- Hear me out. I've had this little nagging
thought in the back of my head since basically the beginning of time that "Game of Thrones" is one of the most historically accurate
pieces of television media ever produced to date. And it isn't even set in a period along our timeline of reality. Here is what I mean by that. This needs to not happen for
the whole video. (chuckles) No, we're gonna keep her handy. We might need her later. What even is historical
accuracy to begin with? First and foremost, the whole concept of historical accuracy is basically just fantasy in and of itself because we only effectively have select bits and pieces of information surviving to us through time with which we can sort of piece together a rough understanding of
how things were in the past. But because history is a progression, a sort of evolution if you will, nothing happens in a vacuum. But clothing styles and practices develop as a result of the styles and practices that came before them, as well as the social
and political climates of the people and the
environments in which they live. It's literally impossible
to gain the level of firsthand contextual understanding that would be needed
to inform a recreation of these clothes with 100% accuracy. Species of flax and sheep no longer exist that once supplied the linens and wools used to make textiles. We now work under conditions that provide electric lights and temperature control, which affect our ability
to physically craft things. Labor laws and modern medicine
influence the physical state in which we approach garment construction. There are infinite factors
that get in the way of a perfect physical
and contextual recreation of historical dress. So how do certain historically
set shows and films actually succeed in depicting a believable representation
of an earlier time period despite the inability to meet
"historical accuracy" 100%? The answer, I think, lies in the ability both to consult the physical
evidence that does survive, whether through portraits, photographs, drawings, or written accounts
and official records, and filling in the gaps with as much logic and evidence-based deduction as possible. Ideally, through decisions
based in logic and practicality rather than in our own
contemporary aesthetics. Continually asking the questions of where the materials and
the garments are coming from, how they are made, by who,
and why they are worn. Having logical answers to these questions that are based in the
practicalities of the period are what ultimately help a garment feel as if it belongs within
the reality of the story. In effect, the practical processes behind designing historical accuracy for a period film and for a fantasy film are almost exactly the same. Only instead of working with
a prescribed set of rules, in fantasy, that evidence base isn't there and the design team is effectively starting completely from scratch. This means that all the bases
of clothing production, rules, habits, and contexts need
to be first invented, then remembered, and then
executed successfully. If this isn't done, the clothing has no baseline
track of logic to follow and various designs and
materials show up in places for no reason that make
it more difficult for us to believe that this world
ever could have existed in any form of reality. Let's explore how I think this is done so successfully in "Game of Thrones" by breaking this process down into a few different categories
that have historically influenced the development of fashion according to the timeline of reality. Material accessibility: where does everything come from? Before we can start thinking about the evolution of fashion
styles themselves, we first have to answer the question of where these clothes are coming
from in the first place? How do they exist? Where do the materials come from? The dyes, the trims,
the fabrics, the labor. None of these by the way
are, I think, elements that the conscious mind
would actively pick up on whilst watching a piece of media. You're not going to be casually watching and three episodes in suddenly go, "Hey, wait a minute. How come she's got a bit of
lurex woven into her dress?" It's more the general sensation that, yes, these clothes look and feel as if they could have directly come from the sources available to these people within this story, contributing to a sense of realism that is very easy to lose in period and fantasy world depiction. A few things to note first about the world of "Game of
Thrones" that will help to set up the basis
for our clothing logic. First, that this appears
to be a pre-industrial, pre-steam power, pre-electricity era with no benefit of complex machinery to facilitate mass production. And while intercontinental
travel is common, at least between the continents
of Westeros and Essos, certainly not whatever
is west of Westeros, globalization to the scale at which everything is available everywhere with relative ease is not yet a thing. So this means that we're primarily looking at manual, hand-done labor
for the clothing construction, and we're looking at materials
which can be obtained naturally from the directly
surrounding environment, or which could be reasonably traded with other allied regions. The story starts us off in Winterfell, which is one of the northernmost kingdoms on the continent of Westeros. It is cold, it is rugged, Winter is Coming, and these are the people
