Carrie Coon’s Costume Corner: 'The Gilded Age' Season 3 Tones Down

Greetings, fellow Gilded Age viewers! (Is there an Internet-approved name for us? Are we Gild Members? Members of the Mamie Fish Appreciation Society? Geegaw Gapers? I’m open to nominations!) HBO’s historical soap is notable for many things – Broadway stars letting it rip every scene they’re in, its ability to sustain interest in overheated conflicts like last season’s Opera War, and an impressive embrace of lavishness – but my favorite since its first season has been the costume design. Designer Kasia Walicka Maimone and her team have provided exuberant, fanciful, and often witty looks for the cast as a whole, and for Carrie Coon, in particular.

Last season, I wrote a weekly column for Telly Visions exclusively devoted to the costumes Coon wears as the determined and shrewd Bertha Russell. This season, I’ll be taking a more periodic approach, checking in every few episodes with observations, analysis, and questions.

With a full third of Season 3 behind us, strange things are afoot in Bertha’s wardrobe. After two seasons of increasing sartorial exuberance, we now find our favorite scheming doyenne seeming to pull way back on her style. Where last season, we saw gowns in bold shades and wildly contrasting fabric textures, we are now getting a sustained glimpse of a more muted Bertha.