Westerosi Style Guide

[VladimirDulud]

A topic for all costume and sartorial questions of Westeros. A place where all can come to discuss the style choices of all the characters of Season 5 as well as the production design specifics, such as fabrics used, textures, as well as real-life parallels for the superfans.

First edition>Episode 1, Season 5 - The Wars to Come.

Margaery's wedding dress.

I remember reading somewhere that the costume designer (Deborah?) came up with very specific reasons for including the most minute details on the costumes on the show - from the thorns in Margaery's Season 4 bridal gown. Season 5's wedding dress reminded me more of Teela's outfit from the animated He-Man cartoon. Or am i dating myself?

[Visenya Stark]

Yeah, the dresses usually tend to depict a character's story. Eg. Sansa's wedding dress.

[Sultan of Westeros]

Ellaria Sand is the best dressed female in show even when mourning.

[Woman of War]

Yeah, the dresses usually tend to depict a character's story. Eg. Sansa's wedding dress.

I wrote this a while ago about Sansa's wedding dress:

I would like to know where and under which conditions silk is produced in this world, where do mulberry trees grow? How is silk traded and where are the mills to weave wollen fabric since the production of fabrics was an important column of developing capitalism in our world. Automatic looms were actually the step from manufacturing into industrialisation.

There are very subtle signals sent by the choice of costume, compared to the books really an enrichment of the story:

Not only are the heavy velvet and moiré materials, chenille with gobelin patterns, designed by their sheer weight to create a distance between the female person and her environment, as befits a noble lady. They are also a means to alienate the body from the person. These materials do not, like erotic corsage or the equivalent to modern shapewear, serve to enhance the beauty of the young woman in them, they cover and encase, they do nothing to emphazise feminity, basically they are anti-erotic.

And Sophie Turners arms are bare and vulnerable in every sense, a childlike vulnerability of exposure since the dress does nothing to caress the skin, to soften the contrast between clothing as cage and bare skin. There is no organza sleeve, not even a bracelet to connect the body and its wrapping. This dress looks like a very poor advice by a technically perfect yet not really gifted designer - if it were meant to be made for a happy bride. But it isn't. In fact this "poor" choice is a very sophisticated one: a choice of alienation. These fabrics used may be costly but they are no longer fashionable for RL clothing, they are furniture and decoration materials by now in our world, representative and not meant to create an atmosphere of comfort. Stylish only in an environment of shabby city chic as twisted quotation, deconstructing representation by irony or as vintage fashion. Sansa is basically clad in upholstery sofa decoration or heavy curtains, if in the most elegant manner.

Like they did in our world back in history those heavy costly fabrics signal class differences. Not only are they expensive and this is emphazised by interweaving valuable materials like gold threads. That signal is stronger than the money aspect: gold threads are useless, even counterproductive since the metal in the fabric will not shield a lady from cold. The high noblity can afford useless, even dysfunctional luxury, like golden armour as opposed to solid steel armour. And costumes like that distance the noble body from the dirty poor in a concrete as in a metaphorical sense.

Then why the bare arms, so bluntly presented by the costume designers? The cloak of protection! They knew that the situation where Tyrion has to clad his bride into that cloak will play an important role in the story. And "being clad" cannot be better emphazised than by naked skin before the cloak is wrapped around. Sansa's arms are an invitation to be covered, to be clad. While the cloak Tyrion holds in itself may be beautiful but it does nothing to counter the impression of heavy dullness created by the colour combination. We will see how the Margaery marriage might be presented but in general this cloaking situation has less the character of protection but of putting a heavy weight on the bride in those loveless marriages. Note that there was no cloak when Robb and Talisa married, no weighing down the bride in the only love marriage we have witnessed so far.

And then look at the colours: they are worst for Sansa. This is not golden brilliance, this is greenish olive toned gold with a hint of mustard. The worst for Turner's complexion since in fact she is not a redhead but a true blonde wo is dyed red and therefore should prefer cooler tones. Of course this is deliberate. No costume designer would ever do that as "mistake". Sansa is wrong in that dress in every sense, she is a thing in it, clad into a shell. And we know that the KL hairstyle does nothing for her either, she is a stranger in her own body. Statuesque abstract beauty devoid of erotics.

I could go on for pages and talk about that ridiculous underwear shift, highly impausible for any wedding night, the child's dress for the child in a woman's body, looking like rags on the rather voluptous broad shouldered actress who has the air of a twenty year old, naive and yet more Anita Ekberg potential than Grace Kelly. What a thoughtful choice, finest materials turned into rags by circumstances.

And people talk about the series not being thoughtful with the character Sansa! The nonverbal message sent by the choice of costume could not be more precise, every nuance totally wrong and yet a creative masterpiece.

