Armor advice needed for ASOIAF (Game of Thrones) original cosplay!

[Steph]

Hey guys!

I'm currently working on my first cosplay, and it's an original design of a book character from A Song of Ice and Fire. I'm kind of in a rut though. I'm making a cuirass, which, for my character's purpose, will be used in "casual combat" (as in not in war, but more for... casual protection). I know that a chainmail is probably more accurate then, but I wanted to make the armor as very house representative (Stark) at the same time, so I'm going for a decorated cuirass and decorated vambraces. My issue here is about what to wear underneath. I was thinking of an armor doublet, since I don't want anything too warm, but then I was looking around at screenshots and stopped at Jaime's Kingsguard armor. It seems to be a multi-layered linen jumpsuit kind of thing? I'd preferrably make it into more of a doublet shape, but it's the material and its accuracy that I'm worried about. If anyone has more info and tips regarding this, it would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: I feel really stupid for not seeing it before, but I just noticed that yes, it is his coat he's wearing underneath. Thank you anyway, continue to ignore me now.

 

[TheNickFox]

The article of clothing that Jaime in the show wears is called a Gambeson. Doing some research on various styles of gambesons might help you out.

Good luck with the build.

-Nick

 

[Steph]

Thanks! I think I'll settle on a mix between a Birka coat and a buff coat, with some gambeson thrown in there. Or something like that.

 

[SmilingOtter]

Keep us updated on your progress - I love seeing original outfits even more than replicas. If you're not familiar with the site, the Armour Archive has a great pattern archive that you might find helpful:

http://www.armourarchive.org/patterns/

 

[Rue]

Heya!

I made Theon Greyjoy's doublet and ironborn coat. I found that the design of his doublet acted as an "arming doublet" that would be worn under their armour. It is really incredibly warm, and if I was as crazy as Reek, i would only have the doublet have the inner and outer layers without my added inner padding.

 

[Riceball]

If you're going to play a Stark then I'd go away from a decorated cuirass, or even a plain cuirass. In the show the Starks are shown typically wearing some form of brigandine as opposed to heavier plate style armor which is more typical of the Lannisters, Starks, and those loyal to the Starks also tended to wear a modified form scale armor consisting of metal plates attached to a leather or fabric backing but not overlapping like scale does, the Hound's armor is a good example of this style but brigandine is the most common and was worn by Ned.

Edit: Corrections, The Hound doesn't wear brigandine, he wears some sort of odd hybrid of studded leather over mail, with plate on the arms and legs.

 

[Steph]

SmilingOtter: I will! I'm almost done with the vambrace, all that is needed on it is a final primer layer, and then paint. I'm currently struggling with my cuirass, the worbla just doesn't seem to want to stay in place. Great site, thanks!

(May I just add, your name and pic - hilarious.)

 

[Steph]

Rue: Wow, that looks amazing! Yeah, without the inner padding sounds like a great idea, I'm just worried it won't look "right"? It's a great option though, I'll look into it more!

 

[Steph]

Riceball: A coat of plates was actually on my list, and I'll probably make one in the future for this character, as it works better for winter attire. I'm going much more for a book interpretation than the show, so I'm not really limiting myself to the styles they wear in-show, but I do agree that a cuirass is not the most accurate for a Stark. However, I started this project with an idea of a representative of house Stark, as it's my favorite house, so I wanted the design to look kind of... "dressed up" in a way. I think a good image of this is actually from the show, when Sansa is questioned by the Arryn house advisors (or whatever they are) when she lied about Littlefinger and Lady Arryn. One of the guys there wears a breastplate, which would be quite useless at the moment, but I guessed it was more for show. It kind of asserts one's position. However, as I want it to be "representative" I want to make it look old and used, like it was passed down through the family, and with some scratches and battle wear, because, let's face it, the Starks have a habit of getting into some trouble. It won't be very decorated either, and I'm trying to make it look very Northern in its design, with runes for example.

Full metal plate is really not anything that should be used in the cold winter either, as it would basically chill the body down, which I guess is why the most seen garment in the show (for the Northerners) is a coat of plates of some sorts. This is also something I had in mind, and I would basically explain my design choice with "it's spring/summer/representation attire". This is also why I'm looking at for example Jaime's coat, since it doesn't look overly warm. I'm planning on making a winter attire as well, and that would most likely be with a coat of plates, but also with warmer (at least warmer-looking) clothes overall. This design'll probably look kinda warm anyway, but, well, summer in the North isn't always very warm. Trust me, I'm a Swede. And yeah, my cuirass won't be exactly historically accurate, but I'll just play the fantasy card for that

 

[Steph]

If anyone's wondering, I'm doing a Lyanna Stark (since she's not really in the books per se, I call it an original cosplay), but how I picture she would look if she "could choose" herself. I based this idea firstly on wanting to represent the Starks, and with being female, naturally, and the fact that she seems like she would be a really cool character. Most interpretations of her seem to be in a full gown, which I find lovely and would love to do as well, however, she played at swordfighting and she could outride most men, so I picture her a bit like Cersei ("I should wear the armor and you the dress"), which I think could be fun with more... practical clothing. Personally, probably because I'm Swedish, I'm picturing the Stark house with a more Viking touch, so I'm drawing some inspiration from there. In that case, a cuirass is really not appropriate nor accurate, but it's just a design choice I wanted. Hopefully, it'll turn out pretty nice, but I'm totally scared.

 

[SmilingOtter]

I've been thinking along the lines of something similar to/inspired by the Tattered Prince (head of the Windblown mercenaries.) Sort of a man-at-arms, with pieces of armor and equipment taken from several different Westeros armies - Lannister, Frey, Bolton, Stark...

 

[Steph]

This could look severely cool! I hope you do it!