To keep things fresh, this year at the Watchers on the Wall Awards we’ve introduced a brand new category! The Emmy-winning costumes of Game of Thrones are widely recognized for their major contribution in creating the immersive world of Westeros. Each year, the show builds upon the existing looks of each role and region, and creates new showstopping outfits that define the character and the world they inhabit. Costume designer Michele Clapton topped herself in season 7 with a stunning new array of looks, so we decided it’s time to honor the best of the best in a costume category. Our readers submitted their choices and after a tough first round have narrowed it down to the five favorite new costumes of season 7.
The finalists for Best New Costume are:
Daenerys’ white fur coat worn for the ice battle
Arya’s brown Ned-inspired Northern look
Jon’s King in the North armor with a direwolf gorget
Cersei’s slashed-back dress with a coat, seen at the Dragonpit
Daenerys in Targaryen red and black, with a chained cape, worn to her first meeting with Jon
Final round rules: Cast your vote for the winner in the poll. In the finals, unlike the preliminaries, fans have one vote to cast. At the end of 72 hours (Saturday 12/23/17 at 6PM ET), the costume with the most votes will be the winner! The results of the poll will be revealed during the live Watchers on the Wall Awards ceremony- specific date to be announced in the near future!
Arya’s Ned-inspired look is tempting, but I have been waiting years for Dany to wear black and red, so that’s where my vote has to go.
Well this one’s easy. Jon’s outfit for Season 7 was quite badass. I’d wear that around town.
Dany’s Ghost costume.
my order:
1. White coat
2. Arya (full ensemble with the “left-handed cloak”))
3. Red & Black
4. Jon
5. Cersei (didn’t care for this one at all)
I think that the way to judge here is how well the costume helps to tell story, or reveal character. Cersei’s mad outfit does that job. Girl ain’t right, and neither is the get-up.
Cersei’s chain mail dress
My vote went to Arya.
Can’t beat the elegance of white during a bloody, gut-spilling, fire and ice battle with the dead. Don’t forget the immaculately braided, battle-tested hair as well!
Dany’s white coat wins in a walk.
Her other look that’s nominated here encapsulates my dislike for the show’s recent wardrobe direction. If you make a point of holding off on having Daenerys wear red, when she actually does it should be bold and striking, not this, which is barely noticeable (particularly in the darkly lit interior scenes).
The Mountain had the best new look in the black armor
Sean C.,
From Michele Clapton’s comments it’s clear that it will be noticeable at the end of teh show and that Dany will wear a crow at the end.
Cersei and Dany always had amazing costumes every season… so my vote goes to Arya finally with a appropriate Northern look…. like the warrior princess she is 🙂 and also inspired from Ned is a plus for me….. btw love Dany’s winter coat
My man Jorah’s new splendid Vader duds didn’t make the cut, and even knowing Dany will likely win, I gotta go with Cersei. To quote Python: “And now for something completely different!” The others just seemed like variations of things we’ve seen before. That not a bad thing, but Cersei’s outfit made me notice.
RIP yellow shirt.
Dany’s white fur one! All of them are gorgeous and very intricate on a closer look. However the first one looks delicate and badass at the same time, powerful and complex while reminiscent of purer, simpler and innocent times. It’s the white I suppose and the cut.
Edit: I don’t see the poll for voting. Is it just me or did I miss something?
mau,
Dany already wore a crow 😛 Sort of. I mean if you consider Jon’s Night’s Watch membership still active and how he was stuck to her body in the boat scene.
Seven hells Mau, you HAD to remind us of the boat scene, did you?!
??? A “crow at the end”? As in pledging fealty to King Crow?
Not a category that excites me, but it’s hard not to go with Dany’s white outfit. Wasn’t a fan of Dany’s other outfit, or Cersei’s outfit (I miss her long hair), and Jon looked like the tin man wearing that stuffy armor all season.
Fur coat fo sho!
It’s great and it resembles WW skin.
By that standard, Arya.
Dany’s outfit when she first met Jon.
An easy choice this time…
Daenerys’ white fur coat, worn for the ice battle
She should have worn a matching white fur hat also! Must have bitterly cold riding Drogon that day 😀
Danny’s White coat #1
I liked Arya ‘Full ” ensemble.
But I still like Sansa’a flayed man over all but the white coat. LOL.
Though I hope she survives and brings back some radical colors and design mayhaps have a WF dress shop side business.
