‘Chess isn’t always competitive. Chess can also be beautiful’: Beth Harmon’s Symbolic Fashion in The Queen’s Gambit

Georgina Orford

4 min read

Following its release in 2020, the highly commended Netflix mini-series The Queen’s Gambit was nominated for over 18 awards, winning 11 Emmys and 2 Golden Globes (theartofcostume.com). The show follows the life of a young American chess savant, from her sombre 1950s childhood in Kentucky to her Moscow grandmaster win in 1968. On top of its stellar screenwriting and brilliant performance from Anya Taylor Joy as Beth Harmon, it is unsurprising to learn that the costume designer, Gabriele Binder, won both an Emmy and a Costume Designer Guild Award for her role in its production. Let’s walk through Binder’s creative process:

Following the tragic death of Beth Harmon’s mother in a car crash, the protagonist is sent to an exclusively female Catholic orphanage in the late 1950s. During these scenes, Binder’s costume choices include the frequent use of peter pan collars, which were highly popular during this decade. She also implements a bland colour scheme, highlighting the traditional repression of the children’s individuality and transgression within the home.

Source: The Queen's Gambit Official Trailer (Youtube.com)

Following her adoption by the Wheatley family at age 15 and her increasing chess tournament victories, Beth begins to invest her financial winnings into her wardrobe. In the early 1960s, her outfits continue to echo the style of the previous decade, indicating that she has not quite yet caught up with American youth, or that perhaps she is intentionally choosing to avoid fashion trends. The ‘popular’ girls at her high school use Beth’s supposedly backwards sense of style against her as a symbol of their differences. Over the months, she becomes increasingly drawn to the trending tailored blouses, circular skirts, and sweaters.

At this point in the series, the audience can begin to notice a recurring theme in Beth’s style. She frequently chooses plaid or chequered prints, an allusion to her life-long obsession with chess. This ‘op-art’ style that saw the incorporation of optical illusions was certainly popular in the 1960s and began to extend itself into the fashion world. The contrast of the print also mirrors the ‘win or lose’ nuances of the game, according to Gabriele Binder herself (theartofcostume.com).

Beth elegantly arrives at the 1967 US Championship in Ohio in an A-line miniskirt, retro print blouse, and headscarf; a reflection of her alignment with the 60s fashion movements and increasing sense of self-assuredness in her identity.

Following the sudden, tragic loss of her adoptive mother, Alma Wheatley, Beth begins to fall back into her lifelong addiction to the fictional nervous system depressant, Xanzolam. Her decline is symbolised throughout the whole series with a pastel colour scheme, most specifically a pale green which reflects the shade of the pills themselves. Her first dress from her birth mother was this same shade of green; to Beth, the colour seems to represent a regression to the trauma of her childhood. She is typically seen wearing this colour at her lowest moments in the show.

One of the most iconic looks from the entire series is the dress she wears in her match against Vasily Borgov at the 1967 Paris Remy-Vallon Invitational. Her loss at this game is catastrophically influenced by her substance abuse the previous night. Beth appears wearing an A-line, ¾ length sleeve, pale green dress with a large bow on the neckline. The stark lack of chequered pattern and colour symbolism alluding to addiction is the epitome of how fashion is used in The Queen’s Gambit to indicate the character’s mental states.

During a return visit to Kentucky to defend her state champion title, a still spiralling Beth appears in a pale green hat, a mustard yellow turtleneck, and 60s mod eyeliner (which, admittedly, looks fantastic).

Following a few months of despair, the chess prodigy manages to regain her footing in time for the 1968 Moscow Invitational with the help of those in her close support system. Costume designer, Gabriele Binder, initiates a resurgence of chequered patterns, presenting Beth as once again in touch with her identity, as well as having rediscovered her deep passion for chess.

The final scene of the series shows Beth, the new world champion, following Borgov’s resignation in the Moscow Invitational, marching through the city’s streets in an all-white outfit which presents her as the white queen of the chessboard. She wears a white beret, a long white trench, and matching white gloves. This representation of her success not only refers to her chess triumphs, but also the overcoming of her childhood, which was underscored by addiction and loss. Beth Harmon completes the show’s narrative arc as the most powerful force in her life; she finally has the autonomy to move in any direction she desires.