Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, Agent Smith...

Make A Matrix Costume

From left to right,
Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus,
Keanu Reeves as Neo &
Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity.

The Matrix trilogy was not only big at the box office, but created a fashion following as well. While the costumes of 'The Matrix', 'Matrix Reloaded' and 'Matrix Revolutions' were each a bit different, the basic look remains hot. Here's how to recreate it on a variety of budgets.

Blinde Design was hired to create the original sunglasses used in the movie. They also made the officially licensed versions. It's become increasingly difficult to find these. Purists with deep pockets (these are expensive) can try here:

The Dark Entry

Be aware that sunglass styles changed for each movie in the Matrix trilogy, so there's more than one authentic version for each character.

Knock-offs run the gamut in both price and accuracy. Click on the images below to see what suits your needs and budget. If you'll be wearing these sunglasses on a regular basis, it's a good idea to buy better quality. Cheap glasses are unlikely to be comfortable or to have UVA/UVB protection. The mid-range versions have both.

Neo: low cost	Neo: mid-range	Trinity: inexpensive	Trinity: mid-range
Morpheus: low cost	Morpheus: mid-range	Agent Smith: mid-range	Niobe: officially licensed?
The Twins: low cost	The Twins: mid-range	The Seraph: mid-range	Matrix II: mid-range

The first film's costumes were different from those in the second and third films. Furthermore, fabrics and patterns changed with the needs of each scene. In other words, you have some flexibility. We'll start with coats available for purchase and then move on to how you can make your own.

There are officially licensed versions of each character's coat ranging in price from cheap to relatively expensive. At first glance, it can be hard to tell them apart, but the difference is in the materials. If you go this route, choose your coat based on how often you'll be wearing it. You don't want it falling apart after just one or two nights out. Each includes the low-cost sunglasses shown above:

Neo coat: mid-range	Neo coat: super deluxe	Trinity coat: mid-range	Trinity coat: super deluxe
Morpheus coat: mid-range	Morpheus coat: super deluxe	Twins coat: mid-range	Twins coat: super deluxe

Purists with money to burn can find accurate replicas of most of the coats here:

Abby Shot
Baron Boutique

Priests' cassocks can fill in for at least one Neo coat. There are a number of different styles available. Although these are less expensive than replicas, they're still not cheap.

Catholic Supply
Kambriel
Autom
Generations Religious Gifts
Gaspard

See our notes further down in this article on how to modify cassocks for better Matrix authenticity.

Here's a pleather coat that resembles the one Morpheus wears. It's even custom fitted! Note that Morpheus wears his coat closed with the lapels unfolded and laid flat against his chest throughout much of 'Reloaded'.

Here's a cross between the Neo and Morpheus coats.

At different points in the trilogy, Trinity wears a trench coat/raincoat, a long dress/coat and a short jacket. If the options above don't meet your needs, try here for the long coat/dress and the raincoat, and here for the short jacket. Really, any short, black, somewhat shiny ladies' jacket with a standup collar will do.

Niobe's red-brown, faux crocodile outfit is tough to find. However, you can "paint" a vinyl or pleather jacket and pants the right color with VHT Vinyl Dye or one of Rust-Oleum's vinyl painting products.

It's worth noting that you can take a good picture of any article of clothing to a tailor and get a custom-fitted replica. A pattern would be even better. Neo's main 'Reloaded' coat is a wool blend fabric, but you can use anything with some heft to it. Trinity's outfits are all vinyl/PVC. Morpheus' coat has a reptile skin look.

Speaking of patterns, if you or a friend can sew, this is an inexpensive way to go. For Morpheus and Neo coat patterns from 'Reloaded', look for Simplicity pattern 5386. For Trinity's outfit, seek out Simplicity pattern 5380. Butterick also has a cassock pattern.

Purists will want to make some modifications to the cassock. Tuck up the fabric to create a thin pleat at the waist and sew it into place. Exaggerate the collar to make it more kung fu, leave out the cuffs and don't forget those high side slits that allow for kicks and impressive billowing while walking. Most of these design traits come from Chinese traditional Mandarin martial arts formal wear.

It turns out that Neo's 'Reloaded' coat looks alot like some historical Polish military coats. Here's some free patterns!

Of course, the fastest and cheapest way to get a Matrix coat is to visit your local thrift stores and rummage sales and look for an ankle length black coat. You can easily cut the collar flaps off, for example, to get a Neo 'Reloaded' look, or leave them on for the lobby scene trenchcoat. For Trinity's look, seek out shiny black raincoats to carefully modify. Vinyl tears easily. Thrift stores are also good places to find Agent outfits and other Matrix costume items.

Purists can get replicas of Neo's "lobby" boots from the first film at MotorCowboy.com. MotorCowboy also makes custom boots, so they can create any other boots as well.

You can find boots very close in design to Neo's "lobby" boots at these merchants:

Pennangalan.com

Stompers Boots

Underground England

Vampire.co.uk

Here and here are reasonable facsimiles of one style of Trinity's boots. For her lobby boots, try these.

(Hint: Spraying boots with black gloss Rustoleum will make them look like patent leather, but the process is NOT reversible.)

Honestly, for Neo and Morpheus, any black boots should do the job. The attention will be on the sunglasses, the coats and, most importantly, the attitude!

To complete your Neo outfit, you'll need:

• A tight, plain, long sleeved, black top
• Black dress pants

If you want the look from the first movie, you may also want:

• Black military BDU pants instead of dress pants. (Here's what the originals look like.)
• Black belt with silver buckle
• A rappelling harness
• A set of shoulder holsters: (See the 7700 LeatherLite Shoulder System if you have cash.)
• OR modify military suspenders (much cheaper!).

To complete your Morpheus outfit, you'll need:

• A black dress shirt
• A lime tie
• A round, silver tie tack
• For 'The Matrix', use a black suit. For 'Reloaded', use a purple vest and matching pants. Sew on white buttons. For 'Revolutions', use a 3-piece black suit.

To complete your Trinity outfit, you'll need:

• Shiny black gloves
• Shiny black pants (Spooky Boutique, Flirty Lingerie)
• A sleeveless black vinyl, rubber, leather/pleather or PVC top. She wears several. (Example 1, Example 2, Example 3)
• OR a shiny black long-sleeved short dress. (Here's a still from film.)
• For the jacketless look from the first film, use a black belt with silver buckle

For an Agent outfit, you'll need:

• Sunglasses (see the sunglasses section)
• 3-button, black business suit. (In the first film, the suit seemed to be more of a cross between charcoal and brown.)
• Medium width black tie
• Silver bar tie clip
• White dress shirt
• Shiny black dress shoes
• Earpiece (Modify a clear coiled cord or buy the real thing. This could be very cool if you work as a pair of Agents!)

Did you want to be another Matrix character? Baron Boutique makes a Merovingian Suit. Reference photos of Link, Switch, Cypher, Persephone, The Key Maker and more can be found here.

Lastly, for anything you still might need to round out your costume, Ebay probably has it.