The romantic relationship between Penelope Featherington, played by Nicola Coughlan, and Colin Bridgerton, played by Luke Newton takes centre stage in Bridgerton season three.

Fans of the show will notice that both characters came back with a considerably more elegant style. Speaking to Chattr in April during the Bridgerton in Bowral event, the Netflix stars explained that their dramatic transformation was intentional.

Nicola explained that her costumes played a huge part in her new look.

“You feel like a lot different from what we were wearing. Seasons one and two were quite overdone with big neckties, and I had my crazy yellow dresses,” she said.

“John Glaser designed season three… and he’s like the driest New Yorker. He’s a genius. I love John so much.”

“But it was amazing because it felt like a Pretty Woman moment [in season three] because in seasons one and two were all these wild dresses and they were fun, but you would see everyone else in these gorgeous dresses and you be like, ‘Oh, I’d really love to wear one of those’.

The Bridgerton actress said she got emotional when she first laid eyes on the gowns she’d be wearing for season three.

“I remember one of the first ones they like just laid fabric on me. It wasn’t a full dress. Yeah, and I got tears in my eyes. It’s a big moment for the character, for the audience and for me.”

Luke wanted to do the change in his character justice

While Nicola’s transformation is largely shown through her outfits, Colin explained that he wanted to make sure his physically look matched the change in his character.

“I really lent into the scripts,” he said. “It wasn’t really something I thought I thought about during season two at all. As soon as I got the [season three] scripts, and saw that he’d had this change and really had grown up and become a man I was like, ‘How can I just match that physically as well as play that within the character emotionally and everything?'”

“I just wanted to have everything aligned and feel like there was a drastic change when it comes back to town.”

Luke said he revelled in the chance to work closely with other departments in order to fully realise his character.

“It was great to work with all the other departments like hair and makeup and costume to really accentuate that.”

Stream Bridgerton Season 3 from May 16 on Netflix.

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