Who is Penelope Featherington?
Penelope: Nicola Coughlan
Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Despite the show being called Bridgerton, it starts with the Featheringtons. The Featheringtons are the neighbors of the Bridgertons and have a major presence throughout the show, especially since one them has a secret identity as the show’s gossipy writer/narrator, Lady Whistledown.
The gossip monger and impressive lady of business is really the unassuming youngest child of the Featheringtons Penelope, who might come off like “an insipid wallflower,” but she’s actually astute, observant, well-read, and witty. She is also hopeless in love with Colin Bridgerton and best friends with Eloise Bridgerton at the start of season one.
This article is a repost of my hubpages article of the same name
Featherington Family Fashions
Like the Bridgertons, the Featheringtons have their own family aesthetic and colors. They wear a lot bold colors, mainly yellows and oranges, with over-the-top embellishments and accessories. They are the polar opposites of the Bridgerton’s soft blues and whites. This is what makes the Featheringtons look gaudy to the rest of society.
Penelope’s “Best” Costumes
To be honest, the outfits that Penelope is forced to wear throughout season one are very unflattering. Her mother, Portia makes her wear a lot of yellow because Portia considers it a “happy” color, even though it does not suit her. The cuts of her costumes are also very unfortunate as they cut into her bust, making her appear flat-chested and immature. It’s all by design to make her look unflattering.
Penelope looks better when she is in softer, slightly cooler color tones—as opposed to her family’s bright and warm colors. Throughout the first season, Penelope gets a few looks that enhance her beauty, but mostly she wears costumes that are clearly to her mother’s taste.
This is a ranking of Penelope’s 10 best costumes from season one. Mostly the outfits are ranked on memorability, aesthetics, and how it reflects Penelope or her family’s colorful fashions. Remember, memorability is a key factor because some of Penelope’s looks are very gaudy and over-powering, but she is a Featherington after all and the gaudiness can be fun.
List can change.
Spoilers for season 1
10. Yellow Flower Patterned Dress
As is her standard, yet unflattering color, Penelope wears this yellow dress two times in season one. The first time she wears it is during the opening of the new art wing and the second time is when she dresses Marina down for her actions of trapping Colin into marriage. It was also used in promotional pictures featuring the Featherington sisters.
The dress is yellow has a floral lace overlay and some 3-D details. Her puffed sleeves also have some fabric flowers and roses. The satin waist-sash is a wide pale yellow. It’s a very typical outfit for season one Penelope.
9. White Lace and Pink Dress
Throughout the first part of season one, Penelope befriends Marina, her unwed cousin who is staying with the Featheringtons. One thing Penelope does for Marina is check the mail for letters from Marina’s lover. Unfortunately, when Penelope is wearing this charming dress Marina gets some bad news.
Penelope’s dress is made from a pink material with a layer of white lace over the top. The pattern of the lace resemble feathers. Though the bodice cuts into Penelope’s figure, the waistline is detailed with a thin row of iridescent sequins, adding to the charm.
8. Wedding Reception Gown
Penelope wears a yellow dress with puffed sleeves—her trademark silhouette for season one—to Daphne’s wedding reception. Her reception dress is decorated with floral embroidery in multiple colors and shades though the sleeves are left plain. Her waistline trimmed with a very thin pink velvet ribbon.
The skirt appears to have sheer overlay with watercolor-like print which makes the skirt appear slightly darker and color to the bodice. This layer does soft the bottom of the skirt which suits the color palette of the party but the top is still garnish. In her hair she wears all the Featherington effects, from flowers to feathers and even butterfly ornaments.
7. Multi-Colored Lace Dress
One of Penelope’s major plotlines in season one centers around her cousin, Marina, who is staying with her family and is with child. Since Penelope is a well-born young lady, she is clueless as to how women get pregnant.
While out walking with Eloise, Penelope confides to her about knowing an unmarried lady with child, which leads some very funny comments from Eloise. Her walking outfit is a rather cute, dark yellow silk-stain dress. It has a multi- colored lace layer over the bodice which drapes down to the mid-section. The waistline is trimmed with a semi-sheer bright yellow sash with a matching fabric flower at the center of the waist.
