Matrix: the cyberg movie that influenced fashion.

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28.03.23

Black leather trench coats, combat boots and tiny sunglasses are staples of the movies' wardrobe. The Matrix is a fashion film, really.

Andy and Larry Wachowski’s cult film turns 24 today. Here are the most beautiful collections inspired by “The Matrix”.

When screenwriter-director sisters Lana and Lilly Wachowski first presented The Matrix, the world fell down the rabbit hole. The Cyber movie was so impactful that it affected our lives without us really realising it: many, soon after its release, wondered if we really live in a fictitious world, where humans are slaves to machines; a theory fuelled mainly by the spread of the internet in the early 2000s.

The theory has fortunately been diluted in favour of a prevailing cyberpunk aesthetic, which has helped to create a ‘Matrix style’ in its own right, resulting in a somewhat shy and mysterious, yet self-conscious, social attitude of the wearer.

The film’s costume designer, Kym Barrett, cemented its place in history with her leather trench coats, plastic corsets and avant-garde dystopian goth-thots, which influenced almost half a century of fashion.
Since its release, The Matrix has graced the catwalks and streetstyle countless times, with garments signed by the industry’s top tastemakers and the approval of the goth and punk subcultures.
Black leather trench coats, combat boots and tiny sunglasses are staples of the movies’ wardrobe.

The Matrix is a fashion film, really, and to celebrate its 24th birthday, here are the best ready-to-wear and haute couture moments inspired by Neo and his friends.

Christian Dior Couture Fall 1999

Surrealism was the inspiration for Christian Dior’s spring 1999 haute couture line. It is evident how much John Galliano and his team appreciated the cyberpunk style of the cult Matrix, which we find in almost every aspect of the collection: from the concentration of black patent leather to the set design. The tailored garments show rips and cuts, they are held up with matching buckles. Then corsets and berets complete the looks on the catwalk.

Thierry Mugler Fall/Winter 2020

Leather jackets with built-in corsets, plunging necklines, bustiers with criss-crossing buckles and lots of black.

Mugler’s Fall/Winter 2020 fashion show reinvented the Matrix aesthetic in a bold and sexy way, imagining a female Morpheus, leading her pirate fleet through the depths of the earth.

Alexander Wang Fall 2018

Body-con silhouettes, enhanced athleisure, stiletto heels, total black and austerity models: Wang’s winter 2018 show was a riot at the aesthetic Matrix. The models-warriors walked the runway wearing minimalist glasses, large backpacks on their shoulders and studded belts in an aseptic, somewhat post-apocalyptic setting.

Yohji Yamamoto Fall / Winter 2008

Black dresses and sharp tailored cuts have always been Yamamoto’s leitmotif, and with the spread of the cyberpunk style of the Matrix, they simply affirmed what the designer has known since the 1970s: elegance and mystery are the fundamental ingredients for a timeless and iconic style.

The 2008 Fall Winter collection takes up the themes dear to the cult movie and the essentiality of the Japanese designer, putting them together in an absolutely natural way. Two languages that converse perfectly, amidst long leather coats, unfinished raw edges, wool jumpers and draped jersey.

Balenciaga Spring 2022.

Perhaps one of the most explicit references to the cult movie, the Balenciaga Spring 2022 fashion show focused on the maximalism of form and the minimalism of colour, imagining a science-fiction fleet led by A.I. Some looks were designed to create an illusion between reality and fiction, scenic hyper-realism and the unreality of audio-video post-production processes.

Tom Ford Fall / Winter 2019

The creative genius from Texas has given his own glamorous and elegant take on the Wachowski brothers’ film.

Sobriety and a touch of velvet, the Matrix aesthetic revisited by Ford accentuates reservedness and blends in with style.

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