Cersei. Not even close for me. I don’t normally dwell on costumes, but this one grabbed me. It’s is stunning.
Honestly, I was really pulling for Jaime’s new dark armor in Ep. 7, Lyanna’s wedding dress, or Euron’s rockstar look. Aside from Dany’s winter coat and Cersei’s outfits, those were the only ones that got my attention this season. Very disappointed neither made the cut, but not surprised, either.
Dany’s winter coat is going to win, of course…but as for my vote I’ll be giving it to Cersei’s Dragonpit dress, simply because I can.
White fur coat – beautifully crafted, elegantly worn as befits a Queen, and completely correct for the surroundings in which it was worn.
Sorry, but Cersei’s dress looked like black and white stripes to me, like kids pajamas or Where’s Waldo.
Liked Arya’s new look.
And of course, would like to write-in Jorah’s new get-up. That nasty yellow shirt had to go. He looks like a Lord, now.
I´ve always loved the costumes from GOT, especially Daenerys, Cersei and Sansa´s (And Margaeary´s, RIP my queen).
But this season was all about the two badass queens and I am really happy about it:
-CERSEI: well what can I say, she was amazing, I just love (to hate) Cersei, she is a brilliant character, and now she is in command, and the costumes reflect that, she is in power, she is wearing very excentric costumes (which I particularly love, I mean, I never thought we would see a chain mail dress in GOT and here we are, and it looked amazing, and I love how her costumes really stay in character, she is more powerful tahn ever (that`s why she is wearing very rich dresses) but she is also more paranoid than ever and that´s why she is armoring herself even more this season.
Yes, as I previously said, there were some technical issues with Cersei´s dresses but overall, they were great.
– DAENERYS: Dany´s costumes in season 7 represent her becoming into her own as a Targaryen queen, I loved every single costume that she wore, but the two that were nominanted were my favourites amongst them, they were just brilliant.
The “black and red” in my humble opinion was perfect, I have never been a fan of extremely bold combinations, and a very Strong red combined with a very dark black….is not a match I would want to wear lol.
But the absolute winner this season was the white coat because we saw (at least I did) the reason why we love Daenerys, yeah, it’s cool to have dragons and being all about fire & blood, but the reason why we love Daenerys so much is because she loves humanity, she is a saviour.
I thik hercostume evolution in season 7 perfectly represents what Stannis said in the books “‘ I was trying to win the throne to save the kingdom, when I should have been trying to save the kingdom to win the throne.”
Best New Costume: Jon’s King in the North armor with direwolf gorget
In season six, I loved the way Michele Clapton used Jon’s costume to highlight his likeness to Ned. Like Ned, Jon was rising to become the leader of the North in a time of war. I won’t list the similarities between the two of them because I would essentially be writing an essay, but I loved the way costuming was used to link the two. In season seven, I loved how this was adapted to liken him to Robb – a callback to another King in the North.
In season seven, Jon was a king in name, in standing and appearance. Michele Clapton has been fabulous all the way through in using clothes to tell a story and Jon’s season seven costume really projects the image of him as a king.
Close second: Daenerys’s winter coat for 706. I loved the material and the coloring – it isn’t a coincidence that she flies off to save Jon wearing white and grey, the colors of House Stark.
Frankly I love Jon in anything but my vote has gone to the white coat. It was stunning and that young lady looked stunning in it. I WANT ONE!
Best costume for Jon/Aegon is no costume. Too bad that’s not a choice.
Best New Costume: Daenerys’ white fur coat worn for the ice battle. As amazing as all of Michelle Clapton’s costumes are, this is clear choice for me. Instantly iconic, thematically potent, and a key element of one of my favorite sequences and episodes in the series. We’ll be seeing this look at conventions for years to come.
Close Second: Jon’s King in the North armor with a direwolf gorget. Jon isn’t an ostentatious guy, so this look isn’t that far off from what he wore before he was crowned King in the North. But that direwolf gorget makes all the difference. It’s just awesome.
I hope Dany gets a crown before the series is over!
Just judging by the comments, this one looks like it will be close and really split. Just goes to show how amazing the costumes are for GOT.
Roocat,
Using the comments section as a sample size, which doesn’t necessarily reflect who actually voted, the tally is currently a landslide for Dany’s white coat:
Dany’s white coat: 13
Dany’s red outfit: 2
Cersei: 5
Jon: 2
Arya: 2
1 write-in vote for the Mountain
Pigeon,
Completely agree with the absence of Jorah’s outfit. For me it was the best of the season. Stunning!
