It’s Nicola Coughlan’s Bridgerton world and we’re all just living in it. Today in London, after a royal-tinged press tour for the books, Coughaln had one last go at things on the red carpet before the part two premiere of the series’s third season tomorrow. Per usual, the actress brought some major regal style to the step and repeat—and, perhaps, a subtle easter egg about her character’s journey in the upcoming episodes.
Coughlan posed on the red carpet in a custom Rodarte number. Her salmon gown, treated with hundreds of flashy sequins, featured a form-fitting skirt and a ruffled sweetheart neckline. Coughlan paired her off-the-shoulder dress with velour opera gloves and an elaborate headpiece. She sported a pale pink hair bow, designed in the same glitzy fabric as her dress, that trailed into a dramatic veil.
Perhaps she’s hinting at the future of her character Penelope Featherington’s romance with Colin Bridgerton? In case you missed it, the first half of the third season concluded with a major cliffhanger as Colin said, “For God’s sake, Penelope Featherington, are you going to marry me or not?”
The whole Bridgerton gang—including Coughlan’s love interest Luke Newton who wore an oversize suit—stepped out to London event on Wednesday. Simone Ashley, the star of the previous Bridgerton season, followed Coughlan’s cue in a salmon-hued look of her own. The actress sported a sheer naked dress complete with an exposed bra top.
Coughlan’s Bridgerton press streak, which kicked off with a bang back in April, has only solidified her status as one of Hollywood’s finest dressed starlets. She’s managed to channel bits and pieces of her character’s Regency-era style within looks like a gothic bridal gown and statement cape coats.
But, at the same time, Coughlan hasn’t gone fully down the method dress route—a choice the actress says she and her stylist Aimée Croysdill made with intention.
“We never try to make any literal references to the character because, personally, I love that separation between what is me and what is the character,” Coughlan told W in May. “The things that inspired us were the corsetry underneath the dresses, the structure, the beautiful necklines. On that level, we are pretty inspired by Penelope, and we wanted to make our press tour looks this time around to be distinctively different from seasons one and two, where I was a supporting role.”