Michele Carragher: Game of Thrones' Embroidery

     If you follow our tumblr, you'll have already seen a post on Michele Carragher. Carragher is the artist behind all the FREAKING AMAZING embroidery in Game of Thrones' costumes. The attention to detail, both in artistry and in commitment to story detail is truly extraordinary. The tumblr post includes pictures and information from her website (which everyone should visit, seriously). Here we'll be doing a comparison between the detail pictures by the artist and the costumes in play during the episodes.

Sansa and Catelyn Stark, Episode 1:

     Getting to see the embroidery up close really adds to the experience of these costumes. In our original post we said that Sansa and Cat were wearing two different versions of the same dress. We can now see the details that set these dresses apart: Sansa's dress has a lot more decoration, including embroidered bows, flowers, and (you guessed it) dragonflies.

     You'll see a lot of this detail to the lives and experiences of the characters in Carragher's work; she's an artist who knows that costumes should tell stories.

     And check out the Tully trout jumping all over Cat's scarf... roll... thing. Whatever. It's awesome.

Cersei, Episode 3:

     This is the first, but by no means last time we'll see this bird-embroidered dress, which is good considering the INSANE AMOUNT OF DETAIL the artist put into it. The bird pattern on the shoulder in repeated throughout the rest of the garment, but it is the only part visible during this scene. (Appropriate, considering the main topic of conversation here concerns Sansa.)

     This dress in all its glory will repeat in future seasons. Larger views of the dress as a whole are available in the artist's Game of Thrones Gallery.

Sansa, Episodes 4, 5 and 8:

     Amazingly, this dress has even more detailing than previously thought, due to Sansa's habit of draping a shawl around her arms.

     It really is a pity (for a lot of reasons) that Sansa and Loras couldn't get married. Sansa's got the embroidered roses down, and we know that Loras appreciates her style.

Arya, Episode 4:

     Our original assessment of this outfit included the observation:

     "The scarf/collar beneath her tunic looks like northern roughspun but is embroidered in  a way that calls to Sansa's richer and delicate roses."

     Sarah is waaaay too smug about this.

     Going forward, we'll be featuring spotlights on the embroidery as we analyze more and more costumes. The seasons to come feature a lot of Michele Carragher's truly extraordinary work. We recommend checking out her website, for the artist's own explanations of her work, which include features on Sansa's wedding dress and the new embroidery technique she invented for Daenerys known as 'Dragonscale.'

     We cannot wait to get back to Dany. 


     Also, it's Fan Art Week over on our tumblr! Every day we'll be featuring the Game of Thrones work of our favorite artists, so come join us for A Dance with Drawings!

Sansa Stark: Episodes 4, 5 & 6 - with special guest Arya!

     When last we saw Sansa, she was still mourning the loss of Lady and in full-on resentful-teen mode.

     And she hasn't changed much since. Sansa is back in the dress she wore at the Inn at the Crossroads: light blue, bell sleeves, knotting at the neck designed to call to mind a wreath of flowers. The same dress she was wearing when she lost Lady. She's worried about her marriage to Joffrey, particularly that she might not be able to bear him any sons, and that everyone will hate her. Septa Mordane is, as ever, kind and awesome. After this conversation Sansa recommits to endearing herself to Joffrey. She's had enough of cold reality; now it's time for a fairytale tournament!

     This dress was most likely made specially for the tournament, and Sansa's clearly taken extra care with her appearance. This look, from dress to hair is a combination of northern and southern styles. This event is in honor of her father, but she's trying to impress Joffrey and get him back on her team.

