Westeros

The 'A Song of Ice and Fire' Domain

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This may be one of the more controversial designs depicted in this video, although we have to say it is quite beautiful. This design for a gown for Queen Cersei is described by Clapton as being inspired in part by Japanese origami, and that it’s basically a sort of kimono with a slightly “medieval” cut. The creative decision has been made by the production to differentiate regions from one another with clothing in a fashion rather more extreme than what Martin has shown in the series. So far, the primary differences we can note between regions is that the North tends to make use of fur and more muted, earthy hues while the westerlands have some distinct influences from Asian fashion.

Bearing in mind that the history of the real Middle Ages features great variations in fashion from region to region, the size of the Seven Kingdoms and its extremely long history as a place which was unified only in the last 300 years (after, literally, thousands of years of separate realms) might support the idea that each region could have a much more distinct aesthetic (not just for fashion, but architecture, art, and other such areas) than what Martin has chosen to show. For our part, we would have preferred to see inspiration drawn from areas more connected to medieval Europe—including, perhaps, more “exotic” areas such as Byzantium, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and Russia—so as to at least carry a sense of a very broadly related cultural aesthetic. We’re not sure how successfully a “kimono with a slightly medieval cut” will fit as being an example of design descending from the same root source cultural aesthetic.

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