season 2, she’s making an attempt to grow to be a lady, so we’re utilizing fairly spherical shapes, accentuating the roundness of her eyes.” Season 3 finds Penelope in a heated romance with Colin, the Bridgerton son performed by Luke Newton, a pursuit that knowledgeable her look: “To make her eyes extra siren-like, because it have been, we’re utilizing extra angular traces — her eyes look extra almond, much less spherical and harmless.”
Colin himself, in his shift from peripheral character to main man, has additionally adopted a brand new look. Earlier seasons discovered him plucky and boyish, styled in jaunty pastels that Brownell stated “signified his youth.” Season 3 Colin, who has traveled overseas and “come again a brand new man,” has a darker palette reflecting a brand new worldliness. “I feel the web has dubbed him Pirate Colin, which isn’t too removed from what we supposed,” Brownell stated.
Notably, the “Bridgerton” glow-ups don’t contain the sorts of bodily overhauls — packing on muscle or slimming down — which might be usually related to Hollywood transformations; the truth is, the showrunners minimize a plotline from the novel “Romancing Mister Bridgerton,” which is the premise for Season 3, that concerned Penelope reducing weight. “We predict that Penelope is gorgeous, and I don’t assume it’s actually part of her story,” Brownell informed Selection.
John Glaser, the present’s costume designer, stated that when a personality strikes into the highlight, the wardrobe division takes a pared-down method. “When Penelope grew to become the main woman, we simply pulled again,” he stated. “We took all of her finest attributes and centered on them.”
Taking part in to Coughlan’s finest options meant simplifying her silhouette — even when the modifications weren’t all fairly period-appropriate. “This era doesn’t give ladies a waistline, and we gave her a waistline,” Glaser stated, citing the movie noir star Lauren Bacall as a reference. “We made her extra like a bit ’50s Dior type.”
Brownell emphasised that the character dictates the wardrobe, not the opposite method round: Penelope’s new look displays her development as an individual, not merely that she wants a makeover as a result of she’s moved as much as prime billing. “She’s this character who has been on the sidelines for thus lengthy and, appearance-wise, she’s actually simply finished what her mom needed her to,” she stated. “So she was sporting citrus colours, that are very a lot Portia Featherington’s favourite palette, and he or she’s sporting these tight little poodle curls, which can be a Featherington particular.” Coming into Season 3, Brownell stated, her look “is absolutely about separating herself from her mom and her household.”
Penelope’s new aesthetic has been greeted rapturously by followers. “Lastly they bought my woman in some blue and a gown that truly matches she seems so stunning,” one stated in an Instagram remark, which has been appreciated greater than 3,000 instances. One other put it extra bluntly: “Oh thank god she’s not sporting yellow.”
Coughlan stated she wasn’t personally bothered by Penelope’s tawdry pre-glow-up type. However she admitted that dressing for Season 3 was a welcome change. “It felt gentle and romantic and exquisite,” she stated. “It was actually magical.”
