We’ve jumped ahead two weeks (and 10 years) in this week’s Game of Threads. For the remainder of this season of House of the Dragon, I’m going to try start doing the costuming recaps based on the time jumps so we can get a more encompassing read on where these characters are in terms of style during these periods.
We open with Rhaenyra giving birth to Joffrey. She’s wearing a powdery blue shift which has an appropriately motherly softness to it. It’s also the same tone as that of House Velaryon, which shows her allegiance to her husband, but it’s also notable that the blue ties her to Harwin Strong, as does the shift’s gold decoration to his gold cloak and armor details.
Laenor, however, starts to wear more Targaryen black, signifying that he would rather not be bothered with the politicking and is happy to go along with whatever as long as he can pursue his own interests.
Across the narrow sea, that is all contrasted by a very notable 180 from Daemon, as he has now settled into his life away from the King’s Landing machinations. He has adopted his wife’s Velaryon colors and is living happily with her and his daughters, with no desire to return to the turmoil that is Westeros. The textile feels very much Pentoshi and of a different overall tone than what he wore when he lived at Dragonstone and prior to that. There’s still, however, a bit of a red tone creeping in, which foreshadows future events.
Laena still wears the same Velaryon silhouette that we last saw her in 10 years prior, but is now accommodating a pregnancy belly. There’s a really nice contrast between her hyper feminine dress and her dragon rider personality. The richness of the turquoise stones also perfectly draws in the Velaryon house colors and gives the dress a subtle hardness and edge.
Alicent continues to favor green as she feels more and more isolated and paranoid. I do love the choice to put her in the same dress for the birth of Joffrey, as one she wears in the next episode at Laena’s funeral. If it’s her mourning dress, then she is clearly mourning the birth of another male heir that threatens the Greens’ position.
It’s a nice costuming choice to have Helaena in a purpley-pink dress. She stands out against the dark and heavy textile that her mother is wearing, signifying that she is in her own world, and unlike anyone else around her. It’s also an amusing visual to see her dressed like such a fairytale princess while holding her pet millipede.
At Laena’s funeral, it’s not a surprise to find everyone in somber colors. The Targaryens of course have their family red running through the black, and the Hightowers, their green. It strikes me as a little strange that the Viserys/Alicent children are not being aggressively dressed in Targaryen red and black as this is what Alicent is pushing for, but then again, Viserys is probably color blind too at this point. It just seems a strange tactic while you’re trying to court public favor.
Interestingly, Otto is abstaining from wearing green. At least an overt green. Is this to appear less aggressive with his own agenda?
Skipping ahead, we finally get to the wedding of Rhaenyra and Daemon. This wedding is unlike pretty much all the weddings we’ve seen in the world of Westeros. Both are dressed in relatively simple robes as they wed in a ritualistic and beautifully pared down ceremony. Costumer Jany Temime described the idea behind the robes as something ancient, as well as taking inspiration from the dragon rider silhouettes. There’s a sense that these garments have been kept for ages for moments like this, blood stained from the previous ceremonies. Rhaenyra’s headpiece also looks as if it was made centuries before her time. Of note, the colors are the same as the dress she wore in her first scene with Daemon in Episode 1, where he gifts her the Valyrian necklace. It’s a beautiful way to juxtapose her wedding to Laenor- bright and showy, but ultimately hollow like their political union, with her wedding to Daemon- meaningful, spiritual, and connected in a way that runs deep with emotion and history.
As someone with zero fashion sense*, I wanted to thank you for these “Game of Threads” installments. I appreciate how you point out consume details and designers’ decisions I would never notice on my own.
* When we were younger, my sister would often take one look at me, frown, and tell me: “You cannot go out looking like that.”
Actually, she still does…
Ten Bears,
Costume, not “consume.”
“Auto Correct has made my kingdom bleed. I will see Auto Correct’s head on a spike.”
– Stannis Baratheon, the One True King
I do love these beautiful costumes and it’s a pleasure to read about their hidden meaning, thank you! Laena’s turquoise dress looks amazing and I’m glad I can see it better.
Although I love wearing green I find myself favouring the Greens less and less… They have made great dresses for Alicent.