The Costumes of Game of Thrones: Designing The Middle Ages ... at the Getty Center

For my LA area locals I couldn't resist sharing this upcoming talk at the Getty Center Museum. It’s a high-brow look at the costume designs for the addictive HBO show, illustrative of its Middle Ages roots. I can’t imagine that when George R.R. Martin first started writing the books, full of lust and gore, ever thought that they’d be the subject of a museum talk but the Game of Thrones fan base spreads far and wide. The Getty Museum itself, high on the hill above Los Angeles, would make a dramatic background for some GoT action. Perhaps a tryst between Jamie and Cersei Lannister at the garden?

Costume designer Michele Clapton will be on hand to talk about the show’s “medieval aesthetic” aka how she makes Daenerys look strong & powerful but sexy too. Sorry, Emilia Clarke will not be on hand to model the filmy garb favored by the queenly Daenerys Targaryen. 

Nor will Nikolaj Coster-Waldau but for Game of Thrones diehards this sounds like a must see. Advance reservations are required and it’s a freebie so act quickly if you want in.

Emperor at Court (detail), Unknown, about 1460-70. 

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 68, fol. 14v

TALKS

Designing the Middle Ages: The Costumes of GoT

GETTY CENTER

Wednesday, May 4, 2016, at 7 pm

Harold M. Williams Auditorium

Free | Advance ticket required

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Michele Clapton, costume designer for the first five seasons of Game of Thrones, joins Deborah Landis, director of the Copley Center for Costume Design at UCLA, and Bryan C. Keene, assistant curator of manuscripts at the Getty, to discuss the series' medieval aesthetic and the visual sources for her designs.