The Queen’s Gambit, Netflix’s Hit New Show, Is Already Influencing Our Wardrobes

Who would have thought a coming-of-age drama about a chess prodigy could produce so many fashion moments? But that’s what exactly The Queen’s Gambit - Netflix’s new mini series based on the 1983 novel by Walter Tevis - has done, giving us a psychological drama that, rather like its creepier counterpart Ratched, is almost self-consciously stylish.

Like Emily In Paris, the show's costumes, which were specifically chosen to mirror the chessboard's colour palette and pattern, are already influencing our wardrobes. According to Lyst, the global fashion search platform, searches for ‘checked’ pieces are up 43% month-on-month, with Stand Studio’s black-and-white faux-fur coat being the most sought-after item.

The Queen’s Gambit begins in an orphanage. It’s the '50s, Beth Harmon’s mother has just died, her father has disappeared, and she’s left at Methuen Home, a not unkindly institution that nevertheless administers tranquillisers, ‘vitamins’, to its young charges until such practices are outlawed.

While the uniform is meant to be homely at best, dowdy at worst, it actually looks rather like something on the catwalk at Margaret Howell. Harmon’s neat little shirt, complete with a rounded Peter Pan collar, worn beneath a brown tunic really does look like the sustainable brand’s bread-and-butter utilitywear.

As she grows older, and is adopted by a family called the Wheatleys, she’s teased by her classmates for wearing cut-price clothes from the town’s most unfashionable store. Again, the way her coat fits - loose on the arms and big at the collar - looks very hipster-ish to me, while the brown lace-up shoes that earn particular scorn from the school’s ‘cool girl’ epitomise this year’s obsession with the so-called ‘ugly’ shoe. As she goes from an unseasoned teenage rookie to a celebrated (and undeniably chic) player, Harmon’s wardrobe embraces the ‘60s, with sculpted polo necks, swinging shift dresses, well-deployed silk scarves and outfits that riff on the chessboard colours of black and white.

To celebrate the show's arrival, The Brooklyn Museum, in collaboration with Netflix, is staging a virtual exhibition to take a closer look at the costumes. With fascinating notes and video clips from the costume designer, Gabriele Binder, why not 'visit' this weekend?