If you're looking for a fashion-themed weekend trip, or have the fortune of being an inhabitant of Missouri, we strongly advise that you take a trip to the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis over the next few months.
In an unexpected move—but total stroke of genius—the museum is staging an exhibition entitled A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes, Fashion and Chess. On show are pieces by names like Viktor & Rolf, Jean Paul Gaultier, Hussein Chalayan and Maison Margiela, alongside over 70 Alexander McQueen creations.
The connection? In a game of chess—as any self-respecting player knows—the queen is unique in its unpredictability and because of the huge power it wields on the chessboard, especially when compared to the shuffling king. Apparently the game didn't even include a queen piece until strong European queens like Isabella of Spain and Elizabeth I came onto the international scene.
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The exhibition attempts to show the relationship between queen and power via the medium of awesome and iconic fashion pieces, which are topped off with specially commissioned sculpted wigs by Charlie Le Mindu. If that doesn't encourage you to brush up on your Alekhine Defence and your Boden's Mate, we just don't know what will.
Curator Sophie Hedman says that the idea is to explore the different facets of the queen's personality, adding that "works from radical and experimental designers will be used to highlight the queen archetypes in fashion."
Needless to say, the queen has a killer wardrobe.
A Queen Adorned is open until April 18 2014 at the World Chess Hall Of Fame, St. Louis