‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Star Anya Taylor-Joy Triggers Online Searches After Her SNL Debut

Actress Anya Taylor-Joy’s outfits had an “immediate impact” on consumers after the 25-year-old actress took the stage as host for Saturday Night Live (SNL) over the weekend, triggering a strong surge in online searches, data released by fashion shopping platform Lyst revealed.

Pent-up demand

Molly Goddard’s dresses surged 67% in online searches on the Lyst just 48 hours after the “The Queen’s Gambit” star wore one during the popular US sketch comedy show.

The silky dove-grey Peter Do Fall/Winter 2021 gown, featuring a feather-trimmed shoulder donned by the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe alumn during her opening monologue, jumped 41% in searches, the fashion search engine revealed in its latest data insight.

Additionally, her Brandon Maxwell leopard midi dress worn—at the conclusion of the show —witnessed a 30% growth in demand for similar pieces on the shopping platform.

Other findings

Since its premiere around two weeks ago, the Netflix series based on the late American fashion designer Halston caused a 550% spike in searches for his pieces, the Lyst said. The label’s dresses have revealed to be the most-wanted pieces. The halter neck dresses witnessed 132% soar in page views while searches for halter neck tops jumped 60%.

Tennis skirts are seemingly a popular item as page views have tripled in the past month, the Lyst said. Searches for Alo Yoga’s skirts shot up 328% in 48 hours following Kendall Jenner’s recent Instagram post in which she wears the brand’s clothing piece. Online searches for vintage “tennis club” logo sweatshirts have gone up 14%, while page views for silk polo shirts jumped 71% over the past few weeks within the same timeframe.

Croissant-shaped bags and pillow sandals are currently trending on Lyst and one of the hottest trends this summer season. Since the beginning of 2021, searches for bags, including the term “croissant,” soared 206% compared to the same time the year before.

As for pillow sandals, searches for “puffy” and “pillow” sandals have seen a 129% demand in the past three weeks compared to the same time in 2020.

Surprising fact

Netflix’s popular limited series drama “​The Queen’s Gambit​,” starring Taylor-Joy, resonated with 62 million Netflix in its first 28 days in the fourth quarter of 2020, the streaming giant said. Its popularity made it the biggest limited series in Netflix history and ignited​ sales of chess sets​.

Key background

The Lyst was established in 2010 in London by founders Chris Morton and Seb Trepca, with an aim to search thousands of online fashion stores at the same time. Now, it is used by more than 150 million shoppers every year to discover and purchase 8 million items from 12,000 brands and stores. It is known for using the data from customer searches to identify industry and shopping trends.

This month, the London-based company reportedly revealed to have raised $85 million ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO), with existing investors LVMH, Steadfast Financial, 14W, Accel, among others taking part.

Much like Taylor-Joy, other artists such as Billie Eilish triggered strong growth in online searches following her Hollywood glamour makeover for British Vogue’s latest cover. Demand for corsets surged 74% within two days on the Lyst following the magazine cover shoot release, while similar pink pieces jumped by 42% in searches over the same two-day period.

Last month, the global shopping platform revealed in its latest quarterly report that items worn by senator Bernie Sanders and poet Amanda Gorman sparked demand in the first quarter of this year, during Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration.

Arab designers such as British-Iraqi designer Walid Damirji, Jordanian-Romanian Amina Muaddi, and French-Moroccan designer Charaf Tajer have also made appearances on the Lyst’s report and indexes. Muaddi’s “Amina Muaddi x Awge Phoenix slingback pumps” was among items that saw an increase in searches ahead of the summer wedding season, according to the Lyst’s latest “The 2021 Wedding Report”.