Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) may have died too soon in Game of Thrones – but thanks to the costumes, she was actually around far longer than most fans think. The matriarch of the Stark clan was killed off back in season 3, in ‘The Rains of Castamere’… aka The Red Wedding. Brutally murdered, it seemed that this was the end of Catelyn – despite many series fans eagerly awaiting her return as the undead-ish Lady Stoneheart (which is what happens in the series). Disappointment that there was no return for Catelyn Stark may be balanced a little, though, once fans realize that the rest of the Starks paid homage to her in their costumes for seasons after her death.
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In the companion book Game of Thrones: The Costumes, costume designer Michele Clapton (along with writer Gina McIntyre), explain how each of the Starks (and even Littlefinger) wore elements that paid tribute to Catelyn and her house throughout the series. While this may not make up for the loss of Lady Stoneheart, it is the kind of detail that shows how much care went into the costumes – and how there are still things to discover about the series, even after its end.
As explained in the book, almost every Stark included a Tully reference in their costuming. Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) has multiple Tully fish in her outfits, although some of the most noticeable are in her wedding gowns. When she married Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) in season 3 (technically before Catelyn’s death), her embroidered girdle featured the Stark direwolves as well as Tully fish. Later, her wedding gown for her marriage to Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) in season 5 is closed with Tully fish clasps. Even in season 7 and 8, when Sansa became Dark Sansa, the pattern of her gown was designed to be reminiscent of swimming fish, and her coronation gown includes fish embroidery- a reference to Catelyn and the Tullys, again.
Sansa is far from the only character who also wears something as a mark of respect for Catelyn. Robb’s (Richard Madden) direwolf clasps on his cloak are intended to mirror the way that Catelyn wore fish clasps on hers. Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) also wears the Tully fish as a clasp, in the earlier seasons of the show. Even Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen), for many seasons, includes a small splash of blue in his costumes to pay homage to the woman that he ‘loves’, usually in the ends of the sleeves or his coat linings.
In fact, what may be most interesting is that of all the Stark costumes and Tully references in Game of Thrones: The Costumes, Arya (Maisie Williams) is the only Stark who does not have any Tully details in her clothes (Rickon’s costumes are not included in the book). Of course, part of this is motivated by practicality – for the early seasons, Arya is on the run in boy’s clothes, then at the House of Black and White, she is dressed in their robes, designed to strip her of identity and make her ‘no one’. And while Bran’s transformation into the Three-Eyed Raven (and King) explains why he dropped any house sigils by the end of the show, the conscious decision to put Arya back in House Stark-inspired clothing without a Tully reference is telling; Arya clearly still rejected the house of her mother, even while Sansa embraced it more as she grew.
Of course, this is only a small part of the details that are covered in the book, from global influences on costumes to early concept sketches of crowns, cloaks, and armor. The book covers the costume development for every major Game of Thrones character, revealing how much thought and care went into each one (and how realism and comfort were combined for the actor’s sake). For Catelyn alone, it’s nice to see how the Stark matriarch was never far from her children’s thoughts… at least, never far from Sansa’s.
‘Game of Thrones: The Costumes’ is available from Insight Editions/HBO, as part of a four-book series.
