check yourself — Farah Prochaska

CHECKERBOARD

I’m seeing checkerboard all over my instagram feed and i’m betting you are too! The classic pattern has been around for ages but it’s back on top and somehow feeling fresh and new in colorful tones. I’m a neutral lover for life but seeing ads for lilac checkerboard pants makes me feel really happy and nostalgic.

Basically every time I went shopping with my mom in the early 2000’s she would say “this is the stuff I wore when I was a teenager!” Bellbottoms, clogs, bucket hats- and here I am, 20 years later saying the same thing under my breath at Target. Butterfly clips. Black chokers. Plaid. It’s more common for trends to repeat themselves every 15-20 years in fashion because clothes are easier and cheaper to mass produce, they take up less space, and people buy more of them. Home decor is not as easy. It takes a much, much longer time to really turn a mainstream style around. Furniture is big, it’s expensive, and you don’t buy a new piece too often. It’s interesting to see a pattern associated with the 1950’s quickly take over the world in 2021.

Previously when I thought about checkerboard print I imagined an outdated kitchen or the group of emo kids huddled under the stairs at my high school. Why is it back suddenly in such a chic way? I asked my friend Amber Dunford who is a Professor of Design Psychology what she credits the checkerboard comeback to. Amber says “It’s nostalgic and classic, and those styles always tend to be reciprocal and find their way back into mainstream design. There is also something calming about repetition in patterns. It’s predictable and soothing, nothing too unexpected. If you think about it, the timing of this resurgence makes a lot of sense given the unpredictable and chaotic couple of years we’ve had. People are craving something familiar, calming, and grounding.”