How costumes on Game of Thrones have evolved with its female characters

It is an indisputable fact that there's nothing coincidental on Game of Thrones. The fantasy behemoth has outpaced its source material—George RR Martin's series, A Song of Ice and Fire—to become a living, breathing entity that consumes all attention come Sunday. And through the seasons, the trials and tribulations of the political machinations remain perfectly documented in the wardrobes of the show's key players. Flowy regalia is abruptly replaced with military-inspired utilitarian uniforms to signal the death of innocence and levity as characters are compelled to grow up overnight. From the recurring house insignia stamped into the accessories to the choice of fabrics, the costumes serve as a narrative time capsule of their own, epitomising the circumstances that the characters once faced and the people they once were. From the aristocratic gold down South to the foreboding greys of the North to the azure finery of Essos, Vogue traces some of the most transformative fashion evolutions through the last eight seasons of Game of Thrones.

Daenerys Targaryen

The journey of the mighty warrior queen starts in the season one premiere, where Daenerys is introduced as a vulnerable pawn in her brother's dastardly attempts at ascension to power. Firmly under his thumb, she is relegated to wispy silk dresses, with a particularly diaphanous number reserved for her viewing party, as it were, with Khal Drogo. Having been traded to the warlord in exchange for an army, she dons an empire-waist wedding dress with a flowy silhouette that marks the impending end of her innocence.

Slowly growing into her role as the Khaleesi of her tribe, she trades in her flimsy numbers in favour of more durable garb suited to the nomadic lifestyle of her clan. Animal skin starts featuring prominently in her on-the-go wardrobe, along with a scaled top that served as an early foreshadowing of her future as the dragon queen.

When her husband is rendered comatose due to the machinations of a witch, Daenerys dons her wedding dress one last time as she jumps into the pyre with her fossilised dragon eggs. What follows is one of the show's most iconic imagery: a young silver-haired girl literally rising from the ashes in nary a stitch. Her accessory of choice? Three newborn dragons.

Her brief spell in Qarth heralds in one of the more flamboyant phases of her wardrobe, as she adopts the soft romanticism of the local fashion with feminine dresses, outfitted with leather armour-inspired neckpieces and trousers underneath. Costume designer Michele Clapton, who has been with the show almost entirely through its eight-season run, rationalised in an interview with Fashionista, “In her psyche, anything might go wrong and [she's like], ‘I might need to run away...'”

As Daenerys assumes her newfound role as a conqueror and liberator in Astapor and Slaver's Bay, a deeply saturated hue of azure blue serves as her signature. “I like to put blues on her because they're a reference back to Khal Drogo and the Dothraki, because blue was their special colour. We decided [in season one] that it was a rare natural pigment available to them in their region, so it's sort of her weird tribute to him,” Clapton told Fashionista. Having long shown an affinity for the local culture, various iterations of Missandei's metal collar start showing up in her wardrobe at this point, as a mark of respect for the people she's liberating.

With a burgeoning army of soldiers and masses of people hailing her as ‘Mhysa' (mother), the sense of control enables Daenerys to take some time out from shouldering the burdens of the world to rediscover her femininity. A quick romp between the sheets with Daario Naharis has her opting for one of her boldest looks yet on the show: a risque cut-out gown that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Rihanna music video.

Hitting pause on her quest for the famed Iron Throne, Daenerys settles into her role as a ruler in Meereen and could be spotted prowling the dusty hallways of the Great Pyramid in season five in halter neck gowns with accordion-pleated skirts. The bloodthirsty opposition from the local insurgency, Sons of the Harpy, only serves to further cement her conviction as an angelic saviour of the people—expressed clearly in her chosen colour palette of dove greys, delicate ivory and pale creams.

This era also witnessed the rise of Targaryen symbolism in her wardrobe, and dragon-inspired motifs started pulling in regular cameos in her jewellery kit, from dragon claw pendant to intricate neckpieces woven into her dresses.

Having narrowly escaped death at the fighting pits, the warrior queen hops onto Drogon's spiked back and becomes one of the first dragon riders of the century, but her road trip is cut abruptly short with the arrival of the unforgiving Dothraki. Reaching back into her memory banks, she pulls out another one of her fireproof OOTDs to awe the tribes into submission.

With the might of the Dothraki fighters at her fingertips, she storms back into Meereen to reclaim the city from the slave masters with some significant throwbacks to her Khaleesi days in khaki leather and layered militaria armour. Bolstered by the significant additions to her military firepower and having patched up with the errant Drogon, Daenerys makes good on her promise to take what is hers with fire and blood as she sets sail for Westeros.

