How the “Bridgerton” Costume Designers Dialed up the Romantic Fantasy in Season 3

In the Bridgerton universe, imagination is key. One of the reasons the show skyrocketed in popularity since its season one debut is that it’s a romance and a period drama reimagined. It’s a romance set in a royal world with diverse characters, whimsical clothing, and orchestral covers of modern-day pop hits that give the period trappings a modern sensibility.  

And what better way to sell a romantic, fantastical world than through the detailed costuming created by Bridgerton costume designers John Glaser, George Sayer, and Dougie Hawkes?

“The producers and the writers allowed us to veer even further away from the actual period and become a little more fantasy, a little more fashiony [this season],” Glaser says. “We broke as many rules as we could.”

Glaser describes this season as a bit more of a “rom-com.” The audience is familiar with the characters by now, and the two leads, Colin and Penelope, have been teased as a will-they-won’t-they? couple since the first season. 

In season one, we were introduced to the primary family houses categorized by color palette: Bridgerton blue and Featherington orange. In season two, Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) is mostly seen in different violet hues. But in season three, costume coloring got a bit more complex. 

“The audience knows the characters,” Glaser says. “They know the families and that allowed us to not have to follow such strict — I call them Disney color rules. We could break out and become a little more realistic in the colors.”

This year, it’s Penelope Featherington who is the season’s diamond — the former wallflower turned leading lady that, until now, was only ever seen in some painfully bright, citrus gown. 

“We used colors that were good for her skin tone and hair color,” Glaser says. “Also, if you look at her fabrics they’re layers of blues, greens, pinks—so you’re not really sure what color it is. And that’s because people who watch the show look at color and see easter eggs, and we didn’t want to foretell the story.”

Nicola Coughlan’s starring role this season has caused somewhat of an antiquated media frenzy around her body. But the truth of the matter is that Penelope has never looked better. She absolutely lights up the screen this season, and online audiences are eating it up.

“The colors that Penelope is wearing — even though she is more mature, more powerful — allows her to still be a wallflower,” Glaser says. “She’s not sticking out. Color is no longer telling her story. She’s telling her story.”

When designing costumes for a show like Bridgerton, Glaser says they turn to “modern paintings” for inspiration. 

“Like Andy Warhol, we use [Robert] Motherwell, Serjeant [Painter],” he says. “And we always say the same thing with our research that it may be modern research, it may be actual period research, or painting, but we use certain things because we extract the Regency period…and that’s how we mix things all together.”

“We’ll have that under bust line which is very much part of the Regency period,” adds Sayer. “But then we might take it in, smooth it out, and move it. We moved the line once and we added another line underneath.”

This season’s leading man is Colin Bridgerton. Fresh off the boat from his travels abroad, Colin has a revived perspective on life, and a dashing, new wardrobe to match. 

“With Colin, especially, you’ve seen him since season one and season two quite pure and quite soft in his color palette,” Hawkes says. “And I always yearned a bit to escape from that color range. So to give him that transformation… He’s an incessant traveler anyway, after each season he’s on an adventurer. So it was time to make him an ultimate adventurer and come back a fully fledged man, rather than still a boy.”

Hawkes says with the men it’s almost easier to adhere to more traditional Regency era styles.

“[We] used a lot of contemporary fabrics and contemporary designers…but it has a grounding in silhouette to authenticity, historically,” he says.

This season’s other Bridgerton family lead has a bit of a different look. Inspired by Hollywood starlets like Grace Kelly and Catherine Hepburn, Francesca Bridgerton has a reserved elegance about her. 

“We used a lot of sheer fabrics this year because it helps make things a little mysterious,” Glaser says. 

According to Sayer, Francesca is feminine but not “in your face.” She maintains all the class of her elder sister, Daphne, but with an air of mystery. But it wasn’t Francesca that presented the biggest challenge for costuming this season.

Very true to her character, Claudia Jessie (Eloise Bridgerton) became the problem child this season. After accidentally breaking her wrist on set, the costume designers were faced with a new task: how to hide a modern-day cast in Regency-era garb.

In a few scenes, Eloise is seen wearing a muff so that the team would be able to hide her cast.

“It was a tricky one because it’s summer and you don’t wear muffs,” Glaser says. “And some people have noted that the muff looks very light and thin, and that’s all because she couldn’t have any weight on her arm. So it’s like a piece of tissue paper wrapped around.”

Because Jessie wasn’t able to put her arm into most of her outfits for the show, the costuming team had to redo much of her clothing — adding “frills and fluff” to confuse the eye and divert attention from her wrist. 

“And then we split open the sleeves on her green embroidered coat…so she could actually get into the coat,” adds Sayer. 

As seasoned veterans in the industry, Glaser, Sayer and Hawkes have all experienced their fair share of costume mishaps. 

“If you look carefully, she’s standing in certain ways, and she’s got a scarf draped over her, or she’s behind a chair,” Glaser says.  The rest of this season’s magical looks will appear with the release of the second half of season three on Thursday. 

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Featured image: Bridgerton. (L to R) Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington, Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton in episode 306 of Bridgerton. Cr. Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2024