Sydney’s Style Evolution Hints That She May Have Outgrown ‘The Bear’

In a series about the stressful inner workings of a kitchen, it’s no surprise that fashion would take a backseat to food. For the most part, restaurant uniforms are pretty, well, uniform: crisp white shirts for servers in the front-of-house and crisp white coats for chefs cooking in the back. The potential for personal style in this sort of environment has always been minimal. And yet, from the start of The Bear, FX’s dramedy about a culinary wunderkind, Carmine “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), and the Chicago restaurant he takes over, clothes have always played an essential role in its story. Since the show’s debut, much fuss has been made about Carmy’s perfect white t-shirts and vintage selvage denim (which he, hilariously given the “chef” of it all, keeps in his oven).

Not every character’s fashion is as flashy. In an interview about the show’s second season, costume designer Courtney Wheeler told Esquire that, for the most part, Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri), the talented cook Carmy initially hires as his sous-chef, wears what she can find. “She got that from her mom,” Wheeler said of a Million Woman March tee the character wears in one episode. “That Bulls t-shirt? She probably found it in her dad’s closet and kept wearing it. For characters like that, they’re just picking up whatever.” Occasionally, there were glimmers of personality in Sydney’s wardrobe—especially through her seemingly endless supply of colorful hair scarves—but you never got the impression that Sydney cared too much about “style” outside of the kitchen. In the show’s third outing, however, Sydney gets to experience a style evolution of her own, and it perfectly coincides with her journey across the season.

Picking up soon after the semi-disastrous “Friends and Family” soft opening that capped off the show’s second season, The Bear’s junior effort largely focuses on the team’s struggle to turn their little restaurant into a legitimate, successful business. Sydney, still hyper-focused on her duties, begins the season in her usual workwear; in early episodes, we hardly ever see her outside the kitchen, and when we do, she’s dressed down: t-shirts, jeans, oversized button-ups. On her way out to work one morning, her dad even remarks on the fact that she has “holes in [her] sleeves.”

It would be easy for her to stay in this aesthetic world—so long as she felt comfortable in her behind-the-scenes role at The Bear. But as the season progresses, Carmy seems determined to make her second-guess her position. Despite naming Sydney a “partner” in his culinary endeavor, Carmy rarely treats her like one; he changes the menu, rearranges the furniture, and frequently makes executive decisions without ever considering her (or anyone else’s) input. Rather than being a true equal, Sydney is, like everyone else, prey to Carmy’s whims. If season one was about Sydney seeking employment at The Bear (then called “The Beef”) out of a sense of admiration for a chef she had long idolized from afar, and season two was about finding common ground with him, then season three is all about her butting up against the limitations of this arrangement.

For Sydney, this season is about growth. It’s about realizing what she needs from her business partners, tapping into her own power, and finally seeing what (and who) she can be without Carmy. This journey starts in the season’s seventh episode when Sydney takes a meeting with Adam Shapiro (played by Adam Shapiro, though he isn’t playing himself), a chef at the triple-Michelin-starred fine-dining establishment Ever, who was impressed by her scallop dish at The Bear. He offers her a chef de cuisine position at a new restaurant he’s opening. The proposal—complete with “a partnership stake, clear agreement, $80k to start, benefits, health, medical, [and] bonus upon review”— is huge. While Carmy is busy changing the few dishes Sydney has been able to create, Adam tells her, plain and simple, that she’d have total control over the menu.

But bigger than the offer is the outfit she wears to receive it: a trendy pair of flowy black shorts, a cropped black jacket with a sailor collar, loafers, and, to top it all off, a big statement bow to hold her hair back. The look is a far stretch from the vintage t-shirts that had become the character’s staple, standing out for its elevated sophistication. It’s something a public-facing chef would wear, and one can’t help but wonder where this Sydney has been hiding for the rest of the show.

Such questions answered themselves when Sydney returns to The Bear following her meeting, her brain racked with confusion over what to do next. When Carmy compliments her, saying, “You look nice,” she sheepishly thanks him, then reaches for the bow to pull it out. Given that she’s back in the kitchen preparing to work, the gesture isn’t surprising. Yet, there is something in her motions that feels a little nervous and rushed, almost as if she feels compelled to strip away these personality markers and shrink herself in this environment—all the better to fade into the background. After all, The Bear has always been Carmy’s pet project, and despite her “partnership,” Carmy’s behavior is as clear a sign as any that she’ll probably always be relegated to the sidelines, forced to exist in his shadow. Is it possible that this other Sydney has been there all along, just waiting to break free?

By the season finale, it certainly seems like yes. In “Forever,” Sydney gets gussied up for a fancy “funeral dinner” soirée at Ever, which is now closing. The look — a sleek satin shell top with a matching skirt, accessorized with a funky silver necklace, pearl drop earrings, and a black Ganni Bou Bag with a braided handle—is her most striking yet. It’s elegant, professional, and evening-appropriate. It’s, once again, a new aesthetic for her character, which is perhaps why, upon entering, Sydney looks a little stiff and somewhat out of place in this group of famous chefs. But as the night wears on, she gradually loosens up, eventually laughing, smiling, and exchanging stories with everyone else. This is a more relaxed and easygoing Sydney than we’ve ever seen in the kitchen. In this new environment, surrounded by these new people, it seems that Sydney is allowed to blossom. And sitting there in this newly elevated ensemble, it’s easy to imagine what “Sydney, Chef De Cuisine” could look like.

While Sydney is bonding with this coterie of new friends, Carmy is even more in his head than usual, spending the majority of the dinner obsessively glancing over at David Fields (Joel McHale), the abusive chef that has long been the bogeyman haunting Carmy’s every restaurant-related thought. Though he hasn’t worked for (or even seen) Chef David in years, that traumatic work experience is still the reason he can’t sleep at night and what informs the capricious changes to his restaurant and menu. It’s also the reason he pushed away his love interest, Claire (Molly Gordon), and quite possibly, the reason why, when all is said and done, he might lose Sydney.

At the impromptu afterparty Sydney hosts at her apartment, Carmy is the only no-show, but the Ever guests still come together with Sydney’s Bear coworkers to dance, drink, and snack on frozen waffles with caviar. The mood shifts when Sydney stumbles upon a newspaper clipping pinned to her refrigerator. It’s a four-star review of The Beef, and after spotting it, Sydney becomes visibly flustered, eventually excusing herself from the party so she can step outside, where she starts breathing very hard before sliding to the floor, crying.

The show plays coy with what the newspaper clipping means for the future, though it’s probably some complicated mixture of her love for the family she’s built at The Bear and her fear of how accepting Adam’s offer would necessitate leaving all that behind. What is apparent is that Sydney is suffering from a panic attack, succumbing to some of the same troubles Carmy has been battling since the show’s start. Despite his awareness of the toxic work environment created by Chef David, Carmy has still, somehow, managed to replicate that dynamic with his own star protégé. Sydney may be dressed to the nines, but as long as she’s bound to Carmy, she’ll never feel like a perfect 10.

The “To Be Continued…” ending of season three leaves much in the air: Will Carmy acknowledge the error of his ways? Will Sydney stay at The Bear? Will there even be a Bear for her to stay at? (An all-important restaurant review in the Chicago Tribune has come out, though whether it is good, bad, or some combination of the two is yet to be determined.) But whatever choice Sydney ends up making, I’m sure she’ll have the outfit to do it right.

All seasons of The Bear are available to stream on Hulu now.