The skirt has a sheer pink overlay to give extra dimension to the skirt while she is walking. She has a matching dark yellow silk-satin stole, sheer pink polk-adored gloves and a yellow ruffled reticule.
This costume was reused with some alterations and more details added for episode one of season three. Penelope wears when she attends the debutante garden party and reconnects with Colin.
6. Minimal Yellow Brocade Dress
One of Penelope’s more minimal and less garish costumes of season one is one she wears in the finale. It’s a soft yellow floral brocade with no embellishments. It has a small cut to the bodice, but otherwise it’s a little more refined for Penelope.
5. Danbury Ball Butterfly Gown
The Danbury ball is the premiere ball of the London season. For Penelope, it’s her first ball as a first season debutante on the marriage market. Her gown is very much a design of her mother. It’s yellow, and unlike all of her other costumes, it does not have a waistline.
Instead of the traditional empire waist it has a large butterfly appliqué, which acts as a bodice. The butterfly is trimmed with a sheer pale yellow ruffle. The center of the large butterfly almost resembles a bee, a hint for a later season. There are also butterflies adorning the sleeves and the skirt. Beading further extenuates the butterflies.
The jewelry and tiara are very pretty and not as gaudy as some other pieces she wears in season one. Aesthetically this gown is all over the place design wise, though it is very in vogue with the Featheringtons’ style, it doesn’t do much for Penelope’s figure or coloration. However, there is no denying that this butterfly gown is very memorable.
It is so memorable that according to Nicola Coughlan, this dress can be briefly spotted in the first episode of season three. Coughlan added that the fans would clever enough to remember it when they saw it in the scene.
4. Pink & Lace Dress
Penelope’s hopes and dreams are seemingly dashed when Colin publicly announces his engagement to Marina, who is only marrying Colin because she needs to marry as she is with child and Colin is the least offensive suitor. However, she doesn’t love him and is keeping her condition a secret.
At the announcement, Penelope wears a soft pink floral dress with a white sheer overlay. It is detailed with lace as a contrasting black trim and white appliqués. It also has fabric flowers at the waistline and sewn to the puffed sleeves that have white sheer overlay.
This dress has a symbolic connotation as Penelope’s and Marina’s colors are swapped in this scene, which suggests the Marina is taking Penelope’s place. It’s still a pretty dress that is a more flattering color for her.
3. Grand Picnic Dress
Another pink look for Penelope is her grand picnic dress. It is also in a softer hue of silk-satin pink and is loaded with fabric flowers that are further embellished with beads and rhinestones. There is also a sheer overlay, which has the same decorations as the bodice.
Some of the flowers blend into the pink of the dress, while others contrast in darker cooler pinks as well as black. It’s both demure and over-the-top in a way that only the Featheringtons of Bridgerton can get away with, mostly.
2. Vauxhall Ball Gown
At the end of episode one, Penelope attends the ball at Vauxhall. Because her father is chaperoning, Penelope can wear a gown that isn’t yellow. Her ball gown is made from a cooler tone pink with embroidered flowers and a white sheer skirt overlay.
It’s a simpler gown for one of the Featherington young ladies, but it’s a gown that Penelope chose for herself. It flatters her and makes her happy. She even gets a dance with Colin. And of course, she wears a butterfly as a pendant.
1. Debutante Gown
So far each season of Bridgerton opens with the presentation of London’s debutantes to Queen Charlotte. Season 1 features four debutantes, one of which is Penelope. Traditionally, debutantes wear white, although soft colors like ivory are acceptable. It’s a little odd that Penelope’s gown is not white, nor ivory, or even yellow, but rather a soft, pale, cool bluish-sage green or maybe a silver.
The color is a hint of Penelope’s own love story, which plays out in Season 3. In addition to the color being more harmonious with her complexion, the cut of the dress is also one of her most flattering cuts in the whole season. Everything about this gown is opulent. It is embellished with gold lace that resemble feathers along with an assortment white crystals.
Her bodice has a sheer gold overlay which adds lavish dimension. Heavy gold embroidery adorns the lower portion of the skirt as well as a magnificent long train. Penelope’s debutante gown is her at her most flattering and most regal.
It’s the perfect introductory look for her to communicate her beauty and shine early on in the show.
