Bridgerton appears to have some sort of superpower. When the characters involved take their turn being on centre stage, the already very good-looking cast member suddenly becomes the most beautiful person you have ever seen on television.
The latest Bridgerton babe to undergo this rite of passage is Luke Newton, who plays Colin on the hit show. But how did the star glow up so spectacularly? It was all planned out by the show’s hair and makeup designer Erika Ökvist. Find out more…
Chatting to Glamour, Erika revealed that in seasons one or two, Luke’s costumes were kept “round”, with his jawline hidden with ruffles. She explained: “In seasons one and two, we emphasized everything round.
“His hair was quite round. His face had the ruffles around the neck and jawline, so we couldn't really see this chiselled jaw that [Luke Newton] does have.”
In season three, Colin has returned from his travels as a new man with a billowing shirt and long pirate coat, with Erika explaining: “He’s gone away, matured, and come back as a man both physically and mentally. When somebody has got that, that’s when they’ve got swagger and are sexy. You don't have to hide it. You can let them show it.”
Costume designer John Glaser added: “We kept those elements of the long coat and the swagger and movement like a pirate. He’s like Errol Flynn. Somebody that’s pretty dapper but not wearing nice suits. We also took away a lot of the ruffles, anything that was feminine, and kept everything that was as masculine as we could on him.”
Chatting to Vogue, he added: “If you look at the first two seasons, Colin wears a lot of baby blues. But now, he’s been on a trip for six months, and he’s been in the cabin of a ship. In reality, he’d be smelly, his clothes would be dirty, he’d be unshaven – but, this is Bridgeton, so you have to glamorise it a little bit.
“So, we went straight to the Marlboro Man – we’re not supposed to talk about smoking, but that guy’s on a horse in the dust and dirt. He’s a bit sweaty, and he has a lot of swagger.”
He also opened up about changing up Penelope’s looks from her usual brighter outfits, saying: “ After her first big reveal, we see her in this darker green colour. If you look closely, you’ll notice that her hair in that scene is now a slightly different shade of red.
“The underlayer of that outfit is actually an iridescent fabric that’s green and copper, and it sort of blends in with her hair. After that, for her new look, we wanted softer, more neutral colours. Are her dresses green? Are they blue? We didn’t want to reveal anything about where her story might be going… We also pushed her a little forward in time, to 1817, in terms of her silhouette, and dropped the empire waist.” Stunning!