#gotcostumes

DARK SANSA

Besides fish scales, the texture of Sansa’s new costume also evokes feathers. I want to return to the feathers because it is an element that has appeared in some Sansa’s previous costumes and the question remains what these feathered costumes mean in relation to her story on the show. The use of actual feather as a costume element that is unique to Sansa’s character - and they appear in two costumes that have been worn in seasons 4-5 and 6.

The black dress with the collar of raven feathers that she dons at the end of season 4 as well as the dark grey dress with the feathered panel on her bodice that she wears in season 7.

The black colour and the iridescence of the leather dress primarily brings the raven dress to mind. It was a costume that caused quite a bit of attention both in the fandom and in the press, where it is often referred to Sansa’s Maleficent-dress (x). 

David Benioff about that moment in the season 4 finale when Sansa appears in her new black dress: “We call it Dark Sansa” (Silk, Leather and Chainmail: Costumes of Season 4). It is a sort in-joke between the crew and Michele Clapton also uses this term once (x). But this dress is generally interpreted as an expression of Sansa stepping onto a darker path by the audience (x). 

Sansa Stark only started wearing black when she came under the influence of Petyr Baelish - so does a return to the colour black indicate that Sansa will go dark in season 8? That she’ll plot against Daenerys who comes to Winterfell expecting to be hailed as their new Queen? That she’ll plot against Jon because he allied with Daenerys and bent the knee? Well, one of Sophie’s new interviews can certainly be read that way - if you are entrenched in the idea of Dark Sansa.

“Sansa this season is very much enjoying becoming a leader in her own right, and this year there are certain challenges by people who threaten that.” (Sophie Turner, EW)

Personally, I very much doubt that Sansa will turn dark in the final season of the show - that narrative of her being tempted by power and Baelish’s ambitions was resolved in season 7. However, it is worth keeping in mind that the showrunners like to tease Dark Sansa very much as part of their game of misdirection since they value surprising narrative twists to shock the audience. Fx the promise of Sansa becoming a dark femme fatale that the black raven dress teased in the finale of season 4 never materialized. Instead, we saw Sansa put in another, even more abusive situation in season 5.

In season 7, the showrunners teased Dark Sansa once more because they wanted to mislead the audience regarding the conflict between Sansa and Arya. This is an excerpt from the script:

However, the scripts are written in terms of audience perspective, i.e. what the showrunners want the audience to think at the various moments of the narrative. Shortly afterwards, the show revealed that there was no Dark Sansa - the whole thing was a ruse to trick Baelish - and the audience.

So despite the Dark Sansa nickname, the black raven feathered costume never signified Sansa turning to the dark side in the game of thrones. In this context, it is actually very important that Sansa wears her dress with the feathered panel, which refers back to the raven dress, when she pronounces the sentence of death on Baelish - because the feathers refer to her time under his tutelage:

“There’s feathers again from her time in the Eyrie.” (Michele Clapton, UpRoxx) 

This particular costume is also a sort of deconstruction of the black raven dress as @lostlittlesatellites points out (x). It is, in fact, a repudiation of Baelish and his ambitions since the feathers represent her time under his tutelage.

Despite people thinking that the black raven dress signifies a darker turn for Sansa with her becoming some kind of evil femme fatale, this aspect was actually never mentioned when costumier Michele Clapton discussed this particular costume:

“We’ve always known that Sansa makes her own clothes, so it was a very deliberate decision of hers, to change and say, ‘I’m not going to be pushed around. I’m going to take charge.’ […]   “When she comes down the stairs, she’s playing with it like, ‘This is me, taking control of this situation.’” (Michele Clapton, The Cut)

David and Dan came to me with the idea of a transformation for Sansa. They wanted her to be her own woman rather than this victim. […] It’s meant to be as if she is somewhat reborn while mourning for all that she has lost. […]  The metal piece is really a miniature of Arya’s sword, Needle, and the idea is that there’s a ring that you stitch through and then that’s her weapon. I like that she carries it when she descends the stairs, now she’s armed and it’s a link to her family. 

It’s so easy to make someone look strong, but if you don’t think about the story, it’s kind of a wasted gesture. She could have probably looked even more amazing if I had put the reasoned arguments of where it could have come from aside, but ultimately, it makes it a stronger look if it’s a more believable transition. (Michele Clapton, Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones season 3 and 4)

When Clapton speaks of this costume it is solely within the context of transformation, strength and mourning. People have tendency to equate black with “evil” because it is an age-old symbolic connection in Western culture - but when it comes to the costumes in Game of Thrones we have to compare how Clapton uses the colour, both in relation to other characters as well as within the narrative arc of the individual character. 

