Art & Fashion, Events, Television
Oct 30, 2020

The Queen and The Crown Virtual Costume Design Exhibit

Netflix is collaborating with the Brooklyn Art Museum to bring you an inside look into the costumes of limited series The Queen’s Gambit and The Crown’s highly anticipated 4th season!

Image Courtesy of Netflix

The Queen and The Crown: A Virtual Costume Exhibition features the iconic costume designs from Netflix’s new Limited Series, The Queen’s Gambit and Season 4 of the Golden Globe and 10-time Emmy-winning series The Crown, alongside as well as thematically-related objects from the Brooklyn Museum’s collection. 

Visitors to the virtual exhibition will have a self-guided experience of seeing both the detailed costume designs and related museum collection objects in a virtual, 3-D environment set within a reconstruction of the Museum’s third floor Beaux-Arts Court. The exhibition created by Netflix, is curated by Mathew Yokobosky, Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture, Brooklyn Museum, who has designed such blockbuster fashion exhibitions as The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk (2013), David Bowie is (2018), and Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion (2019).

You’ll be able to explore the costumes and artwork in intimate detail and discover the visual aesthetics that help bring these iconic stories of strong, leading women in 20th Century America and Britain to life. Costume Designer Gabriele Binder created the wardrobe story arc for Elizabeth Harmon, who is introduced to chess at a young age and infiltrates the arena of the internationally competitive game. In pursuit of becoming world champion in a male-dominated sport, Beth matures both in fashion and skill in the The Queen’s Gambit.

Emmy-winning Costume Designer Amy Roberts constructed detailed outfits, closely resembling looks worn by the formidable 20th century women, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, Margaret Thatcher and Princess Margaret, showcased in Season 4 of The Crown. Objects from the Museum’s collection relating to key characters and visual themes in the two series will be presented alongside an interactive, digitally rendered, 360 degree view of the costumes. Museum highlights include: an ancient Egyptian object, Senet Game (c.1938-1799 B.C.E.), an early precursor of chess; Arthur Tress’ Boys on Checker Floor, Far Rockaway, NY (1980), a photograph depicting a group of local teenagers strategizing placement on a chess board; and Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke’s Koh-I-noor (2005), a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II made from plastic toys and trinkets, among others.

The exhibit is accompanied by a virtual panel discussion moderated by Academy Award-winning Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter who examines behind the scenes insight into the wardrobe creations by Costume Designers Gabriele Binder and Amy Roberts alongside Brooklyn Museum Curator, Matthew Yokobosky.