Dearest gentle reader, the Bridgerton season is upon us, and it is time for Miss Penelope Featherington to find the love she so desperately seeks. Penelope takes centre stage as we walk into the third season of the beloved Regency series. Even a wallflower can bloom. If only she ditches her citrus yellow wardrobe, lets her hair down and changes her makeup, and that’s what Bridgerton S3 is all about.

Penelope Featherington is the smart, kind and intelligent woman she was in seasons one and two of Bridgerton. Despite her many virtues, she remained a wallflower and a spinster with no prospects. In fact, in Bridgerton S2, even her best friend, Colin Bridgerton, claimed in front of a bunch of men, “I would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington. Not in your wildest fantasies, Fife.” All it took for Colin to change his mind and fantasise about Penelope was a kiss and a total makeover.

Since the beginning of the series, Penelope was consigned to the corner of a ballroom. And the reason? She wasn’t a traditionally beautiful woman. She was not a slender swan who would gasp at the slightest discomfort. Instead, she was a full-bodied woman with a mind of her own. Of course, the Ton also mercilessly teased her for her gaudy outfits. Yet, Penelope always knew what she wanted and who she was. Her only drawback was that her outward appearance didn’t match who she was intrinsically. The Penelope of the first two seasons wore garish yellow and green dresses that did not flatter her with dreadful ringlet curls adorning her head. In the new season, Penelope Featherington overhauls her wardrobe and fills it with baby blues and seafoam green silks, with soft wavy hair to give her a poised, more feminine look.

But why does a woman need to change what she wears to find love, especially if she is a plus-sized woman? Why are women expected to put on makeup or change their hairstyles if they want to be seen in a romantic light? More importantly, why did it take Colin, a man who has known Penelope all his life, a changed wardrobe to see the value of his best friend?

The first part of Bridgerton S3 has dropped on Netflix, promising an exciting friends-to-lovers story.

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