Mourning

When it comes to the colour black, Clapton primarily uses it as a sign of mourning. Cersei and Margaery don black dresses after the death of Joffrey and while Cersei’s grief is genuine, Margery’s is performative yet she still wears black because she’s now a Dowager Queen like Cersei. Olenna also wears black after the deaths of her son and her grand-children in season 6. At the end of season 4, Sansa has lost her father, her mother and her eldest brother - and had been forced to witness her enemies mock those deaths - and while she knows that Arya is alive, she believes Bran and Rickon to be dead. In King’s Landing she couldn’t mourn her dead family openly so it makes sense for her to adopt the colour black when she’s finally free of King’s Landing and the Lannisters. This is actually the first time that she can express her grief openly.

Transformation

The raven dress also marks a complete change of style for Sansa - one that she authors herself as we actually see her making this costume.

“We’ve always known that Sansa makes her own clothes, so it was a very deliberate decision of hers, to change” (Michele Clapton, The Cut)

David and Dan came to me with the idea of a transformation for Sansa. They wanted her to be her own woman rather than this victim. […] It’s meant to be as if she is somewhat reborn while mourning for all that she has lost. […]  (Michele Clapton, Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones season 3 and 4)

The raven dress thus signals a sort of rebirth, of Sansa trying to forge a new way ahead, reinventing herself. 

One thing that is noteworthy about the raven dress is the plunging neckline, which is a completely new element because Sansa’s costumes have never been sexualized, even when when sex is explicitly brought up in her scenes (x) or when she’s made the object of other people's desire, like Tyrion’s in season 3 (x) and Baelish’ in season 4. At this point in the story, Sansa is still a virgin and really very innocent about sex - so the plunging neckline and the somewhat seductive poise she attempts in the scene when she debuts her raven dress feels like an uneasy fit. It is meant to entice, inviting the Male Gaze in a way that her costumes have never done before (or since). Sansa’s raven dress also represents her entry into the game as well as her attempt to play Baelish since she thinks that she has identified what he wants (her). She puts on an identity that doesn’t fit her because she isn’t a seductive femme fatale, she’s still an innocent who is attempting to enter a game she hasn’t mastered yet.

Strength

Clapton also talks about the raven dress in terms of strength. Sansa has created this dress as a way to to express her wish not to be a victim anymore:

“When she comes down the stairs, she’s playing with it like, ‘This is me, taking control of this situation.’” (Michele Clapton, The Cut)

David and Dan came to me with the idea of a transformation for Sansa. They wanted her to be her own woman rather than this victim. (Michele Clapton, Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones season 3 and 4)

So while the raven dress is, in a sense, Sansa trying on an identity that doesn’t quite fit her (seductive femme fatale), it also serves as an attempt to project strength.

When it comes to the connection between the raven dress and the season 8 leather dress, we have to try to determine which of these aspects (mourning, transformation, strength) of the raven are applicable to the new season 8 costume. In my opinion, Sansa’s new costume is first and foremost an image of strength - but whereas the raven dress was Sansa’s way of trying to make herself feel strong, her season 8 battle dress is not just about herself. She is now a leader, the Lady of Winterfell and the head of House Stark - when she takes pains to project an image of strength through her clothes it is not just for herself but also for her people.

A dire situation

Sansa’s battle dress is black and Clapton primarily uses black as a colour of mourning - so does Sansa’s new costume indicate that she’s in mourning? She still grieves her lost family members but I don’t think that this new dress indicates a new loss. Rather, it is much more likely that it is connected to the dire situation all the characters find themselves in, which is reflected in the costumes of the three ruling women. 

When talking about her plans for season 7, Clapton emphasized the use of darker colours:

The situation is becoming very serious and in some ways the darker colours sort of tell that story better ... everything is just slowly closing down and I think it makes it more oppressive. That’s the idea anyway.” (Michele Clapton, IGN Live SDCC 2016)

In season 8, the Long Night is finally upon Westeros. The situation could not be more oppressive since it is the very survival of mankind that is at stake. In that sense it is perfectly appropriate that Sansa wears a costume that is jet-black, the deepest and darkest black in the spectrum of colour. However, jet-black is a glossy colour and it is clear that Sansa’s costume reflects light. This choice is probably partly due to practical reasons so that Sansa won’t disappear in any night scenes. However, I do find the use of a glossy black that reflects light interesting because in terms of colour theory black is an achromatic colour that absorbs light.

Black is the darkest color, the result of the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, literally a color without hue, like white and gray. (Wikipedia)

In this context, using a glossy black that reflects light instead of completely absorbing it is a very interesting and suggestive choice.

LIKE CERSEI?

Many people have pointed out that Sansa’s new leather dress seem similar to Cersei’s infamous coronation gown, which is also made of black leather. 

