First Daphne and Simon, then Kate and Anthony, and now Penelope and Colin are set out on a journey full of hidden feelings and monumental secrets. The first part of Bridgerton Season 3 aired and is now streaming on Netflix. Even though there are only four episodes available so far, the show has already managed to continue the magic of the previous two seasons and pull its viewers in from the very first scene, leaving them wanting more.

The world of London’s high society is full of diamonds and sparklers, conveying a mesmerizing new take on the Regency era. In general, Bridgerton is known for its memorable one-liners and steamy moments, but there is another layer filled with additional meaning that viewers might have missed, and it’s all in the characters’ costumes.

The Inspiration Behind Bridgerton’s Costumes

Ellen Mirojnick is the designer behind Bridgerton Season 1’s costume magic. The 71-year-old is certainly no stranger to the industry, having worked on iconic films such as Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction. While she proved pre-Bridgerton that she was an absolute master in her craft, she created something outstanding when she took inspiration from striking Regency-era fashion and let her creativity do the rest. Taking on the challenge of designing an entire collection, Mirojnick embarked on a journey of creating 7,500 pieces over a period of five months. The motto behind it? More modern, more skin. 

This approach continued straight through to the next season, even though this time around designer Sophie Canale took on the lead role in the costume department. Between 800 and 850 costumes were created for the season of Kanthony, and numerous pieces from the first season were mixed and matched to create all the stunning costumes. To Canale, the core idea wasto use different colors in order to show the characters’ age progression and how their personality has developed. Most intriguingly, she also particularly focused on the Sharma sisters’ ethnic background and let it inspire her color choices.

As for this recent Bridgerton journey in Season 3, John Glaser stepped up and delivered pure art. Similarly to the previous ones, the third season highlights Kate’s Indian heritage by using radiant colors and golden embellishments for her sari-inspired dresses. Overall, instead of continuing the Season 2 approach of sticking to clear colors, Glaser decided to combine warmer and cooler tones and let them blur into a color, which has viewers look not once or twice, but thrice. He manages to tell whole stories about the characters’ traits or secrets, adding another dimension of excitement to Bridgerton.

The Families Are Color-Coded

Right from the very first episode of the show, the costumes paint an intriguing picture of whom the central families are, what they value, and which position they have (or wish to have) in society. While this is certainly often achieved through the means of dialogue, Bridgerton does a marvelous job at involving costumes in its storytelling process. It is needless to say the series stands out with its stunning dresses and incredible suits.

Unsurprisingly, the Bridgertons are the family at the center of events, each sibling sooner or later sent out into the season to seek out or stumble across love. As the most respectable family of the ton, the Bridgertons certainly have a status to uphold. While their attendance at balls, proper manners on the outside, and growing wealth add to their steady prominence (apart from one scandal or two), it is especially their costumes that leave the rest of society in awe. Their color pattern consists of mesmerizing shades of blue and silver, which add a noble touch to their appearance. The pale, almost royal colors reflect the family’s high social status and paint a picture of wealth and nobility.

The Featheringtons, on the other hand, are depicted as the complete opposite of the Bridgertons. With Portia, Lady Featherington, fully set on her goal to marry her daughters off and gain some sort of higher position, she does everything in her power to be seen. Lacking the same status as the Bridgertons, Portia is aware that it is her job now to present her daughter in the most eye-catching way. Bright citrus colors, which are almost painful for the eyes, attract the desired attention, even though perhaps not in the way she wants to.

The Sharmas, a family introduced in the second season, bring along a whole new color palette. The two sisters, Kate and Edwina, as well as their mother, Lady Mary, stand out with rich colors that represent their Indian heritage in a vibrant way. They come to London as outsiders, but with their colorful dresses, they immediately radiate confidence, which is key to finding a way through high society.

How Colors Represent Emotional Growth

Daphne and Anthony Bridgerton

In particular, Daphne Bridgerton, who is chosen as the diamond, radiates sheer perfection and resembles the appearance of a porcelain doll. It is only later that her color palette shifts to duskier tones to show Daphne’s mental growth, not only through her behavior but also through her looks.

Anthony has a lot of darker tones, because he brings a sense of seriousness into Season 2, and he does share the same palette with Kate, which lightens up as time passes and their relationship evolves. Purple and teals especially represent Kate’s strong character, just like pink underlines Edwina’s softness and delicacy.

Colin Bridgerton

Staying with the Bridgertons, there is also Colin’s transformation, who is at the center of Season 3’s love story. Known from the beginning as the softie of the siblings, Colin, to the viewers and the ton, evinced one of the most enticing transformations. Upon returning from his months-long trip around Europe, suddenly the ladies stand in line, hoping to apply one of their tricks in order to gain his attention.

The reason for this is his entire change of attitude, which is emphasized by his new appearance. Once seen in the finest, baby blue silk paired with a neat tuxedo, Colin now stuns the masses with his worldly glow-up. His brown, heavy-looking coat and loosely fitted shirt catch the eyes of the ton, as he has Swagger written all over his appearance. Gone is the boyish appearance. Season 3’s Colin is oozing with sexiness.

Penelope Featherington

As the wallflower of the ton, Penelope is regarded as a spinster already, painting her future as being doomed to be a mere caretaker for her mother. During the first two seasons, Penelope’s costumes splendidly portray her as a part of the Featherington family. However, none of her dresses ever truly fit her figure. If it’s not the bright citrus shades and overwhelming embellishments, then it is the disadvantageous fit of her dress failing to show her beautiful curves.

When it is revealed that Penelope is indeed the mastermind behind the scandal sheet writer, Lady Whistledown, she is sneaking around in the dead of night in a dark coat. It indicates the thick layer of secrecy, hiding a significant part of herself, while always dragging along the weight of sometimes negatively impacting someone’s life.

As the show continues, Penelope experiences a sort of blending of her two different sides. The third season finally shows her completely changing her appearance. The colors and patterns on her dresses are inspired by the changing of the seasons, taking inspiration from paintings, and are meant to represent the transformation that she is going through by using an ombré effect. Her new appearance certainly reflects her process of stepping into her own, but empowerment doesn’t always have to be shown through loud colors. For Penelope, the palette is kept rather soft, using a lot of greens and blues, since she is still on the hunt for gossip and the idea is not to stand out all too much.

Particularly interesting and surely an exciting additional factor for Polin fans is that Penelope’s color pattern is steadily coming closer to matching the shades attributed to the Bridgertons. This detail already hints at what might happen in the second part of Season 3, so keep your eye out for hidden meanings behind striking colors and different shades. Stream on Netflix.