Landing on the banks of her birth home, Dragonstone, she reinforces her status as a political adversary with a switch to darker colours, military tailoring, that iconic crossbody chain featuring a three-headed dragon motif, and a scaly red cape as a nod to her Targaryen heritage. “I liked that she's wearing everything she can to show her status, but she can't wear the crown because it'd be wearing it before it was due. You can see in the way she is dressing that she's almost assuming the power but not quite... The width of the shoulders and the chain give her strength,” the Emmy Award-winning costume designer said in an interview with Insider.

The advent of Jon Snow's contingent from the North and his particular brand of far-fetched heroism has her heading beyond the Wall in response to an SOS raven. Time is of essence as her men are being popsicled alive on a frozen lake, and the dragon queen quickly reaches into her bottomless wardrobe for a white fur-striped dress for the rescue ops. While the stark change in colour is symbolic of her altruism in risking her life to save others, Clapton believes that the angelic hue was chosen for a greater purpose.

“I felt like this was her dressing to rescue someone because she felt for them, rather than as a move to acquire more power. It was a romantic coat; she was like a descending angel. It was nothing to do with her personal gain. And it was very practical, because she's riding a dragon,” she explained in an interview.

The furry coat dresses continue to pull in major face time in the wintry climes of the North in season eight, subtly accentuated by red trimmings and gloves that many have theorised as a literal representation of ‘blood on her hands'. The victory feast at Winterfell after the downfall of the Night King marks another landmark moment as she opts for an all-red gown in wholehearted acceptance of her family heritage, before switching to another militaristic number for her Mad Queen rampage in King's Landing.

Sansa Stark

Sansa's transformation from a naive Northern girl with a head full of dreams to battle-hardened politico makes for one of the show's more victorious arcs. Unaware of the tribulations that await her, she embarks on her journey in season one in classic Northern hues of blues and wintery greys, highlighted by knotted ruffles at the neck.

After migrating to the South, where she is betrothed to the bratty young Joffrey Baratheon, she is unsurprisingly taken in by the glamour of Queen Regent, Cersei Lannister, and attempts to impress her by mirroring the local tradition of low necklines and gravity-defying updos.

With her father beheaded at the Sept of Baelor and her world thrown into disorder, Sansa finds herself as a hostage of the Lannisters and attempts to subvert the abuse that is meted out to her by opting for darker garb in a bid to become invisible. Thicker silhouettes and sweeping sleeves aid her attempt to disappear into the grimy wallpaper of the Throne Room at King's Landing.

In the wake of piling family tragedies, she finds relief in the dark hues of purple that serve as her own special blend of her heritage blues with the reds that her role in King's Landing commands. Having adopted a strategy of passive compliance for survival in the hostile web of the Lannisters, the delicate dragonfly pendant at her neck, nevertheless, symbolises the dreams of the girl that she once was.

With the advent of Margaery Tyrell, Sansa gets to heave a sigh of relief as her engagement with King Joffrey is broken off. However, her short-lived euphoria ends when she finds herself ordered to wed Tyrion Lannister. With little say in the matter, she embraces her circumstances and chooses to walk down the altar at the Sept of Baelor in a heavily embellished dress dripping with Lannister imagery—lion motifs headline the golden colour palette.

After having finally escaped the clutches of the Lannisters, she finds brief reprieve in the Eyrie where she flies under the radar with Peter Baelish in all-black clothing. This change in colour serves as a foreshadowing, as she eventually finds herself conspiring with Littlefinger for her survival. This emergence of a newer, stronger Sansa is punctuated with her striking black crow dress, accessorised with protruding winged feathers on the shoulders.

Deposited on the doors of Winterfell, where she is to wed Ramsay Bolton, she struggles to retain her identity by putting her skills as a seamstress to use, and produces her signature needle chain that becomes a permanent fixture in her wardrobe. “She's always used a needle to explain what's going on. Sansa has an epiphany when she wears the black crow dress. From that point onward, although she's still a victim in many ways, in her head she's not a victim anymore,” Clapton stated in an interview with Vox.

Walking down the aisle to the altar, her wedding dress marks a significant departure from her first marriage—the pristine white dress serves as a symbolic interpretation of her innocence, while the heavy fur shawl and Tully-inspired fish clasps give a nod to her family's legacy. “When she wears that dress, she doesn't yet know how terrible that marriage will be, but there's this great homage to her parents, who she didn't really appreciate at the time—a ghostly reminder of Ned Stark with the fur cape and Catelyn with the clasp in the front,” she added.