     Sansa is slowly but surely becoming evermore the southern lady. This dress is lavender, a color we've never seen her wear before but exactly between her usual light blues and her eventual southern pinks ; the detailing at the neck is designed to look like a wreath of roses. That design element is an adapted version of her usual knotted neckline, but much more elegant and clearly more expensive. This is also the most skin Sansa has ever shown; she's trying to look mature and start acting like a grownup. And her hair is inching closer to full-on Cersei Lannister crazybraids. She's got the cinnamon buns on top of her head, but she's kept her single northern twist and let the rest of her hang loose like her mother. Compare her to Arya here: the prim southern lady and the unkempt northern girl. It is notable how put relatively put-together Arya looks here. No doubt Septa Mordane caught her chasing cats a few hours ago and made her take a bath. The scarf/collar beneath her tunic looks like northern roughspun but is embroidered in a way that calls to Sansa's richer and delicate roses. If she got Arya into all this, Septa Mordane must be a force to be reckoned with.

Arya you are the cutest and even your nice clothes have detachable sleeves because you are a warrior.

     Petyr Baelish, you are a giant creep. Arya seems very suspicious of him and even Sansa is a little weirded out as well she should be. Sansa continues to wear her dragonfly necklace. She is a delicate little thing and her innocence is quite resilient, since it survives this massively disturbing conversation with Littlefinger in addition to all the over-the-top tournament-sanctioned bloodshed.

Petyr Baelish: still creeping.

     On the next day at the Hand's Tourney she's wearing the exact same outfit as before (again, this ensemble was probably produced specially and expensively). Sansa still hasn't forgiven her father and is giving him a cold shoulder, acting as prim and grown-up as she can. Then Gallant Ser Loras brings Sansa a rose, the perfect image of the fairytale knights from Sansa's books, and she's a little girl again, living her dream. There are a lot of similarities between Loras and Sansa, which will become very notable in Season Three. Here they share a theme of roses: she has roses on her dress, he has roses on his armor and saddle blanket. Sansa grabs her father's arm and tells him not to let Ser Gregor hurt Loras, and the look on Ned's face when he realizes she needs her dad again is so precious. While she's doing her level best to be a cool and collected lady, she is still a little girl, hoping (and once more trusting) that her father can make everything okay.

     While Sansa's been working hard to be a proper Southern Lady, this is the first time we see her hair go full-on Cersei. And this is a very significant scene! Because...



     Joffrey the Fairytale Prince is back! 

     Joffrey decides to follow his mama's advice and Does Something Nice for the Stark Girl. To wit: he brings her a Lannister Lion necklace. We have a theory that all the Lannister men give their women these necklaces. Cersei's necklace is symbolic of her relationship with Jaime; Tyrion makes a gift of (a MASSIVE) one to Ros, perhaps as a subtle jab at his family. And now Sansa has one too.

Moth ring!

     Can you honestly blame Sansa for believing that her life with Joff is going to be a fairy tale? The way this scene is shot, that kiss at the end: it is like a goddamn Disney movie. They are even awash in the golden glow of the evening sun. (Ironically, Sansa's relationship with Joff does sort of turn out like a classically gruesome, non-Disneyfied fairy tale. The Brothers Grimm would approve.)

     And just when Sansa's decided to trust Ned again, he announces that they're heading home to Winterfell. Sansa is such a little girl here, and it is sad but still cute: "I love Joffrey! I'm meant to be his queen and have his babies!" Arya replies "Seven Hells," and when Sansa says she wants Joffrey instead of someone "brave and gentle and strong" Arya gives the most excellent smirk we've ever seen. 

     Then their conversation about Joffrey and how he's nothing like his father leads to Ned having an epiphany about how Punnett Squares work, so a fed up Arya drags Sansa out to pack. Pack like the wind, girls!

Sansa and Arya Stark: Episode 2

     Let's get back to Ginger and soon-to-be Scary Stark.

     Hello Tiny Adorable Arya, who has yet to become Tiny Adorable Terrifying Child Assassin Arya. Miss Arya is packing to leave for Kings Landing (she, like all the other Starks except Sansa, is ambivalent about the trip). She's wearing the same dress she wore at the beginning of episode 1, a dress which is very (very) similar to the dresses her mother and Sansa wore to the feast in the previous episode. Note the color and also the detailing at the collar. There is, however, much more wear and tear on this dress than there is on her sister's. 