Chilli,
Gets my vote😍
I think Michelle outdid herself this year and each of the finalists costumes is amazing, but the only one that drew my breath in was the white fur on Dany (and I am NOT a fur person!).
I gather you’re more of a ‘nipplesonthebreastplate’ kind of person? 🙂
Although Dany’s fur coat is spectacular, I voted for Cersei’s chainmail dress as I would love to own such an outfit! I’d wear it at work, it would prove useful at meetings 🙂
None of them.
I found the costumes terribly disappointing this season, very dull and monotonous. The white fur coat only stands out because it wasn’t black or grey like everything else. Boring boring boring.
Grandmaester Flash,
I like you.
Grandmaester Flash,
I totally agree. Plus, what’s with the “women only”, excluding the token entry for Jon? The men are clothed, too. Some too much – when will we see the Hound with his shirt off? Next spring?
LOL, that brightened my day – both the witty comment and the thought. Yeah, I vote birthday suit too.
This made me laugh, I agree.
oh dear, guilty of unintentionally double posting. My birthday suit comment had gone to moderation and I didn’t see it posted when I came back 15 minutes later, so I thought it got zapped. I understood, these days there must be more care exercised in what may be deemed sexual innuendo. But I wanted Chilli to know that I, too, appreciated that scene and that the comment was a bright spot to an otherwise annoying day. So, Chilli, you got two thumbs up from me.
In looking over my comment on Cersei’s dress and coat, I tried to figure out why I was not a bigger fan of it when many seemed to be so enamored of it. I think it’s a natural aversion to horizontal stripes. Some of you, who can look good wearing anything, may not understand, but I bet there are those of you who know exactly to what I refer. Horizontal stripes on Cersei looked fantastic. She still looked thin and lithe and deadly. On me, uh no, elephant city. I will add that it seems Dany’s coat is running an easy first place. Notice that the stripes are vertical.
While Dany’s white fur outfit was spectacular, Arya’s outfit was the winner for me, on an emotional level. A true Northern girl, finally in Northern warrior wear, with that emotional callback to her father. Her name is Arya Stark of Winterfell, and she has come home.
Daeny’s coat was mouthwatering, but Aryas get-up shouted to the world that she was home and seroius about being a Stark and Ne’ds kid. Such a change from the rags.
Haha – When I saw Grandmaester Flash’s comment, I immediately thought of you and thought if LDB sees this, he will give it his mark of approval 😛
I just scrolled down the screen for the next comment and there you were! You didn’t waste any time or let me down – A typical remark we’d all expect from Mr Sunshine 😉
I’m sticking with my original nominee back in the Phase 1 Initial Nominations on October 2, 2017, for the reasons I gave then:
————————
October 2, 2017, 2:01 AM Ten Bears Phase I Initial Nominations in Comment section under “The 2017 Watchers On The Wall Awards: Now accepting nominations!”
Best New Costume
#1. Arya Stark S7e4
(introduced as she enters WF courtyard to ask Brienne to train her; ensemble includes Needle on one hip and VS Dagger on the other)
• I’m nominating Arya’s new costume not just because of “style” or “fashion”, but because it helps tell the character’s story and reflects the character’s evolved identity. Plus, it’s functional attire, befitting a ninja swordfighter, as demonstrated in the sparring match with Brienne.
• The pants and coat channel her father Ned Stark. The whole look is practically a visualization of how Arya pictured her future self in S1e4 when Ned told her, “You will marry a high lord and rule his castle. And your sons shall be knights and princes and lords”, and she replied “No. That’s not me,”
Almost as if she’s showing him: “THIS is me.”
• It was a welcome relief that they didnt go with a cliche frilly girly-girl makeover and put her in a dress with her hair down and mascara on her face. (Maisie is beautiful, but Arya isn’t defined by her allure.) When Hot Pie remarked “I can’t believe I thought you were a boy. You’re pretty!” (s7e2), I feared a “makeover” was coming once she got back to WF.
• I was thrilled to finally see Arya decked out in the Warrior Princess costume featured in the pre-season Entertainment Weekly photo spread.
• I consider the VS Dagger and Needle to be part of the costume. Maisie’s nifty dagger flip at rhe climax of the training fight with Brienne, and the gunslinger-style dagger twirl that preceded it, are multiple rewind-worthy by themselves.
• Overall, the costume reflected the character’s self-realization at an early age, expressed at the end of e7, that she knew she wasnt going to be a lady so she had to be something else.
