Image Source: LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
Members of the Ton, we are pleased to inform you that the next installment of your favorite guilty pleasure show is just around the corner. Season three of “Bridgerton” premieres on May 16, with part two coming out a month later on June 13. Like its preceding seasons, this one will focus on the love story of one particular couple, Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton.
Not many TV shows tell such a clear story about the characters through their hair and makeup looks, but “Bridgerton” has consistently used the beauty moments from the show to further its plot line. Meaning, we can expect more beauty-related easter eggs in this upcoming season.
“In season three, Penelope has grown up and plays around with her look, but she now needs to find her own version of glamour,” the show’s hair and makeup designer Erika Ökvist tells PS. “So during this whole season, she’s gonna evolve visually as she tries to find herself and secure her future.”
Ahead, Ökvist explains how the beauty moments from the show have been leveled up for the latest season, how Colin goes through his leading man “glow up,” as well as what we can expect from the ever so ostentatious Queen Charlotte.
How “Bridgerton” Stays True to Regency-Era Beauty Ideals
“You take elements from history and then you take ones from Vogue,” Ökvist says. “Then you have a beautiful marriage of hair, makeup, and costumes.”
Creating the hair and makeup looks for the show required lots of research. It was also a big commitment designing looks with more ostentatious flair for the characters that are supposed to be society’s cream of the crop. “These people were like today’s influencers,” Ökvist says. “They’re the ones who would be at the front row of all of the fashion shows and they wouldn’t be caught dead wearing the same look ever again.” As such, she tried to stay true to who they were both as individuals, as well as symbols of what they represented in society.
“Hair, makeup, and costume had to be a visual symphony,” Ökvist says. “So all of the people within season three needed to be cohesive and you’ll notice elements of old Hollywood glamor for many of the characters. Though there are certainly main people that the story focuses on each season, you can’t just have one person in full glam. They’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”
How Penelope and Colin “Glowed Up” For Season Three
Though we have now discovered the identity of Lady Whistledown, Penelope Featherington is much more timid than her alter ego and is still trying to put herself out there in order to find love. “She’s been under the thumb of her mother and she knows she’s not going to marry Colin,” Ökvist says. “So she knows she has to do something to get out of the house. She asks the modiste for help because she wants to seduce somebody so that she will get married.”
Though Ökvist couldn’t give away all of the details, she did give an example of one of the changes we see in Penelope’s look this season. “There’s a scene where Penelope is still trying to get married and she has rhinestones in the corner of her eye,” she says. “It’s [with] small beauty tactics like that one that she’s hoping to find herself a husband. She’s hoping that he will notice a glint in her eye, then maybe he’ll look down and see her luscious lips.” Though a small detail, it’s all a part of Penelope’s slightly clumsy game of seduction.
As for Colin Bridgerton, he has gone through what fans of the show call the “Bridgerton” leading man glow-up. “A part of it is deliberate,” Ökvist says. “If you’re looking at Colin in season one, his hair is very round and we’re hiding his very square hairline to emphasize his youth and boyishness.” In season two, the actor also wore shirts with very high collars and ruffles to disguise his jawline. However, in this season, that’s all going to change. “We are enhancing everything that is very masculine on his face,” Ökvist says. Over the course of three seasons, we witness Colin go “from a boy to a man,” Ökvist says. “So the character came with his own swagger and we enhanced him.”
What Queen Charlotte’s Hair and Makeup Say About Her Personality
One character whose hair and makeup will always steal the scene is none other than Queen Charlotte – and this will continue in season three. “Even though she’s got a new look every single time we see her, Queen Charlotte is a constant,” Ökvist says. “She doesn’t evolve. To me, her hair, makeup, and costume are almost like a facade so that she can be a real person behind it.”
Still, that’s not to say that she doesn’t want to be regarded as the intimidating figure that she is. “She’s almost like this goddess creature,” Ökvist says. “Everything from the height of her hair to the different styles and textures that she always presents with – it’s all to create a character that the public needs to be afraid of.”
There are still a few days to go before we get to binge our favorite Netflix series once more. Still, with all the hints that Ökvist has given us, we’re sure our makeup routines are about to get a regency-era makeover very soon.
Ariel Baker is the associate editor for PS Beauty. Her areas of expertise include celebrity news, beauty trends, and product reviews. She has additional bylines with Essence and Forbes Vetted.