After suffering abuse at the hands of Ramsay Bolton, she channels her last reserves to escape in a hooded cape reminiscent of her mother, the Stark family matriarch. Narrowly escaping to her brother's protection at the Wall, she begins plotting vengeance and takes back her family home in the Battle of the Bastards in a black gown with blatant direwolf-inspired embroidery. “This is her taking back control of her body. I designed it to wrap around over her side-laced dress to represent the absolute removal of any possible physical touch. Her dresses are also tightly laced on, incredibly difficult to remove,” Clapton explained to HBO.

Newly installed in Winterfell but wary nonetheless of the enemies outside and within the walls, she opts for battle-ready silhouettes with black fur trimmings. But on the eve of the final stand-off against the Night King, Sansa dons herself in black leather armour that remains symbolic of the upcoming bloodshed, as well as a statement of her distrust towards Queen Daenerys. “People wear armour in times of danger and I wanted her costume to reflect what's going on around her,” the designer told Vogue. “Daenerys is in Winterfell and it's obvious that she and Sansa don't get along particularly well, so it's partly Sansa reacting to that. But I also wanted to show that she's a warrior in her own right. I wanted [the outfit] to evoke strength.”

Cersei Lannister

Love her or hate her, it is impossible to ignore Cersei Lannister and her diabolical machinations for power. While Sansa's sartorial choices are modelled after the reigning influences in her life, Cersei instead chooses to make a statement about her family's superiority over those around her with her wardrobe choices. As the wife of the boorish King Robert, she spends season one in varying kimono gowns featuring a merry riot of colours, before eventually adopting more courtly silhouettes once her son, Joffrey, is coronated as king following the death of her husband.

The signature Lannister colours of red and gold slowly gain supremacy in her wardrobe as she opts for heavy drapes of richly patterned fabrics and sweeping cape sleeves, cinched at the waist with metallic belts and armoured corsets. With her to-do list monopolised by trading barbs with the Small Council and taking Margaery down a peg, she opts for ultra-feminine funnel neck gowns, served in rich jewel tones and signature Southern updos.

Her house sigil continues to play a starring role in her accessories kit, with the lion motif showing up regularly on necklaces, belts and ornamental epaulets. The occasion of Joffrey's wedding has her debuting a statement lion-studded necklace that she continues to wear in the wake of her father's funeral and at Tommen's subsequent coronation, using it as symbol of her power even in her darkest times. “When she's feeling insecure, like with Margaery for instance, she wears these big, clunky gold pieces to show that she's a Lannister and important and has status,” Clapton told Vulture.

Needless to say, the worst was yet to come. After being imprisoned by the High Septon and humiliated on the streets, she emerges stronger from the Walk of Shame. Her lustrous mane, that she long considered as a symbol of her femininity, is shorn off and she makes no attempt to grow it back. After blowing up the Sept of Baelor in retaliation, she observes the carnage in a black military-inspired gown accessorised with her signature wine glass.

With a skinnier version of the original crown, Cersei's reincarnation is complete as she embraces her new militaria side with the same black quilted fabrics that her father, Tywin, once favoured. High turtlenecks become her go-tos, and she debuts a chainmail-esque gown layered with a black coat for the Dragonpit meeting as a means to impress her supremacy upon all the warring factions.

“The crown shows the Lannister lionhead, but it is pared down to just a few strokes. Now that she is queen, she no longer needs to use her sexuality as power. She wears black because she's mourning her children, but the fabric of that coronation costume is similar to one her father used to wear. That look was an homage to him, but also defying him because he didn't think women should be on the throne,” the designer explained to Vogue.

The last season of the show observes her in the highest echelons of her power, which inspires a return to her house colours of red and gold with an embellished red gown that she notably wore to Missandei's execution—the high vantage point on the ramparts of King's Landing showcasing her sartorial savvy to the masses on either side of the wall. “There's something twisted and reptilian about that metalwork that makes her look untrustworthy. This season, there's less pattern and more studding on her dresses to show that she's protecting herself and feeling more threatened. I also wanted to get those deep Lannister reds back in. She's still in mourning, but the red is slowly coming to the surface,” she added. The queen finally breathes her last in the penultimate episode of the series, enveloped by her twin brother, Jaime, and the reds and golds of her prized heritage as the castle descends into dust.

Keep on top of all that's happening on Game of Thrones season 8 here

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