Game of Thrones season 7: The fashion of “The Queen’s Justice”

Game of Thrones has a lot of its characters wearing black in “The Queen’s Justice.” Let’s break down why that’s happening.

Note: Spoilers ahead, obviously, for the July 30 episode of Game of Thrones, “The Queen’s Justice.”

Thanks to the episode title, it seems pretty fair to focus on the two queens — Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen — as well as a more metaphorical queen in the form of Olenna Tyrell. All three of them have things in common, but all three of them also have some distinctions as well.

Let’s begin in King’s Landing, shall we?

(LEFT TO RIGHT) Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Mountain, Lena Headey as Cersei

Lannister, and Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand – Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO

Unfortunately, this shot doesn’t have a great look at the front of Cersei’s outfit, but suffice it to say that it’s extremely ornate. One wouldn’t be remiss in saying that she has the fanciest dress of the three queens we’ll be talking about today.

And why is that? In a very real sense, Cersei has to put on a show in “The Queen’s Justice.” First it’s to everyone in her throne room — that brief speech about “the sons and daughters of Westeros” is a nice bit of political theater, isn’t it?

She’s wearing the same dress here, where she poisons Tyene Sand and leaves Ellaria Sand to watch her daughter die. This isn’t as much of a show in that it’s really not witnessed by her subjects aside from Qyburn, who’s loyal, and the Mountain, who really can’t talk anyway. This performance of vengeance is all for herself, and the only reason we use the word performance is because of the elaborate way she talks through how she’s going to make Ellaria suffer rather than kill her outright. There’s no denying she actually wants to do what she ends up doing, but she has to make it a little theatrical first.

Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister. Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO

In the context of Cersei, she has ties to both men pictured here, but they’re more obvious when it comes to Euron, simply because they’re both completely in black. But the strong shoulders and high collar of Cersei’s gown also ties her to Jaime, albeit a bit more subtly. (He’s wearing black too, but your eye is drawn first to the non-black parts of his armor.)

Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington (Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO)

Let’s move on to our second queen, Daenerys. Take a look for a second at just how similar these two are. Although they disagree (though we think they’ll soon agree to disagree), they’re both Targaryens, even if neither of them quite knows that yet, and they have some visual similarities.

Yes, Jon Snow is not wearing a cape, but the armor still draws attention to his back, neck, and shoulders, similar to how her cape is draped. It’s hard not to read some armor-like qualities in Daenerys’ dress as well. Even their hairstyles have some basic similarities in that they both have buns and then the rest of their hair is free. It’s just more elaborate with Daenerys because, well, she’s more elaborate in general anyway.

Diana Rigg as Olenna Tyrell – Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO

Olenna’s presumably old-fashioned headdress is so visually distinct that viewers know exactly whom Jaime Lannister is bringing an army to greet, even if we don’t immediately see her face.

In my predictions for episode 4, I joked about how talking about Olenna was “part of my grieving process.” That idea of grief became central to her character as soon as Margaery, Mace, and Loras Tyrell died in the Sept of Baelor. Even if she didn’t like her son much, he was still her son and still a Tyrell, and she cared deeply for Margaery.

But here, when she has lost absolutely everything, including Highgarden, her dark clothes take on a new meaning. Even her words to Jaime have a elegiac quality about them, particularly when she speaks about how she, too, contributed to Cersei’s rise or when she asks Jaime for details on her coming death (which she does twice). This is an old woman already mourning the loss of her family, but here, in a way, she’s mourning the passing of an age where she had more than enough “imagination” to counter whatever came her way, to quote her, and she’s effectively mourning her own death, too, in her own wry way.

The subtle pop of the golden roses, however, remind us that she is a Tyrell and, as our recapper reminds us, the Queen of Thorns.

Next: GoT season 7: 5 predictions for episode 4

Which outfits stood out to you on this week’s episode of Game of Thrones?