This week on Game of Threads: two characters carry the (new) sartorial weight of the entire episode. But it is carried in stunning fashion.
Our main cast is currently, and rightfully, only concerned with arming themselves in steel and mail and dragon glass, or disrobing for some end-of-the-world love-making, so this will be short and sweet, showing Sansa and Daenerys suiting themselves up with their own take on armor.
Dany continues to wear her white fur coat for the most part, which seems to be her now go-to piece for battle meetings and, well, battle. However, when she questions Jaime in the great hall, and when she approaches Sansa privately, she decides to tone down the outwardly impactful colors. Her newest piece is a beautiful grey leather, perhaps also adopting the Northern tones to show solidarity, but still running through the seaming is her Season 7 custom Targaryen color- a mix of the red and black of her sigil, as well as silver dragon scales beaded into the shoulders, imposing her birthright and ultimate goal in Westeros. Still, Dany presents herself in a way that is she is hoping will be much more approachable, especially to the person she would like to appeal to the most: Sansa.
Sansa takes the opposite, STUNNING approach, in what is one of the most gorgeous costumes to come out of Game of Thrones. She is armed for battle, but her dressing is also a direct response to the issues that have arisen with the new queen in Westeros. A fashion retaliation showing that she and her family will not be fucked with.
The overall silhouette and fabrication also very much ties her to Cersei in the black, high-neck dresses with layers of elements that close off her body to enemies, but there is still a softness to the way the leather is designed. It evokes her classic dragonfly motif, and even gives the illusion of wings that she likes to put into the clothing she makes for herself. It calls back to her dark, feathered gown at the Eyrie, and her “Little Bird” nickname from Cersei. Both Sansa and Cersei have been through frighteningly awful circumstances in their roles as women of the royal court, but Sansa shows a deep love and responsibility for protecting her family and her people.
As they both continue down their respective paths, however, Cersei continues to add spikes and hardness to her dresses, while Sansa keeps her humanity intact with hers to further show allegiance to her family, which is most obviously represented by her favored circular “needle” necklace. Costume designer Michele Clapton actually responded to a tweet recently, stating, “I use circles as they represent a positive emotional message of harmony and protection. The circle is often used to represent unity and commitment, they are associated with women’s strength.”
Also, though this isn’t strictly costume-related: Sansa, Jon, and Arya are all wearing their own version of the same “Stark hairstyle”, which their father Ned most often wore:
Short but sweet!
I like your point about how Cersei’s progression in costume gets sharper but Sansa’s is more protective but also reflects her family. Cersei has spikes (splintering things), Sansa has circles (unifying things as per Clapton’s comment ). I wish the scenes were not so dimly lit so we could see the costumes better!
Nice catch on the Stark bun!
Thanks for the post!
HODOR ! (… if I’m the first poster)
Short and sweet, but always interesting. Thank you for this!
(probably next week it will be even shorter… unless you decide to make a tale of shreads instead of threads) :'(
Cersie called her little dove. The Hound called her little bird, but everything else here is on point, especially noticing the Ned hair styles!
6thofhisname,
Surprised there was no Sandor and Sansa reunion moment. I was sure they’d have at least a few words together before the big battle.
Sansa’s new black armored gown is incredible. Also noted Jorah’s new cloak with his armor has a very bear-like look to it. The costumes never fail to amaze me.
Sansa’s suit is stunning.
Jon’s clothing look faded. Is it suppose to look matching to Daenerys?
off topic but does gilly look pregnant to anyone else? also, i was thinking that jaime still loved cersie, he mainly went to the north for the sake of the yet unborn child and secondly, because he could not bare to break yet another oath. cersie, being prepared to murder him made him go cold, but, that would not stop him loving her. But, he actually does not love her, which as a consequence causes me to review how much he ever did (was his love for her more of a reflection of self love because she was his twin?). The words tyrion spoke were, “you knew exactly what she was and you loved her anyway”. Straight away that jumped out at me, because, if he still loved her, he would have stopped Tyrion right there and corrected him, something like, ‘where do you get the idea that i don’t still love her?’ But he lets that pass, which is something that a person who is truly in love just can not do.
I kind of wish everyone else other than just Tyrion was curious enough to extract information out of Bran and how he’d ended up the way he is, rather than have everyone else nod along without question.