• Most of all, after 6+ years of watching Arya in grubby boy’s clothes, baggy FM robes, and traveling ponchos, seeing her enter the WF courtyard with a kickass outfit to match her self-confidence was a wonderful moment. (One of the many reasons I suspect the Arya-Brienne sparring match will win Best Fight in a landslide, if nomination comments I’ve read so far are any indication.)
• The boots! My sisters, my nieces, and everyone else who’s seen the EW photographs or the sparring scene want to know where to find Arya’s boots!
————————–
Runner-Up:Dany’s all-white flight suit for her rescue mission beyond the Wall. The only drawback for me (and it’s not the show’s fault; I blame Disney merchandising oversaturation) was the unintended Elsa from “Frozen” vibe.
Second Runner-Up:Jon Snow’s birthday suit in Dany’s cabin on boat headed to WF (S7e7). Because if you look like Kit H, maybe the best new costume is no costume at all.
Third Runner-Up: Sansa’s cape and hood outside on the battlements in S7e7 (when she tells guard, “have my sister brought to the great hall”)
Well, back on Oct. 2, 2017, in the Phase 1 Initial Nominations round, I submitted this:
“Oct. 2, 2017, 2:01 AM Nomination
“Second Runner-Up: Jon Snow’s birthday suit in Dany’s cabin on boat headed to WF (S7e7). Because if you look like Kit H, maybe the best new costume is no costume at all.”
I guess it didn’t make the cut for the Preliminary Round voting. 😟
That white fur coat dress just made me gasp … it was so unlike anything we’ve seen before it almost and I mean almost felt out of place but yet didn’t and worked so well
Black Raven,
Finally people are starting to understand me!
Honestly though, I never liked Arya’s Ned look. It wasn’t very subtle. I loved her look and hairstyle while she was training in the House of B & W. Too bad D & D turned that mysterious and immersive storyline into some tropey BS.
Jon’s default look has been awful for two seasons now.
Should’ve paid homage more to the NW look. And lose the damn manbun.
Daniel,
I actually agree with you. It’s a pitnicky complaint, and I don’t know why I even care, but I prefer Jon’s look in seasons 4-5. I’m not a huge fan of the man-bun or the stuffy armor that he wore the entirety of season 7.
LatrineDiggerBrian,
Really Mr. D? Because for me, Arya approaching Brienne in her spiffy new outfit (with Needle and a ”very nicedagger”) in S7e4 was a signature moment. The only downside is that we didn’t get to see the costume up close for more than a few seconds. It’s really Arya’s best look out of all seven seasons.
Did you really like Arya’s Braavos HoB&W bathrobe? Or was it the vest and Princess Leia ‘do of Arya as Lana the shellfish vendor?
Chilli:
😂😂😂
Dany’s fur in Stark colors (duh), but I must confess: Overall, I’m disappointed with the finalists. By way of explanation, below is a repost of what I wrote on November 15.
***
Unlike many viewers, I loved the costumes this season. While I do understand why so many people miss the color and airiness of the Tyrells, Martells, and Sands (not to mention Essos!), I appreciate costuming from the point of character motivation first and aesthetic pleasure second. This might be because of all the lessons taught to me by my grandmother, who worked at Warner Bros. during WWII and NBC in the 50s, and for whom Now, Voyager provided one of the greatest lessons about how clothes reflect so much about a person…
But I digress.
Daenerys’s white fur coat for the Ice battle. Duh. Beautiful. Just beautiful. And besides being beautiful, perhaps the only time (I’d have to go back and look at all of the outfits) she didn’t wear some variation of red-and-black. For the mission north, Dany went full North, not only with the fur but also with the colors. As a big fan of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, it made me swoon; having grown up in the tropics (okay, subtropics), that coat was the distillation of all the childhood fantasies I had about what mythical northern royalty is supposed to look like.
Lyanna Stark’s wedding dress. Stunning in a completely different way, as it drew from so much imagery that I associate with illustrations from late-19th and early-20th century commercial art and fairy-tale books. My first thought was Waterhouse, my second was Mucha. Both are favorites from the period.
