Fashion is Coming: Examining the costumes of “The Last of the Starks”

Daenerys’ red and black dress

Daenerys changes clothes multiple times during “The Last of the Starks,” but the dress she wears to the feast held in honor of Winterfell’s victory is one of her more noteworthy pieces. The outfit is red and black, Targaryen colors. It makes sense that Daenerys would wear her house colors to celebrate, especially since her next endeavor will be to lead the Northerners to King’s Landing—to fight for her as their queen. Sadly, it becomes clear during the festivities that most of them still view Jon as their true leader. No amount of Targaryen subliminal messaging is likely to change that.

The darker red and black Daenerys wears also show that she’s trying to fit in better with the Northerners. Although the colors still make her stand apart, they’re not nearly as attention-drawing as the bright white coats she wears for the first half of the season (and that she will wear again a little later). For most of this season, her advisors and companions have done their best to blend in with the North through their clothing, but we pointed out earlier that Daenerys has done the opposite. Here, it seems like she might be starting to blend in, if only slightly.

Apart from the colors, the most significant thing about Daenerys’ feast dress is that it draws some subtle parallels between her and Cersei. While Cersei’s dress in the episode is a bit different in style—the Lannister queen certainly seems to favor garnishings more than the Targaryen one—the two dresses resemble one another in color. It’s hard to say whether they’re the same exact color, given that we only see Daenerys in darker lighting, but both look wine red during the episode. This similarity might be intentionally drawing attention to the growing similarities between the two women. Daenerys seems to be becoming more and more like Cersei in the process of defeating her, and the fashion reflects that.