So obviously there is a totally different colour concept behind the show looks of Sansa during her wedding compared to the books. Am I right with my interpretation that they made it slightly off deliberately or is this due to the overall tones of light in the room and they wanted to integrate the dress into the overall light situation?

[Visenya Stark]

I wrote this a while ago about Sansa's wedding dress:

I would like to know where and under which conditions silk is produced in this world, where do mulberry trees grow? How is silk traded and where are the mills to weave wollen fabric since the production of fabrics was an important column of developing capitalism in our world. Automatic looms were actually the step from manufacturing into industrialisation.

There are very subtle signals sent by the choice of costume, compared to the books really an enrichment of the story:

Not only are the heavy velvet and moiré materials, chenille with gobelin patterns, designed by their sheer weight to create a distance between the female person and her environment, as befits a noble lady. They are also a means to alienate the body from the person. These materials do not, like erotic corsage or the equivalent to modern shapewear, serve to enhance the beauty of the young woman in them, they cover and encase, they do nothing to emphazise feminity, basically they are anti-erotic.

And Sophie Turners arms are bare and vulnerable in every sense, a childlike vulnerability of exposure since the dress does nothing to caress the skin, to soften the contrast between clothing as cage and bare skin. There is no organza sleeve, not even a bracelet to connect the body and its wrapping. This dress looks like a very poor advice by a technically perfect yet not really gifted designer - if it were meant to be made for a happy bride. But it isn't. In fact this "poor" choice is a very sophisticated one: a choice of alienation. These fabrics used may be costly but they are no longer fashionable for RL clothing, they are furniture and decoration materials by now in our world, representative and not meant to create an atmosphere of comfort. Stylish only in an environment of shabby city chic as twisted quotation, deconstructing representation by irony or as vintage fashion. Sansa is basically clad in upholstery sofa decoration or heavy curtains, if in the most elegant manner.

Like they did in our world back in history those heavy costly fabrics signal class differences. Not only are they expensive and this is emphazised by interweaving valuable materials like gold threads. That signal is stronger than the money aspect: gold threads are useless, even counterproductive since the metal in the fabric will not shield a lady from cold. The high noblity can afford useless, even dysfunctional luxury, like golden armour as opposed to solid steel armour. And costumes like that distance the noble body from the dirty poor in a concrete as in a metaphorical sense.

Then why the bare arms, so bluntly presented by the costume designers? The cloak of protection! They knew that the situation where Tyrion has to clad his bride into that cloak will play an important role in the story. And "being clad" cannot be better emphazised than by naked skin before the cloak is wrapped around. Sansa's arms are an invitation to be covered, to be clad. While the cloak Tyrion holds in itself may be beautiful but it does nothing to counter the impression of heavy dullness created by the colour combination. We will see how the Margaery marriage might be presented but in general this cloaking situation has less the character of protection but of putting a heavy weight on the bride in those loveless marriages. Note that there was no cloak when Robb and Talisa married, no weighing down the bride in the only love marriage we have witnessed so far.

And then look at the colours: they are worst for Sansa. This is not golden brilliance, this is greenish olive toned gold with a hint of mustard. The worst for Turner's complexion since in fact she is not a redhead but a true blonde wo is dyed red and therefore should prefer cooler tones. Of course this is deliberate. No costume designer would ever do that as "mistake". Sansa is wrong in that dress in every sense, she is a thing in it, clad into a shell. And we know that the KL hairstyle does nothing for her either, she is a stranger in her own body. Statuesque abstract beauty devoid of erotics.

I could go on for pages and talk about that ridiculous underwear shift, highly impausible for any wedding night, the child's dress for the child in a woman's body, looking like rags on the rather voluptous broad shouldered actress who has the air of a twenty year old, naive and yet more Anita Ekberg potential than Grace Kelly. What a thoughtful choice, finest materials turned into rags by circumstances.

And people talk about the series not being thoughtful with the character Sansa! The nonverbal message sent by the choice of costume could not be more precise, every nuance totally wrong and yet a creative masterpiece.

So obviously there is a totally different colour concept behind the show looks of Sansa during her wedding compared to the books. Am I right with my interpretation that they made it slightly off deliberately or is this due to the overall tones of light in the room and they wanted to integrate the dress into the overall light situation?

Oh wow, this is an amazing analysis. Yeah, I agree with you. The professional costume designers on the show would certainly have taken these things into account.

[VladimirDulud]

Ellaria Sand is the best dressed female in show even when mourning.

I do like Ellaria Sand's purple wedding outfit a lot. That ochre...

[VladimirDulud]

I wrote this a while ago about Sansa's wedding dress:

I would like to know where and under which conditions silk is produced in this world, where do mulberry trees grow? How is silk traded and where are the mills to weave wollen fabric since the production of fabrics was an important column of developing capitalism in our world. Automatic looms were actually the step from manufacturing into industrialisation.

