Maisie Williams spent much of her teenage years on Game of Thrones .
While she’s had a major impact on popular culture, it’s also had an impact on her. She spoke to Vogue about how being on Game of Thrones made her ashamed of her body, and we’ve got the highlights.
Maisie began playing Arya when she was 14.
Game of Thrones was her first professional acting job. She took the role of Arya Stark while she was still in school.
She was chosen out of a pool of 300 actresses, which is crazy for a kid who wasn’t classically trained!
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She finally finished playing Arya in 2019.
Now 22, Maisie is an incredibly accomplished actress. She’s had roles in Doctor Who and films like iBoy , distancing herself from Arya in many ways.
She also launched her own social media platform, Daisie, which is for creatives to network with other creatives.
So she’s certainly got a lot of accomplishments under her belt.
Maisie recently spent 24 hours documenting her life with Vogue.
They spent time with her during Paris Fashion Week, which is a big week for Maisie — she’s an avid fashion fan, and not afraid to experiment with her style.
Her day was pretty busy.
“We have Thom Brown this morning, and then Givenchy this evening.”
For the Thom Brown show, she went with a red and white palette all over, including her eyes and nails.
“Because my manicure is janky,” she said.
Her outfit was so cute!
She had a tweed, plaid-patterned jacket and skirt that she obviously adored.
“I love it, because —you see how the skirt is just an inch lower than the coat?”
That attention to detail is why she’s such a great fashionista.
Her boyfriend, Reuben, crashed the interview.
After totally stubbing his toe and making her laugh, they explained how much they enjoy coordinating their looks.
“We like to pair up,” he said. “We like to wear matching outfits. Like a 70-year old couple.”
He then joked about wearing red eyeshadow, too. Which she immediately made him do.
She talked about her thoughts on fashion while on their way to a show.
“Well, I think when you’re a young actress, it’s really exciting, and you want to look really grown up.
And I was just really conscious not to do that, I think in the beginning of my career.”
She was never her own age.
“Because, you know, even when I was 16, 18 I was still looking like 12, 14.
So, that’s really powerful when you’re an actor, and like playing younger is one of your most valuable things.”
She changed a lot on the show, both mentally and physically.
“This was day one of me on Game Of Thrones ,” she says as she shows the picture to the camera.
“A couple of seasons in the middle, maybe around season 2 or 3, my body started to mature, and I started to, like, become a woman.”
This started causing her a lot of problems.
Her character couldn’t look like a woman.
“[…] Arya was trying to be disguised as a boy, and like I had really short hair, and they’d constantly cover me in dirt, and shade my nose so that it looked really broad, and really manly.”
They bound her chest, too.
“They’d also put this strap across my chest to flatten any growth that had started. And, I don’t know, that just felt horrible for six months of the year.” She said.
Now, she’s free to make her own choices.
“I felt kind of a bit ashamed for a while. So, you know, with this new phase of my style, I think it is nice to look more feminine, and have a real waistline, and just embrace the body that I have.”
Reuben played a role in helping her with that, as well.
She said he gives her the second opinion she needs when picking out pieces.
“I’ve got a specific taste. It’s not always perfect for what Maisie wants, but I think it’s having someone there to kind of give you a strong opinion.”
It’s definitely nice to bounce ideas off someone.
Not only does he give an opinion, but he actually collaborated with JW Anderson to design Maisie’s dress for the Emmys!
It helped her stand out as a woman.
“[…] It was a moment where we really consciously tried to look more sophisticated.”
She pointed to an Instagram picture of the dress being made.
“See, I have a female body! How exciting!”
“What a dream come true,” she wrote in that Instagram post. “I feel so honoured to have shared the Emmy’s stage with the most wonderful cast of all time, for the last time, picking up best show for Game of Thrones.”
“10 years of joy, mud and magic. Thank you.”
She continued, “To celebrate our final year, I was lucky enough to wear this custom collaboration between Reuben Selby and JW Anderson.”
“Many hours, many pleats, and MANY CRYSTALS. Thank you for making my red carpet dreams come true – I felt unstoppable.”
The dress is so stunning and it’s so beyond cool that her boyfriend helped design it!
Teamwork makes the dream work!
You can watch the whole video here.
Join Maisie as she navigates Paris, talks fashion, and attends two runway shows.
Trust me, you do not want to miss the look she puts together for the Givenchy fashion show!