Whenever there are similarities in style between Sansa and Cersei both the fandom and the press jump to the conclusion that Sansa is becoming Cersei 2.0 and that she’ll turn against her family (x). I find this incredibly annoying because:

Sansa’s style in the later seasons is about incorporating everything that has happened to her, which also includes the people she has learnt from - and while she has learned from them, she never adopts their ambitions or their toxic “wisdom”. 

Michele Clapton deliberately plays with the similarities and differences between the three ruling women in season 7 - a trend that I’m sure will continue in season 8 as well. 

It is a lazy argument that doesn’t take the narrative arcs of these two characters into account.

There are certain visual similarities between some of Cersei’s seasons 6 and 7 costumes and Sansa’s new season 8 costume in that they all are black, have high collars and sport textured surfaces.

There are, however, also significant differences. Let’s begin with Cersei’s coronation dress, which she debuted in the finale of season 6 where she took the Iron Throne in her own right. While April Ferry took over as costume designer for season 6, Clapton was hired to design four costumes for the season finale (two for Daenerys and two for Cersei).

Like Sansa’s new season 8 costume, Cersei’s coronation dress is made from light-weight black leather - and it has a textured surface. 

To mark the character’s triumphant milestone, the show’s Emmy-winning costume designer Michele Clapton returned to the series to create the episode’s badass costume centerpiece—a coronation gown made from lightweight Italian-cut leather (from D’Alessio Galliano) and silver and black textured brocade (from London’s Altfield). (Michele Clapton, Vanity Fair)

However, just as the similarities are important so are the differences - and there are marked differences between Cersei’s season 7 costumes and Sansa’s new season 8 gown. 

Firstly, the silhouette and construction are different. Sansa’s costume is side-laced and it doesn’t have a slit to display an underskirt like Cersei’s coronation gown. Furthermore, while Sansa’s gown evokes the leather armour of the Tullys (x), she doesn’t wear actual pieces of armour like Cersei does with her steel pauldrons.

Another significant aspect is the fact that Cersei’s season 7 costumes are made of heavier fabrics that Sansa’s new leather dress. If you look at how Sansa’s new dress drapes compared to how Cersei’s season 7 dresses drape, you can see that Sansa’s dress drapes softly in a way that indicates that the material isn’t stiff or heavy. When we look at Cersei’s costumes we see the opposite, they all drape rather stiffly - even the coronation dress because while it is made of light-weight leather, this thin material is placed over textured brocade, which is a  heavier fabric.

Cersei’s season 7 costumes are all stiff and heavy, which combined with the armour and the high and tight collars indicate that she is in a defensive position. She may be Queen but she is surrounded by enemies: “Enemies to the east, enemies to the west, enemies to the south, enemies to the north.”

So while Sansa’s black leather dress does have a superficial similarity with Cersei’s black leather coronation dress, that doesn’t mean that she’s turned into a mini Cersei because there are also significant differences.

It is, as I said, a lazy argument, especially since Sansa’s new warrior look references the traditional Tully armour far more than Cersei Lannister’s coronation dress. We should also bear in mind that Cersei debuts an entirely new look in season 8. Interestingly, Clapton says that Cersei’s season 7 look is in a sense a transitional look:

“With Cersei, at this point, she’s attained the throne and there’s a strength in her embroidery. It’s actually quite ornate and over the top and that’s a precursor in a funny way — it’s the last gasp before something else, in my sense.” (Michele Clapton, Insider)

We actually see the sartorial change in the very last episode of season 7 where Cersei attends the meeting in the Dragonpit wearing a dress that looks like finely wrought chain-mail under a black coat with a slashed pattern on the back.

For the stand-out dragonpit outfit in Episode 7 however, Clapton used a chain-mail style dress and a black molded coat, with one telling design ‒ a slashed pattern on the back of the queen’s coat. “I knew she was lying,” Clapton explains what inspired the look. “Something about the slashing and the twisting told you a lot about her character, a contradiction of the costume from the front. It’s almost like a sting in the tail, something on edge as you see her walk away: there’s something really disturbing about this woman.”  (Michele Clapton, Making Game of Thrones)

From the promotional photos and the trailer we can see that Clapton has built Cersei’s new look around this slashed pattern. @lostlittlesatellites has written a very interesting essay on this new style of Cersei’s, arguing that the slashed pattern, which Clapton calls a “stinger”, could refer to a scorpion and that it represents an aggressive stance on Cersei’s part.

If we compare Sansa’s leather dress with Cersei’s new look, we can see that there are actually not many similarities, hardly any, in fact. They both wear a chain of some sort and there’s an symbolic “armour” aspect to both costumes but that is pretty much it.

Sansa and Cersei have unfinished business and I very much hope that we’ll get a final confrontation between the two characters - but since we only have pictures of just one of Sansa’s new costumes, we’ll have to wait to see how Sansa’s and Cersei’s differences are expressed sartorially in the final season of Game of Thrones.

To be continued...