A sword?!

     And, as we said before: lacing on the back and shoulders mimics the lacing on leather armor. Arya is a warrior (with adorable pigtail braids).   

     Jon Snow presents Arya with a sword of her own, and she jumps up to hug him and it's just really goddamn adorable.

     Lannister cousins, crazy-braiding each others' hair, and (presumably) making bitchy comments about Sansa.

Sweet Sansa dresses impeccably, even just for the purpose of walking around the muddy encampment. 

This dress is notable for a few reasons. For one thing, we think this dress is new. While Sansa, as the daughter of a noble house, would have a larger wardrobe than most women in the seven kingdoms (and therefore some dresses that we, the viewers, have not seen her wear yet) this dress looks new to our eyes. We tend to think that Sansa probably had it made especially for her trip south to King's Landing. Both the cut and color of the dress exist at almost the exact midpoint between northern and southern styles. It's in the sky blue that we are starting to thing of as Sansa's signature color, more Tully than Stark. And while the detailing at the neck harkens back to the dresses she, Cat and Arya wore at Winterfell, it is designed to look like a wreath of flowers. The bell sleeves and full skirt are right out of the Cersei Lannister Southern Fashion playbook. Sansa is already making an effort to dress and act like a proper southern lady, probably hoping to endear herself to Prince Joffrey.

 
She interacts with two unsettling men: Ilyn Payne (I initially typed that as "Ilyn Pain") the mute royal executioner, and The Hound, who serves as Joffrey's personal muscle. The Hound has burn scars and dresses starkly (pun only sort of intended) in a black cloak and armor. But not to worry, because here comes Sansa's handsome prince to send the hound on his way.

Oh Lady,  you're the sweetest direwolf of all time.

     
     Sansa is in light, airy blue and Joffrey in head-to-toe red leather. Joff's outfit is actually oddly similar to something you might expect to see a Targaryen wearing. (Or maybe it's not that odd, considering the similarities between Joffrey and Viserys.) These clashing outfits tell you pretty much everything you need to know about their personalities as well as the future of their relationship.

People give Sansa a lot of shit for liking Joffrey in the first season, but honestly, the kid can be charming when he wants to be.

The lacing on Arya's blue dress is functional as well as fashionable: she removes the sleeves for physical activity on a hot day.

     This is the first appearance of Sansa's butterfly ring (at least we think it's supposed to be a butterfly, though it looks more like a moth) and dragonfly necklace. Also Cersei calls her "little bird." Are we sensing a "delicate winged creatures" motif?

      Joffrey finds Arya and Mycah sparring with sticks and attacks adorable redheaded Mycah with his actual sword. Because he (Joffrey, not Mycah) is the actual worst.

     But Arya is not one to suffer fools: she, with help from her beloved direwolf Nymeria, administers the ass-kicking Joffrey so richly deserves and throws his sword in the river before running off with Nymeria.  

Seriously Arya, just do us all a favor and stab him in his smarmy face.

     Because everyone's being terrible today, Arya is pulled in for questioning all alone in front of the entire court. Ned is understandably upset about this, but not enough to turn around and go home.

 

     It's Sansa's turn next: caught between betraying her sister and mini-treason in the eyes of her future in-laws, Sansa does the only thing she can do, and claims that she doesn't recall.

     Arya does not agree with this tactic, and because she is a little spitfire, ATTACKS. Arya never really trusts Sansa after this - they are rarely dressed alike again, and their state of tension is reflected in their completely opposite types of clothing. But Arya still defends her against Sansa's next punishment, when Cersei decrees that some dog must die for the sins of another, and chooses Sansa's sweet-tempered innocent dog Lady for execution.

 

     So Ned Stark heads off to a remote part of camp to take the life of his daughter's innocent dog. And because poor Ned Stark is too dumb and politically unsavvy to fake Lady's death with one of the literally thousands of wolf pelts hanging everywhere, Sansa loses the last friend she'll have for a very long time.

