Channeling Claudia Winkleman: How to Recreate the Gothic-Glam Style of The Traitors

With the celebrity edition returning for season two this October, the styling playbook is out — and so is every cashmere source.

The Wardrobe Receipts

McKeefry told Grazia the celebrity run leans "punk/gothic" — a hard pivot from the original's "haute country" furore — and she's mixing Alexander McQueen and Burberry with COS, Holland Cooper, menswear blazers, and a recurring Bottega Veneta lug-sole boot that clearly has a recurring contract. Independent knitwear gets the underdog arc: Mr Mittens balloon sleeves, Hambro and Miller Fair Isle wrist warmers, Brora and Johnstons of Elgin cashmere. McKeefry frames her indie sourcing as principled, not promotional, noting handmade knitwear is brutal to sustain. Sure. Also brutal to sustain: the pretense this isn't a soft launch for future collabs.

The formula McKeefry and Winkleman allegedly refined across four seasons — relatable base, luxury flex, gothic-glam-meets-power-dressing topcoat — went on public display in the new BBC trailer, where Winkleman wore an old Zara Ruffle Poplin White Blouse. You can already grab dupes at Rixo and Mango. The product is the blouse. The blouse is the product.

Trailer Receipts

The Mirror's first-look breakdown of the BBC teaser delivers the meta-wink: Claudia, in full funereal energy, asks for "a moment of silence for the celebrities gathered today," adds "thoughts and prayers," then exits stage left with "Who doesn't love a dramatic exit?" It files its own taxes.

BBC director of content Kate Phillips, fresh off a screening at the Edinburgh TV Festival, confirmed the cast is "fully invested" — meaning tears, paranoia, and the now-standard arm-touch panic. Richard E. Grant phoned season one alum Celia Imrie for survival intel and got back: "the cruelty of people who you instinctively want to trust." Martin Sheen, also heard in the trailer, declared he wants to "play hard and win." Other confirmed bodies at the round table: Maya Jama, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Joe Lycett, Ross Kemp, Sharon Rooney, Miranda Hart.

What I'm Tracking

McKeefry claims she builds each look from scratch and disappears into "research holes online." Convenient. Expect every Zara-adjacent blouse to sell out by episode three, an All-Star edition pitch before Christmas — BBC's new entertainment boss Ed Havard already confirmed stars are "messaging" him begging for it — and at least one "Claudia's stylist reveals all" podcast tour by spring.

The celebrity-as-storefront move isn't even new globally. India's creator economy ran the same endorsement-to-algorithm playbook long before Winkleman's Traitors wardrobe became a search-engine sport, and the receipts are equally loud. Western audiences are just catching up to a pipeline that's been exporting for years. Cloaks on, receipts out.