Hi everyone, I’m Ally. Welcome to Five Thousand Years
Today’s video is a little bit different, but it’s still related to Chinese culture and clothing styles
I found a huge clue in Game of Thrones’ costume design
and according to Chinese ideology it could have foreshadowed all of the major characters’ fate in the show
If you are wondering why Chinese ideology has anything to do with a fantasy series, I’ll explain that in this video
The thing is I haven’t seen anybody talking about it before
So I want you guys to be the judge. Let me know what you think after the video
But before we begin, this video will contain major spoilers not only from Season 8, but also from the previous seasons
So if you haven’t seen the show, stop right here. Alright now let’s begin
According to the show’s costume designer Michele Clapton, even though the show itself is a fantasy work
she took inspiration for costume designs from all over the world, including
“Persians and Inuit and Mongols, Japanese, everything”
We can see the Eastern Asian elements reflected in the embroideries, metal armors
and the use of Mandarin collars, which I explained the full history in my previous video before, check it out here
I’ve also spotted a horse face skirt design on Margaery’s wedding gown with Tommen
which is influenced by the skirt style from Ming and Qing dynasties, check out my video on that skirt here
In particular, there’s this distinctive wrap dress style that was said to have been inspired by the Japanese kimono
“Cersei is more about fashion and styling. It’s like a kimono style but with a slight medieval cut.”
Cersei had many of her dresses made in this style with one side folded over another
such as the ones she wore from the early seasons and 5 out of her 6 black mourning dresses were all the same style
This night gown she wore in Season 8 with contrasting trims, especially, had clear resemblance to the clothing it was inspired by
Cersei’s daughter Myrcella of course wore the same style as her mother
We’ve also seen Sansa wearing the same style while being held hostage in King’s Landing
Margaery wore a similar style after becoming the new queen
Melisandre too had several dresses in the same wrap folding style
Even Daenerys had a similar looking dress
However, have you noticed that all of them had the outer layer folded to their left?
But if you look at any example of kimonos, it’s always ALWAYS folded to the right
So why is the direction of the fold such a big deal?
For those of you who are not familiar with East Asian history
Japanese Kimonos was basically derived from Chinese clothing during the Tang dynasty
The rule of the outer layer folded to the right also came from China
It is in fact considered to be one of the most prominent features of Chinese clothing
And because of the deep influence of Chinese culture on the neighboring countries
you can see this feature on Korean Hanbok, Japanese Kimono, and traditional clothes from Vietnam, Mongolia, and Bhutan
The reason why the left is on top of the right is rooted in the Tao School’s philosophy
According to the Tao School, the universe is composed of two matters Yin and Yang
and humans as an integral part of nature, also have Yin and Yang inside the human body
The left side is Yang, which represents positive energy and the living
and the right side is Yin, which represents negative energy and death
The same principle applies to clothes
One should always cover the Yin or dark side with the Yang or light side, and doing it otherwise indicates the person is dead
In Chinese funerals, the corpses are dressed with the Yang side covered by the Yin side like in Game of Thrones
And in ancient China, any living person wearing their clothes this way would be considered uneducated and barbaric
What’s interesting is that all the Game of Thrones costumes were consistently folded to the left
So the question is could that be intentionally foreshadowing the characters’ fate?
Now that the series has ended, let’s take a look
Cersei - dead, Myrcella - dead
Margaery - dead, Margaery’s grandma, who didn’t wear the dress but all of her outfits were folded to the left - dead
Melisandre - dead, all the court ladies and servants in King’s Landing - dead
And Dany too has died, and she was even wearing a coat folded to the left at the time of her death
The only exception is Sansa. I guess she did abandon this style of dress once she escaped from King’s Landing
and was never seen wearing it ever again, so maybe that’s why she’s able to escape from this curse
So do you think this is just a mistake overlooked by the designer or could it actually be a hint hidden in the costume design?
You know I haven’t seen anyone discussing this matter anywhere so I really want to know what’s your thoughts on this
And check out my channel if you are curious about the history of the Mandarin collar and the horse-face skirt I mentioned earlier
I’ll also link them in the description below
I’ll be making more videos about traditional Chinese culture and values, as well as Chinese fashion and history
so don’t forget to subscribe if you want to learn more
Thank you for watching. I’ll see you next time!