Asoiaf Worldbuilding - Tumblr Posts

Just copying pasting an ask warsofasoiaf got because I would looooove so much to hear your thoughts about it. World building question: you've talked about regional cuisine, but how about regional clothing styles and so on? We got a pretty good idea of how it is for the Dornish, but how about the rest, if you don't mind putting your world building hat again? I love your blog so much and all your insightful metas.

Oh thank you so much! What a fun question! @becauseforoncethisisme was also asking me about this, so I’m just gonna answer you both here, if that’s ok!

For the Targaryens in their prime, I imagine prominent collars for the men, and the open-fronted 1590s Elizabethan-style ruffs, with a large supportasse for more formal occasions, because when I think about dragons, I think about the prominent spikes around Smaug’s head or the spitting dinosaur or the bony frill on a triceratops. (GRRM himself can’t take this headcanon away from me.) 

For the North, I imagine clothing like medieval Russia, layered styles, lots of fur and wool, colorful, elaborate, lots of embroidery, much heavier looking than the tv show, hats are a must. Appearance is important but warmth is the primary concern. (Wanna see the Kingsroad through the Neck? Check out Russian swamps. Also.)

For the Riverlands, which are the heartland of Westeros, something like medieval German clothing. For the Vale, which is more isolated, something like the clothing in medieval Denmark, Norway, Finland. 

For the Westerlands, I have two words: Wearable Wealth. If you got it, bb, flaunt it. I picture this a lot like medieval England but lots of cloth of gold, lots of gemstones sewn onto the clothing, such as the rubies Cersei has sewn into the bodice of her mourning gown. Elaborate styles of both clothing and hair (updos) that require the assistance of lots of servants to help you get ready everyday. Innovative ways to waste fabric, including pleated sashes on men and pleated gowns on women. Completely useless articles of clothing like half-capes. Lots of imported textiles, like Myrish lace, silk. Velvet. Elaborately tooled and/or dyed leather. (The westerlands cattle industry is actually canon. tywin’s tooled-leather, bright golden yellow boots may not be canon, but they’re canon to me.)

For the Reach, I picture styles resembling medieval France.  Similar to the Westerlands, but adjusted for warmer and sunnier climes. (No immodest midriff cutouts like Marg on tv.) 

For the Stormlands, I think there would be some influence from Dorne, the way Eastern styles influenced the Byzantine Empire, so I would kind of go with something Byzantine for Stormlander fashion, maybe think about the styles worn by crusading knights in Jerusalem to take into account the martial / spartan culture of the Stormlands. 

What regional clothing styles do other people imagine? Feel free to reblog and add your own headcanons / worldbuilding!

Yeah I get it but still bothers me that hair is not tied up because it's so damn impractical. It flies in all directions it sticks to your lips it hinders your visual field it itches on your neck and scalp it tangles by itself in a matter of hours. And that romantic look you refer to is just simply unachieveble with the technology and techniques described in the text, i.e. bar soap, oils (in some cultures) and "brushing it until it shines". So this particular aspects furiously suspends my disbelief every time it comes up on page.

One thing I do find very interesting about how George RR Martin describes fashion in Westeros specifically is that like. He was so meticulous about historical research, and had a very clear thought process when throwing historical accuracy out the window. And so like while it seems like just sloppiness and maybe a hint of misogyny that all the women in asoiaf are described as having their hair down, shoulders bare, etc it’s pretty clear based on some of his descriptions that in his mind Westeros looks like Pre-Rafaelite paintings of the Medieval era, specifically Edmund Blair Leighton’s stuff. Which of course is a Victorian era romanticized view of the Middle Ages, but I very much think it’s in line with Martin’s writing style to contrast this beautiful, romantic looking place and these beautiful, romantic looking people with the violent and gritty realities of life

Also Tyroshi seem to be valyrian descendants like the people of the other Free Cities, so they likely have mostly light hair, which makes it easy to dye by just applying pigments (or exposing the hair to low pH substances which opens up the hair cuticles and then applying the dye, it will be able to penetrate deeper). Hair bleaching is a more modern invention, from the 20th century.

everyone always talking about the mysteries and un answered questions in A Song of Ice and Fire bringing up family lines, what lays beyond the wall, what happened were-Fuck that i want to know how did the people of Tyrosh achieve hair-dye

What are your thoughts on Northern fashion? You mentioned in an early post that it would be different depending on the location, can you elaborate on that? I also feel like the style changed soon after Catelyn married Ned, since she would bring styles from the Riverlands and Winterfell is the King's Landing of the North when it comes to fashion

Let’s goooo 🏃🏻‍♀️

Starting in the Neck, they would definitely be more like the riverlanders in terms of clothing. It’s a fairly similar wet and muggy climate. Everything is mostly made of wool and hemp and linen. Thinner clothes for the muggy summers and warmer, thicker ones for when winter comes. Leather/animal skin shoes to keep the mud off. Also whenever I imagine the Crannogmen I imagine cloaks and hoods to stay dry in the swamps. So lots of those.

To the East and a bit father to the north, that costal area around White Harbor is colder than the Neck. So theres a lot more layers, and clothing it way thicker. Also the Manderlys are dripped tf out they got that White Harbor money. Wyman has fur lined EVERYTHING his damask coats could put Cerseis to shame. Wylla and Wynafred pull up to the Sept with lace and silk and jewels eating all the other bitches up. Also since they follow the Faith and are originally southern, this area probably follows more southern customs (fabrics, headpieces, etc)

And we finally make it to winterfell 🤸🏻‍♀️At this point everyone’s freezing their tits off, so fur lined everything. Indoors, I think they can wear lighter stuff bc of those hot springs. Even in the spring months, you can catch Cat wearing at least one shift, underdress, overdress, AND a jacket bc I feel like she never acclimated to the cold. Lots of leather and wool for everyday wear, but when Ned throws a feast or something they get to wear more fur and velvet (even Jon gets to wear a nice velvet surcoat, as a treat). Since the Starks are bordering on ascetic sometimes, there isn’t a ton of ornamentation, but Sansa likes to wear southern-ish styles as much as she can, so you can frequently find her wearing clothes from white harbor (aka I want to see Sansa in a kokoshnik)

And then even farther north we start to see Bolton and Umber territory. The conditions are even more brutal than at Winterfell and they don’t even have hot springs :/ like Sansa and Arya could probably get away with not having to cover their ears during warmer days, but the girls of last hearth and the dreadfort have no warm days. At this point clothing becomes a bit bulky and harder to move around in. Dresses are lined stiffly and almost drag the floor, and everyone is always bundled up to the neck. However materials and fabrics are cohesive and nice atp.

And by the time we nearly reach the wall, conditions are almost unbearable during the winter. Even during spring, all the villagers in the gift are wearing at least four layers (bc I hate hate hate how the show made the people at and around the wall just chill in a thin jacket when they were near a gargantuan frozen block of ice). Clothing is a lot less structured here, resources are getting sparse so most people stitch together a patchwork of whatever furs they can get their hands on. You will rarely see a person without a big hood or thick gloves on. And even though they aren’t wildlings, you can probably see a lot of animal head hoods, bc these people do NOT waste any part of the animal