Just in time for the new season of Game of Thrones, we took on our favourite fandom yet again, to create a few everyday outfits for our beloved characters. Our Week of Thrones back in July 2013 was the first photo shoot we ever had, and we only shot five characters. Our interpretations of Danaerys Targaryen, Cersei Lannister, Jon Snow, Arya Stark and Ygritte were already quite cool and we had a lot of fun that day, but we knew that we wanted to revisit the fandom in the future. For our first anniversary, we shot a new character for each fandom of the past year and as we shot a modern gothic look for Melisandre, we noticed how many other character we could have done, that were still not covered.
As our anticipation for season 5 grew, we knew it was time for us to take on this grandiose task again. Spring was right around the corner and luckily for us, the weather was on our side and we managed to shoot outdoors again.
The shooting was right after a re-conceptualization meeting, where we decided to reduce the number of character we shoot per day, in order to pay more attention to details, so we narrowed our list of character down to a mere five who we thought were too important and/or interesting not to be photographed, and saved the others for a third round.
For our Weeks of Westeros we invited two lovely guest-hipsters to portray two westerosi ladies: Sabrina, whom we met at a Harry Potter Meet-up in 2013, had the perfect innocence and of course beautiful ginger hair for Sansa Stark, and for the equally important and gorgeous Margaery Tyrell, L asked her friend Patricia to join us, because of her beautiful brown locks, stern pride and joyous smile.
When we met at Ys flat, we put our outfits on clothes rails, created one big makeup station and started discussing the looks for everyone. In addition to the looks of our guest-hipsters, G portrayed Petyr ‘Littlefinger’ Baelish, L interpreted Brienne of Tarth and Y slipped into the role of Master of Whispers Varys. When all outfits, hairdos and makeups were decided, we started working on all the characters at once.
Brienne of Tarth, the beauty of the Sapphire Islands, wears a strong, androgynous look, consisting of durable denim shorts, a matching button down shirt and a brown pullover, resembling a leather doublet. High leather boots and simple accessories in gold, as well as a soft bronze-brown nail polish round off the look, while L’s long hair is tucked into a stylish updo, that creates a fake short haircut. The makeup is just as simple: light white, grey and brown hues on the lids, modulate her big grey eyes, while a strong, berry-colored lip reminds us of the blood of her enemies.
For Sansa Stark’s look, we had a lot of different outfits to draw inspiration from, but lastly we decided on her iconic wedding dress for a spring time semi-formal look ready for any family gathering or business meeting. An off-white lace dress is covered by a beige oversized blazer, to take off the formality without losing the elegance. The look is completed with purple accessories, to add one of Sansa’s signature colors. A vintage brooch on the lapel and a long beaded necklace, as well as bold ballerinas (that could just as easily be replaced by heels) bring a splash of color, while the neutral grey-violet nails pull the outfit together. The makeup is very simple and modest, with light whites and soft pink and purple eyeshadow and soft pinkish lips. The hair is half pinned up with twisted strands on the side and around the feathered bun, to simulate one of the complex hairdos of Westeros’ noblesse.
One of the most discussed outfits was the grey on grey look of Petyr ‘Littlefinger’ Baelish. He is usually very formal, but he also blends into any situation with his conservative outfits. We wanted the outfit to represent both of these aspects, and decided on a combination of an elegant lace shirt, well-fitting high-waist jeans and a simple loose cardigan, all in different shades of grey. To accessorize the simple outfit, we chose a vintage looking set of ring and earrings and a delicate brooch with a bird, to represent his mockingbird clip. In addition, simple black Chelsea boots and matte silver nail polish round off the look. A sleek, parted hairdo reminds us of his slick coif, while a grey smokey-eye combined with nude lips and a crooked smirk perfectly sum up his nature.
Margaery Tyrell, the Queen of Westeros, is feminine and sexy, yet strong and stylish. In the spirit of the first warm rays of sunshine, we decided on a short, summery dress combined with a flowery denim blouse in a turquoise-blue color scheme, reminiscent of House Tyrell’s representation in the ongoing series. We combined the outfit with a turquoise and silver statement necklace and rivet earrings, a brown leather purse with a rose brooch attached to it and light beige flower sandals, to let Margaery walk on roses everywhere she goes. Metallic blue nail polish and soft white and blue eyeshadow, as well as soft coral lipstick round of the feminine look, that is completed through a complex-looking hairdo, with two braided strands on each side, with the ends pinned into a delicate Tyrell-rose.
Another rather complicated look was that of Varys, the Master of Whispers. He usually wears yellow or sand-colored kimonos, so to put his style into a wearable outfit was quite a piece of work. First of all, it is always hard to find enough clothes that are big enough for Y’s body, but to have them flowy and loose-fitting is even harder. Add the light color scheme to it and things get really tricky. Luckily we were able to dress down a bright yellow summer dress with a patterned croptop, a rusty red blouse and a beige wool cardigan. The flowy silhouette is dawn together by the belt of the cardigan, in order to define the feminine curves. The accessories are both statement pieces, with a mystical flask hanging around the neck and a big sparkly spider net and its inhabitant on the back of one of the hands. Rounded off with sand colored sandals and soft gold nail polish, the look stays classy and doesn’t feel overloaded. Instead of a bald cap, we opted for a timeless asymmetric blow-wave, that is both classy and flashy. The eyeshadow is held in gold and brown hues, while the lips are dark-rimmed and filled in with blood-red lipstick, to simulate something that a female version of Varys would wear.
For more information on the individual looks, our creative process and the products we used on set, you can visit our main blog, watch our YouTube lookbooks or contact us for any questions you might have. We always enjoy chatting with our readers and are happy to talk about our work.