The Stark Women

 

Can you tell the Starks are from the North? 

     Everything is grey inside Winterfell, including the fashion. The other colors all lie under a layer of grey – even the light blues which serve as a standout color for the Starks evoke the cold of the north. Insert ice blue joke here.

     The Stark Women all belong at Winterfell – they blend seamlessly with the grey stone walls.

     Sansa and Arya are often dressed nearly identically, tying them together as sisters but also highlighting their differences. The knotting on Sansa's dresses is always neat, and she obviously places a lot of stock in her appearance, whereas Arya is always messy and usually covered in dirt; she is a tomboy and still a child. 

     Arya hair is always in braids; in this way she is her southern mother’s daughter. Her braids are thicker and less fussy than Sansa’s, probably because they were tired of dealing with Arya’s hair when she got back from shooting arrows out of bows that are BIGGER THAN SHE IS like a boss. Note the lacing detail on Arya's dress: Winterfell is a fortress, and Ned Stark a soldier: the lacing evokes armor.

     Mama Stark was a Tully once upon a time, but she is fully entrenched in the life and family she has at Winterfell. In her dark blue cloak she almost blends in perfectly to the gray walls of the keep as well as the deep green of the forest. Also note the gray fur on her cuffs; gray fur positively screams “Stark!” in most of the scenes where it appears. She works hard to represent her husband’s house, often looking more 'northern' than the natives.  There is, however, a small nod to her southern heritage in her subtle braids and the light blue gown, though it’s barely visible under her heavy robe. (We will also see Sansa in light blue later in the episode.) Catelyn never wears blue anywhere but at Winterfell, where she is queen.

    Sansa stands out from the rest of the Starks, a column of light blue. Cat wears a subtler, darker blue brocaded among the Stark green in her cloak. Note Sansa's braids. Braids are gonna be important.

     There isn’t really a reason to include this picture of Arya, except that it is adorable and this our blog and we can post pictures of tiny adorable heads in giant helmets if we want to.

                                                                                                           

     Time for some southern braids. This is easily the most elaborate hairdo we’ve seen Cat in thus far (including the other seasons, because we’re from the future and we know what’s going to happen to them all, whooooooo, evil laugh, etc). Cat is braiding Sansa’s hair for the feast welcoming the Royal Family, which includes Cersei’s Crazy Pile O’Braids. Fashions are set by the queen – everyone in Cersei’s retinue has some version of her hairstyle, and already this look is being copied by the northern nobility, from which it will trickle down to the common folk (especially the prostitutes – gotta have your own look, even when you’re naked).

     In this scene, Mama and Ginger Stark discuss Sansa’s possible impending betrothal to Prince Joffrey the Worst. Cat has some reservations (if only she knew) but sweet, young Sansa wants nothing more than to marry a handsome prince. This scene serves to highlight the fact that Sansa is basically a younger version of Cat; they are wearing two versions of the same dress here. The fact that it’s Cat, rather than a servant, braiding Sansa’s hair says a great deal about their relationship.

"No, Cat, we cannot be friends; your hair is gonna have to get a lot more fabulous first."

     Sansa laughs with her friends (remember when Sansa had friends?) and eye-flirts with Joffrey. Cersei looks Sansa over as the potential mother of Joffrey’s heirs. Cat remains wary of the Lannisters. (TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS, GIRL!)

    As in the previous scene, Sansa has the same dress as Cat; her hair is a homemade version of Cersei’s Princess Leia do (we say "homemade" because Cersei’s hair is a creation that probably took three servant’s several hours to construct. Sansa is a beautiful girl, but her hair and outfit look downright sloppy by comparison.)

So young, so innocent.

    Hey Sansa, you know how you look like you truly belong here? DON’T LEAVE. Trust us, we have seen the future, and those braids look heavy.