who get hit hardest by that so they have to be practical. Agriculture is going to
be slightly more difficult in this region from what we can see of the surrounding landscape. So any agricultural focus is probably most likely placed on food
crops over textile crops. And as a result, we see
characters in this region responding appropriately to this by dressing in wools, leathers, and furs. Materials that are animal-based and thus easier to obtain, whether through the raising of livestock or through hunting the wolves and rabbits, and sundry such furry things that would be populating
the surrounding landscape. We actually get a really interesting sense of the distribution of
dye materials as well that are available in different regions. Dorne, for example, has particular access to some sort of saffron, bright yellow dye that many of the other kingdoms don't seem to have as
much ready access to. There seems to be a
readily available supply of black dye up in the north
where the Night's Watch have deemed it both
reasonable and feasible to dye everyone's clothing black, despite being on a very limited budget. The Reach and Highgarden have access to more rich blues and greens. And King's Landing sees all the boldest and brightest colors of Southern Westeros due to its centrality of
significant trade routes between Essos and the
kingdoms of Westeros. And there is real
impressive attention paid to this material accessibility
throughout the series. We see a visible reduction in color and costume variety by
the end of the series, most notably of course, in King's Landing where years of ongoing war has likely disrupted these trade routes. Meaning that this highly urban center which doesn't have great
agricultural capacity to begin with, especially not once it's shut its walls to the outside world, no longer has access to the
great variety of material and dyes that it once did. Dyes would be used sparingly or diluted resulting in a significantly
more muted color palette, which we absolutely see. Back again though, to textile fibers, we seem to be working with
the same natural fibers that we have access to in reality. Linens, cottons, wools, silks, leathers, furs, hemp
and grass, and metals, purely of course, due to the
practical limitation of us not just being able to
invent new textile fibers to make clothing out of. So it makes sense that
these silks and cottons are produced in the hotter regions of Dorne, Pentos, and Qarth and that these materials are in most cases woven to be extremely light and diaphanous to suit these climates. Contrast that with the
Riverlands, for example, where we still see what appears to be silk but woven in heavier damasks and brocades to suit these cooler climates. Highgarden also seem to
be very fond of brocades, but their garments are again adapted for these warmer climates by
being cut for less coverage. Then of course, there's the
interesting case of the Dothraki who are largely nomadic
and so have to rely on materials that can be hunted or gathered from their surroundings. And we see this thought out so brilliantly in the clothes that we do see them in. Leathers and skins, of course, likely by-products from
animals hunted for food. But plant fiber wise, they appear to be wearing
largely flax or hemp-based cloth in sewn garments, primarily
in their trousers. But they are also mostly just wearing straight up, plaided
grass as could presumably be gathered wild in small amounts and made up into textiles
while on the road. It's very monochromatic,
very natural since presumably there isn't much option to
be dealing with dyebaths. And the heavy usage of these
natural grass-like fibers in reflection of their
natural grassland home region makes complete sense culturally. So we understand where the
materials are coming from, but how are these clothes actually made? Because this is likewise, a major part of where costume design can get tripped up into unbelievability and admittedly things do
get a bit hyper stylized in the final season. No, nevermind. Roasting season eight is just
very tired at this point. As previously mentioned, we're dealing with a primarily
pre-industrialized period, which means we have no sewing machines, no overlockers, no
machine textile weaving. Textiles are presumably woven
mostly or entirely by hand or with man powered machinery. Meaning that they take ages to produce and are as a result, expensive. Cloth is an extremely valuable commodity in and of itself, let alone the further
hours of labor necessary to presumably hand stitch
these clothes together. And let me tell you how
unbelievably impressed I was to see that the build team on this series took a very original practice approach to the clothing construction. That is machine stitching
anything not directly seen to, of course, save on time, but hand stitching
everything that is seen. There are hand sewn eyelets. From what I could see, most, if not all, of the visible top stitching is done again by hand
with running stitches. There's decorative stitching
and embroidery and smocking. Again, almost certainly done by hand. For the amount of clothes that they had to produce for this series, the amount of attention
