• Fierce Females

  "Viking women were really strong," says costume designer Joan Bergin. Ragnar Lothbrok's wife, Shield Maiden Lagertha, (Katheryn Winnick), is seen here in her battle gear, worn when she fought alongside the men on raids and in the shield wall. "They could own property and ultimately rule. All that power women had they eventually lost over the centuries. Women being equal partners to men in all areas of life. Thanks to the Vikings, in Celtic lands a woman could divorce a man by turning around three times in a circle."

• Dying to Stand Out

  Viking women — and men — took great pride in their clothing. Here Lagertha wears a bilberry-dyed lime green cape and an orange woolen maternity dress. Her husband Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) wears black leather pants and an elaborated molded, decorated black leather vest emblazoned with his insignia — the raven — that symbolizes his descent from the great Norse god Odin, also a god of slain warriors and curiosity.

• Vikings

  Earl Haraldson (Gabriel Byrne) rules Ragnar's district. He is a a man with very limited imagination or foresight and tries to stop Ragnar from raiding the rich lands to the West, instead of the previously plundered ports to the East. He projects his leadership role with a striking molded, quilted black leather vest over his grey tunic, called a "kyrtill" usually linen made from flax. 

• The Priest and The Seer

  Athlestan (George Blagden) is a young Christian priest captured during the raid of his remote monastery on the English coast. He continues to wear simple monastic clothing that sets him apart from his elaborately attired Pagan captors. He is seen here with a one-eyed elite Viking priest — known as a seer — played by Irish actor John Kavanagh. "For the Seer, I got this big loose mesh that made it look as if his body was ephemeral," Bergin explains. "We added the bones of animals, people to his costume. That is what they used to do until medieval times. They would melt down bones and drink the calcium, believing there might be something good in it."

• Dyed in The Wool

  Seen here, the Earl's wife Siggy (Jessalyn Gilsig) wearing a maroon hooded cape with a fur trimmed hood. "The Vikings were very adept at dying furs, says Bergin. "When we first tried to do it, the skins would frizzle up after a few days so we had to dye them right before the scene."  At "Premiere Vision" in Paris she spotted a a company called Jean Terzakou-Paris. "They have mastered the art of dying Siberian silver box in purples, reds and pink; shading the color so there are different intensities in the fur. I can’t wait to get to them."

• Don’t Yak Back

  Another chartreuse  berry dyed creation worn by Ragnar's wife Lagertha. Bergin  shredded Yak wool at the neckline for added texture. Of the halter gown, Bergin admits that she does try to make historical clothing accessible to our time. "The era when every detail had to be historically accurate is gone. You must try to learn what is correct and give a modern sensibility to it. The more I work, the more I believe that"

• Iron Work

  Even leather vests get detailed by Bergin's costume crew. This garment worn by Ragnar is intricately woven, braided, aged and distressed to look as if it has survived quite a few Viking raids on The History Channel's new series, "The Vikings"

• Black Death

  Earl Haraldson (Byrne) wore this black suede tunic with fur edging in one of his court scenes. According to Norse history and Viking legends, the color black was usually only worn when one was going to kill someone. And by this time in the story, the Earl is getting pretty fed up with Ragnar. "I loved Gabriel's performance," says Bergin. "It was such a mixture of guile and sensitivity."

• Blue Bloods

  Bergin dyed this long linen tunic indigo for Siggy, the Earl's wife, using the leaves of a European herb (Isatis tinctoria), commonly called woad. It's a member of the mustard family, purposely planted for its vibrant dye properties and used by the Vikings. At Viking age excavation levels in York, a medieval city founded by the Vikings, the remains of woad and madder dating to the 10th century have been unearthed. Note the intricate metal work, silver threads and twisted Yak hair.

• Complex Theories

  Woad was also used to dye the wool cloak worn over the dress. Bergin worked, twisted and tied every strand of wool, every bit of decorative animal hair. "That way we give a life force to the texture. Adding this texture helps create the sense that there are complexities to the character." And in the disposed Earls' wife's case, these complexities certainly exist. .

• Quoth The Raven

  This is an iron version of Ragnar's emblem, the raven, a strong symbol  of his relationship to Odin.The raven also appears on the flag of his Viking craft.  In Norse legend a pair of ravens, Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world and take information to Odin. 

• Adding Texture

  Lagertha's pink wool tunic with belled sleeves with dyed with berries. Bergin created interest, unease and a sense of things unraveling in Lagertha's world by twisting the strands of yard and leaving them dangling.  

• Iron Works

  The iron work is all handmade by Bergin's crack metal team in Wales, where the series is shot on location and in studio. "It's metal, the real thing, done by a very talented members of my team. People like Townsend Feeney add all this additional texture for me. They go to the back of the building and hammer the pattern of the cast iron staircase into a Viking symbol. The level of detail they can achieve is astonishing."

ad

{{ result.published_at | date: "%h %d, %Y" }}