How 'Bridgerton' Season 3 puts a new spin on the 'makeover' trope

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Penelope Featherington — and actor Nicola Coughlan in turn — is stepping “out of the shadows” and into the center of the dance floor. In “Bridgerton” Season 3, Penelope takes on the role of romantic lead, following in the footsteps of Season 1’s Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Season 2’s Kate (Simone Ashley). But unlike her predecessors, Penelope isn’t fighting off suitors — she’s seeking them out. Her goals are simple: She wants to run her own home, get out of the overbearing grasp of her mother and have the privacy to continue her gossip-columnist career as Lady Whistledown. However, to do that she needs a husband. So, in true romantic comedy fashion, she gets a makeover. The transformation of a female lead is a familiar one to romance lovers — and that’s the point, according to Season 3’s showrunner Jess Brownell. “We definitely wanted to include a makeover. It is such a trope in the romantic comedy genre, and we’re really leaning into the rom-com vibe this season,” Brownell tells TODAY.com. “We’ve seen that makeover moment so many times, where someone enters and makes a splash. And it’s usually pretty successful.” Typically, the makeover moment catches the attention of the intended subject, the main character’s love interest. Prior to their transformation, the protagonist may have been seen as just a friend or confidant, but now, post transformation, the character gives off a new allurement, sparking chemistry which subsequently leads to love and a happily ever after ending. But not so fast. In “Bridgerton,” Penelope’s makeover yields a different result than the typical rom-com formula would, part of an effort to subvert tropes for a modern audience, Brownell says. Breaking down Penelope’s transformation Putting a Regency spin on scenes from “She’s All That” and “The Princess Diaries,” Penelope — known for bright citrus-colored dresses and tight red ringlets — debuts a new look at the first ball of the season in Episode 1. Standing alone at the top of the stairs, she whips off her cloak to reveal a deep emerald green dress, sparkly black translucent gloves, soft makeup and loose red waves of hair that’s parted gently down her shoulder. In true “Cinderella” fashion, all eyes turn to her as she descends the steps alone, eliciting shock from designated mean girl Cressida Cowper, interest from the eligible bachelors in the room — and forcing Penelope’s eventual love interest Colin (Luke Newton) to take a sip of his drink. In the show, Penelope cites the fashions of Paris as an inspiration. But Erika Okvist, “Bridgerton’s” hair and makeup designer, says the team looked to old Hollywood icons like Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe for Penelope’s new look. “We wanted to develop her so that she became a sexy siren,” Okvist says. Coughlan’s appearance was also inspired by the glamour of 20th century cinema. “To decide on a look, usually you see her face and you analyze, ‘What can I do with this?’” Okvist explains. “(Coughlan’s) face renders itself very, very well for this kind of old Hollywood image.” Her dress style, however, embodied more of the fashion of 1820, costume designer John Glaser says. 1820 marks the end of the Regency period and brought about a different silhouette for women’s clothing. “That look of 1820 kind of resembles a 1950s gown. It’s shorter, which also suits her. It also gave her a waist,” he says. “It made her from a young girl in bright, gaudy colors to a more sophisticated woman who is empowered. She still may be on the wall taking in information, but she’s doing it because now she’s got the power to do it.” Why Penelope’s ‘aesthetic’ change isn’t her ‘real transformation’ But after Penelope makes her grand gesture — fittingly set to a sweeping orchestral cover of “ABCDEFU” by Gayle — she struggles to connect with any of the suitors who approach her, still her awkward, rambling self. Before the end of the night, she finds herself back on the wall. Brownell says the “Bridgerton” team sought to “make a commentary” on the makeover trope in Season 3. “We turn it on its head,” Brownell says. “Penelope does get a makeover, and it attracts a little bit of attention, but it pretty quickly fails spectacularly because she doesn’t have the internal confidence yet to own it.” Coughlan describes Penelope’s new look as an “aesthetic transformation,” one that in the end, “doesn’t really matter.” “She’s not confident in herself. She doesn’t believe in herself,” Coughlan says. Her makeover serves as a red herring. “The real transformation happens through learning to love herself and through loving Colin and becoming a woman and having sex,” Coughlan says. But Penelope’s fashion still can demonstrate this internal change, according to Okvist and Glaser. Penelope’s first look represents what a modiste, or dressmaker, would have suggested she wear in line with trends, while her looks after represent Penelope being in “complete control,” Glaser says. “She realized that she has got an elegant mind. She’s an elegant woman, and she won’t let go of that,” Okvist says. “And she’s earned it. She’s earned the right to make her own look. She’s free of her mother. She’s got her money,” Glaser adds. Her dresses throughout the season become more simple, Glaser says. “There’s not a lot of decoration. There’s not bright colors because we wanted her personality, her character to be the focus, not the clothing,” Glaser says. So when Penelope finds love in Season 3 its because of her, not her attire, Glaser says, putting a new twist on what viewers can take away from a rom-com “makeover.” “If you wanted to do like what Penelope did, just remember, make sure it comes from yourself. Don’t go after a trend,” he says. “Don’t follow anybody’s instincts but your own. And your heart because that will lead you.”