There are very subtle signals sent by the choice of costume, compared to the books really an enrichment of the story:

Not only are the heavy velvet and moiré materials, chenille with gobelin patterns, designed by their sheer weight to create a distance between the female person and her environment, as befits a noble lady. They are also a means to alienate the body from the person. These materials do not, like erotic corsage or the equivalent to modern shapewear, serve to enhance the beauty of the young woman in them, they cover and encase, they do nothing to emphazise feminity, basically they are anti-erotic.

And Sophie Turners arms are bare and vulnerable in every sense, a childlike vulnerability of exposure since the dress does nothing to caress the skin, to soften the contrast between clothing as cage and bare skin. There is no organza sleeve, not even a bracelet to connect the body and its wrapping. This dress looks like a very poor advice by a technically perfect yet not really gifted designer - if it were meant to be made for a happy bride. But it isn't. In fact this "poor" choice is a very sophisticated one: a choice of alienation. These fabrics used may be costly but they are no longer fashionable for RL clothing, they are furniture and decoration materials by now in our world, representative and not meant to create an atmosphere of comfort. Stylish only in an environment of shabby city chic as twisted quotation, deconstructing representation by irony or as vintage fashion. Sansa is basically clad in upholstery sofa decoration or heavy curtains, if in the most elegant manner.

Like they did in our world back in history those heavy costly fabrics signal class differences. Not only are they expensive and this is emphazised by interweaving valuable materials like gold threads. That signal is stronger than the money aspect: gold threads are useless, even counterproductive since the metal in the fabric will not shield a lady from cold. The high noblity can afford useless, even dysfunctional luxury, like golden armour as opposed to solid steel armour. And costumes like that distance the noble body from the dirty poor in a concrete as in a metaphorical sense.

Then why the bare arms, so bluntly presented by the costume designers? The cloak of protection! They knew that the situation where Tyrion has to clad his bride into that cloak will play an important role in the story. And "being clad" cannot be better emphazised than by naked skin before the cloak is wrapped around. Sansa's arms are an invitation to be covered, to be clad. While the cloak Tyrion holds in itself may be beautiful but it does nothing to counter the impression of heavy dullness created by the colour combination. We will see how the Margaery marriage might be presented but in general this cloaking situation has less the character of protection but of putting a heavy weight on the bride in those loveless marriages. Note that there was no cloak when Robb and Talisa married, no weighing down the bride in the only love marriage we have witnessed so far.

And then look at the colours: they are worst for Sansa. This is not golden brilliance, this is greenish olive toned gold with a hint of mustard. The worst for Turner's complexion since in fact she is not a redhead but a true blonde wo is dyed red and therefore should prefer cooler tones. Of course this is deliberate. No costume designer would ever do that as "mistake". Sansa is wrong in that dress in every sense, she is a thing in it, clad into a shell. And we know that the KL hairstyle does nothing for her either, she is a stranger in her own body. Statuesque abstract beauty devoid of erotics.

I could go on for pages and talk about that ridiculous underwear shift, highly impausible for any wedding night, the child's dress for the child in a woman's body, looking like rags on the rather voluptous broad shouldered actress who has the air of a twenty year old, naive and yet more Anita Ekberg potential than Grace Kelly. What a thoughtful choice, finest materials turned into rags by circumstances.

And people talk about the series not being thoughtful with the character Sansa! The nonverbal message sent by the choice of costume could not be more precise, every nuance totally wrong and yet a creative masterpiece.

So obviously there is a totally different colour concept behind the show looks of Sansa during her wedding compared to the books. Am I right with my interpretation that they made it slightly off deliberately or is this due to the overall tones of light in the room and they wanted to integrate the dress into the overall light situation?

Please, do go on. I love the concept of Sansa in a cage wearing upholstery. I do keep thinking back to her wedding scene, where she seemed to be dragged down and weighted down by the bulk of it all. Very telling.

I'm trying to figure what Margaery's new wedding dress as seen in the High Sparrow preview photos are telling us about the future, as well. The purple wedding outfit she wore was deliberate; I also keep expecting her to turn up in full Tyrell green and gold but perhaps not until she's really Queen? I remember Michelle (costume designer) saying that she made the decision that Margaery would not be so bold as to wear Tyrell colors and instead would choose to wear something more subtle - in a similar shade to her House but not House colors exactly. This would explain those dusky blues, which only hint at the Tyrell colors in an oblique way.

[FreeParking]

I found this article on Sansa's wedding dress: http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2014/04/04/36776/game-of-thrones-the-woman-behind-the-costumes-intr/

[VladimirDulud]

Wish we could see these details up close as well!