paid to making them all at least look as if
they're entirely handsewn is astonishing. And we do see this incredible
balance of labor hours for the most part being taken into account in the costume design. When compared to a lot
of the more elaborately decorated and tailored
styles of King's Landing, the garments worn even by
the nobility in Winterfell seems simplistic. But when you approach
it from the perspective of everything in this entire world is completely hand sewn, you realize that the northerners require not only more clothing and
more layers of clothing worn concurrently to stay warm, but many of these garments
are elaborately quilted for extra warmth. People making clothing in Winterfell are putting more of their labor hours into practical strategies
for adding warmth, doing away with most
decoration as a result. Aside from this knotting technique, which looks like a wonderfully, not time consuming way to add texture to a large expanse of a garment. There is also the question of
who is making these clothes. There are several lines
throughout the series in which it's made clear that the Starks are making their own clothing. - I like your dress. Who made it for you? - Uh, I made it myself. - At least Sansa, Arya, and Catelyn are. I don't know about the boys. Presumably, they at least have an armorer taking care of the arming gear that they are seen most prevalently in. But this begs the realization
that the real commodity in garment quality then is time. Characters of nobility like the Starks, who presumably have more free time to spend on garment making, are presumably going to have
more finely made garments than the people who need to balance sewing with work or trade
for ready-made garments. Characters in King's Landing, at least the royalty as we see in this one scene with
Joffrey and his tailor, are having dedicated
dressmakers and tailors making their garments for them. Which again, probably adds to the ability for King's Landing garments to be more elaborately seamed and decorated than the northerners' garments. The principle of period
imperfection is also something we see reflected on screen here, and it brings me so much joy. This is basically the idea that before industrialized standardization and possibly even before the standardization of measurements, things crafted by real human hands are not always going to be rigidly perfect and precisely measured. We see, for example, some slight variation in the spacing of the eyelets
on Ygritte's shoulder strap, which serves to make this look more like something that was made in the middle of a frozen wilderness and not like a belt purchased from a shop and repurposed for costume reasons. As a result of the immense labor required in producing these garments, we see a good amount of outfit repeating throughout the series, which I always love to see. There's nothing more
unrealistic than characters showing up in entirely new
garments in every episode, because that's not even
how we work nowadays, let alone in the days
before sewing machines and fast fashion. Sure, the characters of higher classes change clothes more frequently because, yes, ultimately they
do have expendable gold to put towards having more clothing made, but garments are at least
worn for a few episodes, if not entire seasons or basically their entire
appearance in the show. That is section one. Culture: what traditions or
regional factors influence what, and the ways in which, clothing is worn. Once we understand where our
materials are coming from and how the clothes are made, we next seem to think about the cultural and traditional context
in which they are worn. One of the most interesting examples of this regional tradition
reflected in the clothing, I think, can be seen in Qarth. Is this it? Yeah. Which is the extremely wealthy south coast city of Essos and is really the only
place in which we see these elaborate, metal,
filigreed accessories. To me, this suggests a perpetuation of a highly specialized
metal working tradition, which has presumably been carried on by select artisans
exclusively in this region and which perhaps other regions in Essos, let alone Westeros, have not been able to learn and then teach. The same concept of highly
specialized metal working is, of course, something
that is brought up throughout the series multiple times in reference to the lost city of Valyria. So it gives us a really interesting sense of what this sort of highly
specialized craft tradition would have looked like and how either as a result
of the presumed complexity of the training process or through deliberate artisan retention, it tends to remain fairly concentrated in one particular region. Religious orders are also of course, hugely dependent on this
factor of tradition and dress. Beliefs may dictate what materials are suitable for wearing
and which are to be avoided regardless of geographical region and what materials people
might have ready access to. The fire god priestesses, for example, seem to be required to wear
fitted, red, silk gowns, which might not be an
issue for those practicing in the silk producing cities of Essos, but is probably a bit more of
an obstacle for Melissandre in her Northern Westeros travels. The faceless men of
