Winter is Coming: Catelyn Stark from Game of Thrones Cosplay Costume

Hello everyone, its almost the new year and winter is no longer coming, it is firmly here. I have had to keep my excitement for this post under wraps for a little while as I didn't want to give too much away about it.

You see Cosplay Sky, the nice people that sent me my Sailor Neptune costume very generously offered to send my a costume of my choice to style and share with you. How could I say no?! They have a huge selection to choose from, but the one I was drawn to (since it is something I have been thinking of cosplaying as for quite a while now) is their Catelyn Stark costume.

I am a HUGE Game of Thrones fan, I've read the books, watched the show, got the Telltale game etc. and Catelyn Stark (formerly Tully) is my favourite female character (don't worry this post is spoiler free!!).

Now I could probably let the pictures speak for themselves, but I think this costume is fabulous. I mean really, really excellent. By far the best ready made costume I have ever encountered and I'm so excited to tell you all about it!

Here are a few pictures so you get the idea:

This costume is based on Catelyn's costume in Season 1 of Game of Thrones, it is the dress and coat she wears in Winterfell and while she travels to The South to see her husband.

All of the costumes in Game of Thrones are GORGEOUS, but teal is my favourite colour so this costume jumps out at me for being on of the nicest. Catelyn's auburn hair is a fantastic contrast to the teal too. You also have to give got to give credit to actress Michelle Fairley she makes a wonderful Catelyn.

Okay, so now on to the nitty gritty...

The costume itself came in two parts, a linen dress with collar and cuff detailing and a coat in a teal mystery fabric. It is sort of like a faux suede, but it is much smoother than suede and very obviously synthetic from the look of the inside. What this does mean is that the coat is light and very movable which makes it fantastic for cosplay.

The construction of the costume is excellent, I could not find a loose thread any where and all of the internal seams were overlocked making it feel really secure. There was a really long side zip so it was easy to get off and on and the faux fur around the cuffs felt very soft and luxurious.

In terms of fit I sent Cosplay Sky my measurements and they made the costume for me so it was pretty much perfect. I haven't tried any of the ready made costume sizes, but Cosplay Sky and many other costume companies offer custom sizing and based on my experiences so far, I think it is probably a good idea.

Here is a picture of the underdress, front and back, I know it doesn't look like much, but having the full underdress as a separate really makes the costume look that bit more professional.

I did have one very minor issue with the fit, and that was that the hook that came with the costume to close the coat was in the wrong place for me. It ended up falling right on the apex of my bust which was not the most flattering position to have the clasp. Because of this I scrapped the fastening that came with the costume and instead used a House Stark brooch that I got from London Comic Con last year. I thought it suited the costume perfectly and that way I could fasten it just below the bust line which was just a bit more flattering.

I didn't send a measurement for the location of the fastening but I'm sure if you did, Cosplay Sky would make sure it was in the most flattering place for you.

Last but not least, time scale and price. From ordering this costume to arrival was 3 and a half weeks which is amazing for a custom made costume all the way from China. My wig took longer to arrive than that!

The cost of this costume is £108.99 which may seem like a lot of money, but while I was toying with the idea of making this costume myself I know that the linen (and the cheaper synthetic versions) were going to cost around £60 so add to that the cost of materials for the coat, the faux fur, thread and time, I don't actually think it is a bad price at all.

I suppose you can compare it to those £30-40 costumes you can get in fancy dress shops, but lets face it, the quality is no-where near this good and you can't get a Catelyn Stark costume form them anyway!

Here are the rest of the costume photos (thanks to @JanetteWPhotos for taking the pictures):

I have another post coming soon to show you the wig in a bit more detail, as it is pretty special.

But please comment and let me know what you think of the costume!

Have you ever bought a high quality cosplay costume? Who was it and where did it come from?