From Elizabeth I to couture, the tales behind Game of Thrones' costumes

As with literary analysis, television dramas are an art form open to interpretation

Game of Thrones, which returns today for its seventh season, offers fantasy, horror and intrigue, and, as Sarah Mower has put it, shines a light on “our cynical, sophisticated, brutal, hopeless new Dark Ages”. It is also great fun to watch as a fashion expert, whether you are a “pedant” who needs everything to be historically correct, or a “swooner” who doesn’t mind if it is not.

The show is infamous for its ability to brutally shock audiences. Such visceral, sensorial overload can mean that the breathtaking beauty of the costumes — and especially