Braavos seem to require simple rough spun, undyed patch
worked or layered garments in accordance with believing
themselves faceless or perhaps a patchwork of potential lives, despite the opulent
fashions available to them in the city of Braavos. Likewise, the sparrows of King's Landing opt for plain, simple linen garments, again, despite the variety
of material and styles available within King's Landing due to their religiously driven
glorification of poverty. One of the biggest examples
of sartorial tradition we can find though is in uniform. Who is in uniform, who isn't, and what does that uniform signify? In King's Landing, for
example, we have the Kingsguard who are all precisely uniformly dressed in what is presumably a set
of well-crafted garments provided to each guardsman by
a highly funded institution. They're wearing much more
plate armor than we usually see on others throughout the series. And if we are judging by the
production methods of reality, plate maille is one of
the most expensive armors available to a pre-industrial society. These are elaborately decorated with scroll work and sigils, and a ton of highly
unnecessary textile yardage in the form of capes, and everything is kept
very nice and clean. So not only does their
clothing communicate their institutional affiliation, it specifically communicates affiliation with a highly wealthy and
influential institution with access to some of
the best craftspeople in the known world. On the other hand, we
have the Night's Watch. Guarding the wall in the north, a separate military faction who, in principle, are in uniform. All the men are required to wear black. Presumably also for
the very practical need to be able to spot each other
on ranges beyond the wall. The Night's Watch is though
a notoriously underfunded and waning institution. So while a sense of
visual unity is striven for amongst the men, the practical expenses of
uniform have proved a hindrance. And it looks to me like the men seem to just be dying their own clothing black, maintaining the styles
and quality of garment whence they came, but just achieving uniform through color. It's interesting then to contrast them with the Wildlings living beyond the wall, who aren't in uniform, but they still are fairly
uniform-looking in pallette. The difference though, is that whereas the Wildlings are all beginning with the same base selection of materials, furs and leathers mostly, they're embellishing their
clothing more individually based on additional items
like shells or bones that they find, and which presumably have personal meaning to them. The Night's Watch begin
with identifying garments made from a wide variety of materials, but as a result of the
mandates of their uniform, actively remove uniquely
identifying features of their clothing, such as color, in an effort to eliminate
individualization. (deep sigh) Ok. Physical constraints: what motions or movements
does a person need to do or does not need to do in these clothes? This is put to most ready example in the outfitting of
the fighting characters. For example, in the fight scene between Oberyn Martell and Gregor Clegane, Oberyn is relying on speed and dexterity to defeat his literally
mountainous opponent, so opts for lightweight leather armor that won't encumber his movements. They've even given him
a little underarm gusset that allows full range of arm movement. I am obsessed. Gregor Clegane on the
other hand is not a small and fast man to begin with so is taking full advantage
of his natural strength by opting for plate armor,
which is of course much heavier but also much more protective. Clegane isn't going
anywhere quickly anyway, so might as well take advantage of nearly full steel coverage. The Dothraki, who are nomadic and travel both on foot and on horseback, likewise have made concessions
with their clothing to accommodate for their mobile lifestyle. All of the men and women on horseback are suitably trousered to
protect their legs from chafing. This of course is
contrasted to the extreme with some of the palace dwelling ladies throughout the series. These are probably the height of people who do not have to
perform any physical labor whatsoever within this world, or certainly not very quickly. So, long, dangling sleeves
that look very elegant, but would under any physically
demanding circumstance be extremely invasive, in this case is perfectly reasonable. Long, trailing dresses are the norm because not only do they generally travel only short distances on foot and entirely at their leisure, but they have in-house launderers tasked with washing their clothes regularly. So you can absolutely be Catelyn Stark unflinchingly walking
through the muddy streets of Winterfell in her trailing gown because somebody is going to take care of that hem for her later. - Stop my lady. You'll ruin your dress. - I have others. (footsteps stomping) - Brienne of Tarth is also
an interesting example of situational movement necessity. While for the majority of the series we see her dressed absolutely
in men's clothing and armor, we get this really interesting
look in King's Landing. She doesn't need to be
as heavily armored here as she does on the
dangerous road, of course, and social custom here probably dictates that a lady of rank probably