And we’re due for a Sansa and Sandor reunion, it’s what’s left I feel like.
Sansa’s outfit reminded me of an Unsullied uniform for some reason, not my favourite. But I do wish someone would accent her stabby stabber with a bit of dragonglass! I’ve been wondering if those staying in the totally super-safe crypts will get a little dragonglass knife or something small, just in case?
6thofhisname,
What I was going to say. 🙂
Your posts are the ones I look forward to the most. Thank you so much for them!
There’s something I noticed which may have been deliberate or not. To a lesser or greater degree (Sansa’s crossover necklace and Arya’s contrast blue leather being the most obvious) there’s a diagonal theme to many of those at Winterfell. Tyrian has a subtle example with grey-on-grey diagonals on the vee of his top. (Is it a jerkin? I’m not great on specific garment names.)
Meanwhile, look at recently-arrived Jaime! His whole leather is squares. You could play draughts on it.
Deliberate? Not deliberate? A figment of my imagination?
Daenerys’s red piping sort of represents a diagonal theme. The red in the first episode is only diagonal in that it’s most obvious on her sleeves, which are at an angle to her body because that’s how humans are built.
Thanks,
Yes, the hairstyles make sense to unite the Starks and reference Ned.
Did you notice Dany’s? Her hair is a crown.
Another wonderful analysis – it’s these in-depth analyses (plus the Twitter recaps!) that keep me coming back here.
Of the female characters who have appeared throughout the series, it seems to me that Arya has had the fewest individual costumes – certainly among highborns. Would that be right? I’ll be interested to see whether her costumes change before the end of the season, assuming – and hoping – that she makes it that far.
It’s the actress, not the character.
OT: Bryan Cogman’s series He was developing for HBO with GRRM has been canceled. Sad news.
Thanks for your insights. As others have said, I also love this column.
I never picked up on the Stark hairstyle. When Jon started wearing his man bun, I didn’t put it together that it was a Stark thing.
Sansa’s new armor is amazing Yes she is channeling her mentor Cersei, but there is definitely a major contrast. Cersei’s is a much harder look and much less feminine than Sansa’s new armor. Sansa’s new armor gives her protection and signals that no one will mess with her, but I think it also communicates she’s proud to be a strong woman.
The only outfit that I have a bit of trouble with is Dany’s white fur coat. I just keep thinking about how she managed to get that constructed and it looks more modern to me than the other styles on the show. It jolts me out of the Westeros world some when I see her wearing it.
So I had to write, because I woke up with Pod singing Jenny’s song in my brain. I also thought at least I woke up! I am scared I won’t make it to Sunday and never find out what happens… I guess I’m just worried about who’s going to make it past the battle.
Pigeon,
Yeah, when Sam was giving Heartsbane to Jorah, I immediately though: I hope you have dragonglass daggers under that cloak like before.
Maybe the little girl that will be protecting the crypts will also have been outfitted with some dragonglass.
Might I suggest a post dedicated to hairstyles rather than clothing for the next installment? (If it’s truly as dark as expected and no specific clothing will be seen over the armor etc.)
Just like last season Dany’s ‘coats’ look Queenly fine, but they look too bulky for dragon riding. For front line battle dragon engagement they look way to haute couture! She needs some elegant utilitarian armor!
Speaking of that, was there a lesson learned last season?
Dragons are venerable to large projected weapons.
Even horse were armored during heavy sword and spear historical eras on Earth.
Need Dragon Barding!
It can’t be 100% fool proof, but if Dany can travel with retinue of garment-workers (who makes her clothes anyway?)… there must be armorers who could take a shot at Dragon Armor!
Given the White Walker ice weapons shatter normal steel swords, I imagine normal steel armor would be worthless against them as well. It would help against the regular spears used by the wights, but I don’t see any of them even trying to take down a dragon, let alone even being able to throw high enough to have a shot at it. They’d need Valyrian steel armor, but they don’t have enough Valyrian steel to make any.
Adam,
The dragons may still have to face a world-of-men-Ballista again.
One wonders both Dany and Jon know what can happen are there any dragon tactics for avoiding disaster again?
Whether Arya’s costumes change before the end of the season may be a moot point. Let’s see if Arya can keep any costumes on for the rest of the season.