“We want to see a new, empowered woman. This is not a fashion show moment,” says Bridgerton costume designer John Glaser

Bridgerton co-star Nicola Coughlan has managed to stand out from her numerous co-stars due, in part, to the massive secret she keeps (no spoilers here!), but also due to her signature color: yellow. Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington, has almost always been seen in yellow in every episode of Bridgerton to date – but that’s about to change.

In the upcoming third season of Bridgerton – the one in which Penelope is set to become the show’s central character – will feature a massive wardrobe change, as she’s saying goodbye to yellow. Ahead of Bridgerton season 3’s debut on May 16, Popverse spoke with the show’s costume designer, John Glaser, and discussed how the color change isn’t just a visual change, but symbolic of overall character growth.

“The first time we see her at the modiste, she says she doesn’t want to wear yellow any more,” Glaser tells Popverse’s Gavia Baker Whitelaw. “It’s her first time doing something on her own, so the modiste has helped her with what she calls the new French look. It’s a new silhouette, more towards 1820. The color is green, darker than she’s ever worn, and there’s copper in the dress because it helps to blend in with her hair color. Colors that she’s never worn, but still reflecting a little bit of the Featherington.”

Image credit: Netflix
This massive change for Coughlan’s Penelope is about her coming of age, but as Glaser tells us, it’s “not a fashion show moment.”

“After that we have taken most of the color away, and it’s all soft blues, soft greens, soft pinks. We’ve done that for several reasons,” says Glaser. “One is to put her in the same playing field as Eloise and Cressida, to keep them a little more together. Not to reveal any Easter Eggs as to where she’s going, because people will say if she’s wearing blue it’s because of Bridgerton. They’ll read things into it. So we’ve kind of neutralized her.”

“We’ve also done that because we don’t want to take away from her character. We want to see a new, empowered woman. This is not a fashion show moment,” Glaser continues. “She should be beautiful, she should be sexy, because she’s looking for her husband. But we don’t want the costume to drive the situation. It’s also to allow her during scenes to fall back a little bit if she wants to be the wallflower again, because she’s still writing.”