shouldn't be dressed as a full on knight. But she nevertheless sticks
to the moveable clothing that she's most comfortable in. No trailing dresses or
long sleeves for her, but instead she's opted for a split skirt. These were a clever trick of the 1890s with the rise of cycling where women needed to at least
appear respectively skirted in polite society, but also required the practicality
of bifurcated garments to allow for this specific
physical activity. Brienne has adopted that same mentality, hereby appearing at least to be skirted like the other ladies at court, but is still of course
ready to jump on a horse and charge off on a quest
at a moment's notice. Class: how does wealth or lack thereof influence access to styles or materials, amount of clothing or sumptuary laws? Let's look for example at
the Tyrells of Highgarden, who I believe are the
wealthiest house in Westeros. Many of their garments are made from bright cloth-of-gold brocades, which in a world that
does not yet have access to synthetics, tinsel, or lurex fibers would've been made by
weaving actual strands of literal gold, metal, or
silver into the cloth itself. Cloth-of-gold and cloth
of silver are materials that we have seen
historically amongst royalty in our own timeline of reality. So yes, it is possible
and it's very expensive. Cloth-of-gold is also of course seen on the Lannisters of King's Landing, especially once they've made
their alliance with the Tyrells and can benefit from some of their wealth. Although Daenerys at
one point does mention that there is a silk trader who likely will not support her cause
due to the Lannisters being their biggest customer. So the Lannisters are
presumably still dominating silk consumption in Westeros. But aside from the visible materials, the cut of the clothes themselves also have big potential
to delineate class. From Winterfell to King's Landing, the nobility and royalty are often seen in very snugly fitted
or tailored garments. Garments that conform
to the shape of the body need to have more curves cut in, which result in more cloth wastage, especially this particular cut of gown with a smooth, fitted waist
and a very flared skirt. Those wide gores mean
that fewer dress panels can fit along the width of the material, meaning that you need more length. And of course, there's a ton of space just wasted around the
slimmer body sections. Characters of lower classes tend to be in much looser fitting garments, held snug with belts or ties at the waist, which utilize of course,
the entire width of fabric at much less yardage. This point about garment
cut actually seems to carry more importance than the cost of the materials themselves. For example, when the character Shae comes to King's Landing with Tyrion, she's given a lovely,
fine silk looking gown, but it's still very loose fitting with no complex curves cut in, presumably in an effort to conserve that costly material as much as possible while of course still
having her look nice enough to be seen in the palace. This is not a phenomenon that we see in the women's wear of Essos. Garments there tend to be more loosely cut with the exception of some
of the men's tailored robes and coats, in wealthy cities like Qarth. But I suspect that this is due
to the climate constraints, meaning that looser garments
are better suited to the heat. Westerosi people need to trade for the expensive silks and brocades, so materials directly equal money. Whereas in Essos where any
silk merchant or weaver could have access to the same fine cloth, it's the intricacy of the craftsmanship, the labor that goes into these clothes, and presumably the amount of items owned that communicates status. This ability to visually
delineate social class and wealth also serves to indicate
some of the political states in any given region. For example, amongst the
northerners of Westeros, the class divide seems much smaller. Everyone seems to be working roughly from the same selection of base materials. And visually, there isn't as ostentatious a distinction between the classes as there is in, say, King's Landing where the people of higher classes have a much wider selection
of imported materials to spend money on. The visual class distinction
plays a particularly important role in the
cities of Slaver's Bay, where not only is the
class divide significant, but it literally plays a defining role in the operation of those societies. The enslaved class are
fairly visually uniform in color palette, with little
access to any dye materials. The garments are loosely fitting and seem, for the most part, to be simply draped with very little stitching labor required. The garments are worn in
a way that draws the eye to the mandated collar, which points to these garments
being strictly regulated with little room for
variation or expression. The enslavers on the
other hand, have access to bright dyes and complex
ECAP patterned fabrics, which is more displayed
rather than actually worn in this entirely superfluous method of looping these expensive
materials through metal rings rather than draping the fabrics
into functional garments. Class is also in many cases the biggest dictator of how many costumes a character can be seen in. The more money they have for clothing, the more clothing they're able to own. And this is adhered to really carefully and respectfully throughout the series. Characters who don't have
