Game of Thrones & Vertical Line
Cersei, played by Lena Headey, is simultaneously one of the most powerful and yet infuriating characters in Game of Thrones.
Now we know she’s a phenomenal actress (I mean I truly hated her from the bottom of my heart in the show), but have you ever thought about how her appearance and choice of clothing play a significant role in conveying her power and intimidation?
Cersei is a character who is constantly in search of more power. Her clothing choices also serve to intimidate her adversaries and assert her dominance.
Costume designers dressed her in long, visually heavy gowns that metaphorically implied her superiority, dominance, and influence over the masses. Throughout the show, she seemed tall, powerful, and a force to be reckoned with.
If they had dressed her in clothes with flowery, lightweight, rounded details, I don’t think we would have gotten the same feeling of power and intimidation.
But perhaps more importantly, if her clothes in the show didn’t fit her proportions, I don’t think we would have fully believed her performance.
Having seen Lena Headey in her role as this Femme Fatale, powerful, dangerous queen, I always imagined her to be at least 5’ 10”. Even in pictures, she looks like she would tower over me (to be fair I’m 5’ 2”, so everyone towers over me, but you know what I mean).
So imagine my surprise when I’m looking up her height and find out Lena Headey is ONLY 5’ 5”.
Just as a point of comparison, Sansa, played by Sophie Turner is a whopping 5’ 10”.
They look like they’d be the same height, right? It can’t just be me?
Which brings up a great misconception about vertical line.
Vertical line isn’t about how tall or short you look, but the presence of elongated lines in your silhouette between the torso and knees.
Lena Headey, at 5’ 5”, isn’t necessarily very tall but she does have a long vertical line, or notable elongation in her bone structure.
Dresses that have a ton of extra fabric, or added volume tend to drown her out entirely and my focus ends up being on the dress rather than her.
These dresses don’t convey the same energy that Lena Headey has in the show.
On the other hand, when she wears dresses that mirror her elongation, and skim her body,
she looks so much more at home in her clothing.
A common misconception surrounding vertical line accommodation is that you have to wear long dresses/pants at all times, which is not true at all.
According to Kibbe, after a certain point, your legs are the vertical line.
Which is why it looks very different when she wears a mini dress,
vs. when she wears a dress that is at knee length.
When her dress is at knee length, the fabric is not long enough to form the uninterrupted vertical line on her silhouette, and also interrupts the natural flow that could be achieved by her legs.
Now Sophie Turner, at 5’ 10”, also needs to mirror her elongation, but the difference is she is tall and is automatically assumed to have a long vertical line.
So while you will automatically need vertical accommodation after ~5’ 7”, and therefore be limited to the three types that require vertical accommodation (Dramatic, Soft Dramatic, and Flamboyant Natural), there is no lower height limit.
In fact, Sarah Jessica Parker is a verified Flamboyant Natural and stands at only 5’ 3”.
All it comes down to is the presence of elongation (or lack thereof) within your body!
