Game of Clothes

I, like many other people have fallen under the spell of the HBO hit series, "Game of Thrones". My Canadian family insisted I give it a chance and I'm so glad I did. Just a few hours to go until the premier of the 4th season I wanted to share the exquisite costumes of the women of Westeros. The show weaves the original novels story as well as European History dating roughly from 1295-1500. This is reflected in the costumes as well. They are a hybrid between cultural accuracy and what women of a fictional place such as Westeros and Essos would be wearing.

 1400's

The Costume designer Michele Clapton is behind the well thought out and symbolic frocks. She also won an Emmy Award  (2012) for her work on Game of Thrones.

Costume Designer: Michele Clapton with character Cersei Lannister's gown.

Embroidered details from Cersei Lannister's costume

Sansa Stark's Wedding Dress (Complete with Hip Armor)

 Image and Quote from MessyNessyChic

“For Sansa’s wedding dress the designer Michele Clapton wanted to have an embroidered band that wrapped around which symbolistically told Sansa’s life from the Tully and Stark beginnings to the entanglement with the Lannisters,” says Michele Carragher,

“The dress colour was still very much Sansa Stark and the embroidery had pale golden tones but woven through the story are ripe red pomegranates, the red colour symbolising the growing Lannister influence over her.” 

What I have been personally taken by are the details on the garments, namely the embroidery.  All of this skilled work is done by an artist named Michele Carragher. She is London based and her skill set is on another level. By all accounts she believes hand embroidery methods still superior to that of a machine and this attention to detail and skill certainly is reflected in her garments for this show.

Embroidery Artist Michele Carragher

Sansa Stark

Arya Stark

Lady Catelyn Stark

Cersei Lannister

Daenerys Targaryen

Michele has even shared her smocking technique called "dragon scale"

Have a time lapsed look into the painstaking 42 hours of work condensed into 10 seconds.

 

Don't even get me started on the design, fabrics and inspiration behind each characters look. I adore the show even more now that I am delving into the heart of the costumes. I will explore the best dressed women of Westeros in a future post but wanted to highlight the exquisite craftsmanship of the embroidered pieces.

Which embroidered masterpiece do you like best?

Share your perspective in the comments.