access to as much time, money, or materials are only seen in the same handful of
garments for entire seasons. But even those who do have the means to obtain more clothing still aren't seen unrealistically in an entirely new costume and style in every single episode. This is especially apparent on the men. Even the men of royal and noble classes are wearing repeated costumes
due to the very practical, non-disposable nature of armor. Ned Stark even wears the
exact same armor in season one as young Ned is wearing in
Brienne's flashback vision, suggesting that this is a garment that he's been wearing for decades. But even characters like young
Sansa Stark in King's Landing and Cersei Lannister and
Daenerys who presumably have the most access to
all of the money, makers, and materials of anyone in Westeros are still seen in repeated
costumes throughout the series, because garments do become
part of a person's wardrobe. Even if that person is
only wearing said garment while it's fashionable
for a season or two. Trends: who are the trendsetters? Which brings us to the
aspect of fashion itself, the popularity of certain styles and the evolution of trends. Who are the trendsetters? Who follows the trends? And how are these
fashionable styles adapted through various social
classes and occupations according to individual means? Throughout our own history, fashionable trends have
largely been dictated by those possessing
some sort of celebrity. Be that influencers, models,
actors, musicians today, or historically the
royalty, nobility, wealthy, or those who have achieved
particularly heroic deeds who were frequently seen in paintings or reported on either in
print or through oral legacy. People in perceived positions of power tend to be the ones who those perceiving the power look to for influence. In the world of "Game of Thrones" we have the royalty of Westeros, the noble houses of Westeros, and the wealthy or
battle-seasoned of Essos who seem to be leading these trends. And we even see this
really cool phenomenon of fossilized court dress
reflected in this show, which makes me so happy. And it is absolutely
something that happened in real history. This persistence of specific fashions reminiscent of previous
decades or centuries worn only within the court setting due to the traditional perception of them. For example, the big, wide hoop
panniers of the 18th century were so exaggerated for formal court dress and took on such a signification
of noble silhouette that we see these hoops worn well into the end of the century when they'd gone out of fashion
in normal societal dress, and even persisted into the Regency period when they made absolutely no sense with the fashionable
waistline of the new dresses, but were still worn
because again, tradition. We absolutely see this
happening in King's Landing, and I am absolutely buzzing about it, both during Margaery Tyrell's
wedding to King Joffrey and Sansa Stark's wedding
to Tyrion Lannister. We see both women showing up to the sept in some sort of pannier or
structured skirt foundation, which isn't seen in any
other normal palace context anywhere else in the series. But in terms of general
King's Landing fashions, it seems that the burden
has fallen largely on Cersei to influence the trends. The wrapped sort of kimono style gowns that she wears initially
in the first series are very quickly adopted by Sansa, who is coming down from the north. And the sort of burrito dress even Margaery Tyrell adopts at one point later on in the series. Despite there being a
very clear style influence within King's Landing, these royal styles are not
adopted by the noble houses throughout the rest of the continent. Each house and region has adopted very distinct styles of their own. And that's not for lack of awareness of the King's Landing
fashions as we can see in Sansa Stark's styling in the first few episodes of season one. Despite her living in Winterfell, when the Royal Family come to visit, she's done her best to adopt the lighter colors of King's Landing and even added a subtle
braid to the top of her head in honor of the extremely top heavy, braided styles of the south while still generally keeping it within the preferred
hairstyle of Winterfell, which is generally a braided bun at the back of the head for the women and a loose bun at the back of the head for the men. Sansa Stark stands out within this context because she is purposefully
opting for a style that is very much not of her kingdom. When she gets to go to King's Landing, she very quickly adopts
the full King's Landing braid styles and fashion styles. We see very direct trend
influencing with Daenerys' court, especially as she begins to gain power towards the end of the series. Her growing favor for
those wide structured, very tailored shoulders,
which incidentally is a very distinct and opposite departure from the soft and flowing silhouettes she was dressed in by other
people earlier on in the show. This can be seen reflected
almost identically on Missandei, her closest advisor. I would assume Missandei is at this point responsible for her own dress decisions given Daenerys' anti-slavery mission. Could be wrong. It looks a bit though