Jaime’s dark, simple armor as he heads north. Confession #1: I’ve never been a Jaime fangirl. I’ve always loved the character’s development in the books and NCW’s portrayal of him in the show, but he doesn’t make me swoon the way, say, certain Scottishmen make me swoon. But swooning is not necessary to appreciate a great character’s evolution, thank the old gods and the new. Confession #2: In a very rocky season punctuated by some truly breathtaking scenes, this was, most unexpectedly, my favorite. I gasped when I saw Jaime’s dark armor, dark glove covering his golden hand, and dark horse. It affected me far more deeply than several of the scenes that were “supposed” to affect me. And when I think of S7 and all my very mixed thoughts about it, I keep coming back to Jaime leaving King’s Landing as being the most perfect moment. It would not have been so had he not been properly attired for it, so this is my vote for #1. Not because it’s the most beautiful or the showiest, but because it’s the most meaningful.
Cersei’s black leather gown in the map room. It certainly isn’t the loveliest costume Cersei wore this season, but to me it was the most revealing. First, it was the closest to what Tywin would have worn—essentially a variation on Tywin’s striking knee-length number from “The Bear and the Maiden Fair,” minus a few buttons and a belt, fitted for a woman’s form, and floor-length. Second, she wore no hoop under it, as she did under the Dragonpit dress; there was no capitulation to the rigid standards of femininity in court dress, presumably because she was in the company of only the artist and Jaime. Third (and in the same vein), there were none of the metal accoutrements seen in other scenes—no chains, epaulets, or stiff embroidery. Again, to me this indicated both her desire to incarnate Tywin and her comfort with Jaime, without feeling the necessity to steel herself with symbols of name, station, or womanhood.
Sansa’s Flayed gown with fur cape. I love this outfit. (I realize that’s controversial, but there ‘tis.) To me it reflects both Sansa’s newfound strength and, perhaps unwittingly (perhaps not), the fact that she was Ramsay’s most recent (and thankfully last) victim. The dark leather and fur are fully Northern, reflecting her belated but fully-realized embrace of her Stark identity following a childhood and adolescence saturated by fantasies of the glamour of southron courts. The subtle references to the Boltons reflect both her status as the (presumed) lady of the Dreadfort and, more important, her ultimate triumph over Ramsay. (Yes, I know: ‘Twould have been impossible without Theon, Brienne and Jon. Let’s not go there.) And the materials and accessories serve as physical protection against anyone thinking to do what Ramsay did on their wedding night: a would-be rapist would have to cut through chains and belts before attempting to tear leather, by which time our Sansa, a far tougher woman than the girl the Hound rescued from the mob in King’s Landing, would have choked the fucker with aforementioned chains. So there.
Honorable Mention:
Jon’s King in the North armor with direwolf gorget. Because I love the gorget. How could I not?
#FreeTheHair
Part of the wardrobe problem is how it’s proportioned. He looks awkwardly over encumbered in the stark outfit, especially with that silly gorget on. It makes him look bloated. It bugged me that he ended up finally meeting Dany looking like that.
In the NW, he looked like a proper badass and Kit could perform the fight scenes at a faster pace. It molded to his stocky build a lot better and worked with the flowing black hair.
Hodors Bastard,
Can’t agree with you more!
LOVE IT!
No one rocks hood and cape like Sophie. LOL
Maybe Meyrl Streep
To me, it’s her victory over the Boltons, symbolic of when the Boltons would wear the skins of those they killed.
Michelle Clapton said it was suppose to be fish to honor her mother.
I think something got lost in the design translation. LOL
Wolfish,
Loved your meaningful costume analysis, especially the H. C. Andersen and Mucha references! Lyanna’s wedding dress is also one of my favourites.
I am a Jaime swooner (is this a word?) and I suppose it has a little to do with the pure joy I felt when I saw Jaime leaving King’s Landing (I’m also a Jaime-Brienne shipper). And his new beginning felt like a painful loss was beautifully rendered by his “black like a damnation” outfit – I was joyful, Jaime not so much…
Grail King:
Agreed!
Shy Lady Dragon,
Thank you, and… Lovely to see you! It’s been a while.
Dany’s shadowcat fur coat is by far the most striking, and by far the most inappropriate style for a medieval context. So I rule it out. Voted for Arya’s mini-Ned outfit, even though it’s not especially pretty. It’s just nice to see her manifest her Northernness again.
I wish there were a Worst Costume category. There, I would definitely vote for Dickon ‘Tinyhead’ Tarly’s absurdly disproportionate leather pauldrons.
Dany’s white Night Queen outfit. It’s little clues like these people will go back to once it’s revealed that Dany is the new Night Queen. They have been dressing her in icy colors of white and blue for years.