Nicola Coughlan Picks a Poignant Knit Dress to Mark Her Latest Stage Role
Knitwear is often thought of as something to be layered underneath an outfit, rather than worn as the focal point of one. Not for Nicola Coughlan, however. On Thursday, the Bridgerton star marked her major London stage debut in The Playboy of the Western World in a dress that deserved the entire spotlight.
Right from the stage to the play’s after party, Coughlan turned to a young talent from her native Ireland. The actor wore a cable knit confection by Colin Burke, a knitwear designer based in Galway. Her dress featured lace pouff sleeves with ribbed cuffs, a fitted bodice, and a pannier-style skirt with pleats on the sides.
Styled by Aimée Croysdill, Coughlan kept her ensemble to a monochrome color palette fit for the winter season. She layered white stockings underneath her dress and slipped on a pair of butter cream-hued high heels. The actor wore her hair in a low updo with face-framing pieces.
In The Playboy of the Western World, Coughlan plays Pegeen Mike, a barmaid who has fallen for a man named Christy Mahon, who claims to have killed his father. He becomes something of a folk hero, until his father appears to soil the lie, causing the villagers to turn against him.
Based on playwright John Millington Synge’s 1907 work, which caused riots when it was performed, the source material was reimagined by director Caitríona McLaughlin. It features an all-Irish cast including Éanna Hardwicke and Coughlan’s Derry Girls co-star, Siobhán Mcsweeney. The moment made Coughlan’s choice of dress all that more poignant.
Burke, who has a background in architecture, creates all of his designs by hand in the west of Ireland. His clothing is “sculptural in appearance and a joy to wear,” according to his website. Coughlan’s dress, in particular, used techniques native to Ireland, including traditional “Aran stitch work” done in “the finest Donegal Aran tweed yarns,” per her stylist. “All of Nicolas’s costumes are made using traditional Irish techniques and fabrics so we wanted to also honor the play by doing the same for this look,” wrote Croysdill.
A fitting choice for a marked moment.