like Daenerys was in turn influenced by the Unsullied who all wear the same silhouette in their uniform, and of course, have since the day she first encountered them. There is, I have noticed, a growing trend throughout Westeros in the later seasons towards more militaristic aesthetics as the continent, of course, plummets into a state of total war. And we see this once
again in King's Landing and in Cersei especially, who moves from metal belts initially to full on shoulder pauldrons and cage crinoline
structures under her skirts. Not necessarily practical for
actual battle in any sense, but at least they give off hashtag vibes. The plate armor of Kingsguard
core and Unsullied punk may be Daenerys' idea of
militaristic empowerment. I think Braavos though, might be my favorite example of trend spreading. The clothes in Braavos just
generally are so interesting, but the ruffs. There's a trend in this city and this city alone it seems like, from what we can see
throughout the series, for at least what look
vaguely a bit like ruffs. In actuality, they're these
elaborately pleated neck bands, which are just
extraordinary craftsmanship. So characters of
wealthier or higher status who have the means to follow
this trend more closely are the ones primarily
wearing them, of course. But we see some form of neck wear on the majority of citizens of Braavos. Those of lesser means are still either wrapping their necks
in some sort of cloth, stock or cravat style type thing, or are wearing them in loose knots in an effort to at least
acknowledge this trend to some extent. Individual preferences/character
psychology: And then we come to the
factor of idiosyncrasy or little personal wardrobe decisions made on behalf of a
character's unique personality and their given circumstances. This is the facet of costume design that tends to get the most focus, sometimes to a fault
when the costume design is too individual driven
and less consideration is taken of the environmental
and surrounding influences. There are endless examples
of this idiosyncrasy seen throughout the series. Brynden the Blackfish wearing armor made to look like literal scales to represent the trout
sigil of House Tully. Tyrion Lannister wearing
lots of Lannister red with gold embroidery. Daenerys' preference for
fabric manipulation styles, reminiscent of dragon skin. This fur coat, by the
way, that Daenerys wears that is nothing, if not
an absolute wealth flex. Can you even imagine
how long it would take to hand stitch all those
tiny little half inch strips of fur into an entire coat? Sansa Stark's weirwood leaf embroidery on her coronation dress
symbolizing her devotion to the old gods and the north. I don't admittedly like
to get too wrapped up in symbolism in costume design because it can deviate so
much from the real decisions that actual humans actually
make in their own wardrobes, but a bit of symbolism that
feels like an actual choice and made for in-world reasons does serve to add so much personality to a person's wardrobe. Well, that just barely
scratched the surface of the vast world of the
"Game Of Thrones" costumes. But to sum up the main point here, which really has nothing to
do with "Game Of Thrones", historical accuracy, whatever
that elusive concept is, ultimately really is just logic. If you can back things up
with the practicalities of A, where people are
getting the materials, B, how people are making the garments, and C, why they're wearing
them in the way that they are, this grounds the clothes
in such a level of realism, that there's really no reason to believe that these clothes and these people and this entire world
couldn't have actually existed at some point. The patterns that exist in history can tell us so much about
the human psychology and the practicality of
why people wear clothing in the way that they do, how clothing and technology
evolve over time, what catalysts might have occurred to prompt the adoption or elimination of certain styles or materials. And all of these observations
can be translated into fantastical circumstances to create worlds which feel
as if they can be pinpointed somewhere in time. Speaking of time, I don't
have very much of it. And if you, likewise, don't
have very much of it either but you'd still very much
like a nice home cooked meal, allow me to introduce you to
our sponsor for today's rant, Hello Fresh. Hello Fresh is a meal kit delivery service that I literally use
almost every single week since it saves me so much
time in grocery shopping, figuring out ingredients, and working out how to use all of the
leftover ingredients later. Hello Fresh delivers
pre-portioned ingredients to expedite the cooking process
and eliminate food wastage. Trust me, as a vegetarian, I am not accustomed to
having more than two options. Weekly meal selections
offer a range of vegetarian, pescatarian, low or high calorie options to suit your dietary goals and needs. Skip the grocery store
and spend more time, they want me to say
soaking up the summer sun but realistically we're all
probably nerds here anyway. So, hiding in our cool summer caves with our dragon hoard of books and fresh pasta. Go to hellofresh.com and
use code BERNADETTEBANNER16 for up to 16 free meals
and three surprise gifts.
