Cersei's Costumes Decoded | A Breakdown of 'Game of Thrones' Wardrobe

Reams of information browsed, countless pictures collected, and a month-long endeavor, all add up to this critical analysis of how the costumes of characters reflect their personas. I have selected 150 looks for a total of 13 characters in Game of Thrones (referred to as GoT below). To avoid an article as lengthy as 'bottomless' to read, it has been segmented into a series.

Throughout the series, a character may wear the same costume multiple times, but only one appearance will be chosen for analysis. To make it easy to follow, the article will be organized in chronological order based on the appearance of each costume in the series.…

Let's now embark on the journey.

A first lady/queen represents the image of their country and how they dress is more than just a personal preference. Cersei is certainly no exception. Although in GoT there is almost no direct description of her interest in fashion, it can be inferred from others' comments about her, like "She is a sleek bit of mink."

Though alluded to in medieval Europe, the story of GoT takes place in a fictional world. The costumes do not need to conform to history, allowing for free creation by costume designer Michelle Clapton.

The long-sleeved robe below is the outcome of the designer's freestyle: the wrap-around front draws on Japanese kimonos, and the silhouette of the clothes refers to the medieval bliaut (shown as left).

Dresses of similar style will appear countless times later in the series. I would like to label them as "King's Landing Style".

In front of King Robert, Cersei is in a weak position, so she usually dresses in a simple and elegant style.

The bluish-green robe is one of Cersei's most beautiful dresses in the early seasons. The bird embroidery on it has a metaphor for a "caged bird". Cersei wears it when she is vulnerable and helpless, such as being abused by the king, learning that Jaime has been captured, and sending off her daughter far away to marry.

In the original book, Cersei's fondness for green was emphasized to complement her green eyes. In the first season, during her visit to Winterfell, she once wore this robe paired with a beautiful dark green shawl. The actress who portrayed Cersei, Lena Headey, looked particularly stunning in green, but it is a pity that her character did not wear the color very often in GoT.

The bird embroidery was inspired by the Chinese embroideries in the V&A museum.

Successfully killing the king, Cersei's power grew overnight, and her style quickly changed along with it: her cloak became even more luxurious and magnificent and her hair taller and more elaborate

As Cersei's power grew, she showed up more and more in the red and gold color of Lannister. Delicate birds on embroideries were gradually replaced by the lion on the family crest.

As the Battle of Blackwater raged on, Cersei became paranoid and defensive, often seen in breastplates to protect herself.

Named "cone dress" by Michele Clapton, the dress with the wide collar shown in the above picture is likely to draw inspiration from Alexander McQueen, which features a funnel-shaped neckline throughout his career.

This collar style, often referred to as the "McQueen collar", is a signature of a majestic queen, and it has been referenced in other productions. In "Narnia", Tilda Swinton wore a similar collar as the Snow Queen, which is almost identical to the runway design.

Whenever Cersei felt insecure or inferior, especially in the presence of Rose, she would wear a cone dress and large necklaces to conceal her inner insecurities.

Lannister lion embroidery is a demonstration of money and power.

Let's take a closer look at Cersei's jewelry three necklaces she often wears:

The simple design is likely to do with the crew designer. She stated many times that she was not good at designing jewelry. (But she did a lot of beautiful jewelry for other characters...anyway). By the way, I have another boring discovery: there isn't even a single pair of earrings in the whole series.

Left: three embossed metal pieces; middle: a choker with a lion relief; right: a family pendant.

They are all made of metal (silver and gold-plated), without any additional embellishment such as a gemstone.

Later comes Joffrey's sudden death, followed by that of a few other family members. Cersei has since been wearing mourning attire for quite a long (Worth mentioning, she never did it for King Robert).

6 pieces of mourning clothes, all black and gold, as gorgeous as luxurious.

Mourning dress No.1: dark pattern fabric with embroidered skull beads on the shoulder.

Mourning dress No.2: Half of the lion's face on the shoulder is a skeleton.

Mourning dress No.3: Black velvet dress with stagger patterns, in memory of Joffery who had an identical one in dark blue.

In Season 2, the tailor prepared new clothes for Joffrey, but the latter rejected them for the floral and plant pattern and instead chose a red velvet jacket with a dagger pattern. The same pattern is also seen on his shroud.

Mourning dress No.4: dagger-patterned lines.

Mourning dress No.5: Delicate floral motif set against a light gold background.

Mourning dress No.6: At Tywin's funeral, she wore a cone dress which we have not seen for a long time.

After two seasons of mourning, Cersei took off the black and put on the original clothes to pick up Myrcella at the beginning of Season 6, only to be greeted by her daughter's cold corpse.

Cersei had to put on a mourning dress again. Here's a close-up of the frayed mourning dress, implying that Cersei has been in mourning for too long.

Since then, Cersei had only worn black to mourn her family, which implies her dead heart. She started to wear the queen uniform, abandon the Lannister gold, and stand at the pinnacle of power.

The first all-black look Cersei wears when destroying the Sept of Baelor features epaulets and hanging inspired by the military uniform. The dress is shortened not to drag the floor. Everything serves Cersei's sharp and tough new image.

The second is also a military-inspired style. The silhouette is similar to the first one, except longer.

Lannister lions appear on the shoulder armor and behind the neck.

The design of the new crown is a perfect amalgamation of the lion and the Iron Throne. At the center of the crown is an abstract lion's head with a mane resembling the outline of the Iron Throne.

The crown was made by Steensons, a jewelry workshop in Belfast.

Cersei liked to think of herself as female Lord Tywin, so she wore a hole-eyed leather jacket that copied her father.

The leather is supplied by D'Alessio Galliano in Italy.

The third is a greyscale look. As the name suggests, she looks like a greyscale patient...

The fourth is a thorny revenge look.

The bottom half looks like a poorly cut Stéphane Rolland or Dior (Galliano-era)

The fifth look is a dress with three dress codes. The original look of the dress is shown on the far right below, and the two shoulder replacements are in the middle and left.

The middle one obviously incorporates armor elements, with extremely intricate embroidery to enrich the details, resulting in a heroic and gorgeous look. I like this one best among all of Cersei's looks after she became queen.

Not a single detail has been overlooked in the design.

The costume she wore at the negotiations in Episode 7 Season 7 is more of a sci-fi futuristic style than a historical one.

The neckline and shoulder silhouette is as high as 90% similar to Balenciaga's flower armor, the classic series of Nicolas Ghesquière's tenure. However, the silver-gray dress inside seemed rushed out of work, and the edges of the skirt were not smooth. We can even see the shriveled hem.

The scene below is where Cersei lies to the Dragon Mother team.

So the designer embodied Cersei's duplicitous nature in the costume: when Cersei turned around, a "spine" appeared from behind!

It's a pity that the actor has a hunchback. Otherwise, the effect could be perfect.

The spinal coat is easy to take off. The fabric of the dress beneath mimics the texture of chain mail, and the decoration below the neck is still a three-dimensional embroidered lion head.

Total number of Cersei looks: 27+

Costumes not mentioned in this article ▼

If you are interested in the serie of the deep analysis of the female costumes in “Game of Thrones”, more links are attached below, hope you enjoy them.