Cersei Lannister: Episode 1

     Cersei Lannister is the epitome of southern style, which makes sense, considering she sets the style. Notable aspects of her personal attire include rich jewel tones (especially the color red), sumptuous fabrics and intricate embroidery, all ostentatious displays of wealth and power. Even her crazy, crazy braids form a crown upon a her head, a crown which gets larger and higher throughout season one.

     The first time we ever see her she is in red tones with her hair down; she often wears this style when interacting with her family, and especially with Jaime, for whom she nearly always wears her hair loose.

 

The royal procession comes in a burst of color (still muted because of travel and Winterfell’s grey filter). It is immediately clear how much Cersei’s style influences the fashions of the court. As in Ancient Rome, when everyone tried to emulate the styles of the empress, here the women are all fully on board with Cersei's Valkyrie braid helmets.

Seeing this fur as a lion’s mane is a pretty literal interpretation, but then Cersei is a pretty literal person, particularly about the whole Lannisters = lions thing.

The warm colors of Cersei's outfit makes her stand out from the cool blues and grays of the Starks and their home. The red and gold denotes power; again with the lion thing.

 

This hairdo is pretty subtle for Cersei, but make no mistake: IT’S ALL ABOARD THE CERSEI BRAID TRAIN TONIGHT.

 

"Toot tooooooot." 

This is Cersei in full royal regalia. Previously we've only seen her in more informal settings; she is attending this feast as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Her crown is of Baratheon antlers - the jewel in the setting matches the red in her dress (later we will see differently colored jems to match her other outfits). However her braids overshadow her actual crown, a powerful statement of her own devising, separate from her husband (who is currently making out with a tavern wench in front of her and everyone else in the feast hall).

Cersei's okay though, because she's got...

 

FULL ON PRINCESS LEIA BRAIDS

And now for a small detour into...

The Many Expressions of Cersei Lannister

Clockwise from top left: Amused, Annoyed, Hiding her feelings, failing to do so.

In the final scene of the episode, Bran Stark and the audience witness Cersei having sex with her brother Jaime.

This is one of Cersei’s “scarlet woman” dresses. (Notable that the dress is actually scarlet. Like we said, Cersei tends to be pretty literal.) Red is commonly used to symbolize sex, power, and sexual power, and with Cersei it symbolizes all three. For Cersei, sex is almost always about consolidating her power. This scene demonstrates that power when she convinces her brother/lover to defenestrate ten-year-old Bran Stark in the scene that infamously closes out the first episode.