Cast your mind back to the heady days of 2017, a relatively simpler time when, rather than the diabolical prospect of a U.S-Iran war, people were more preoccupied with the advent of cryptocurrency, Salt Bae, and Shaquille O'Neal's flat-earth opinions.
Meanwhile, The Matrix-style had arrived in the fashion world. Essentially a hyper-futuristic reboot of the street goth aesthetic heralded by A$AP Rocky five years prior, apostles of the movement could be identified by their minuscule sunglasses, head-stomper combat boots, and most importantly of all, curb-grazing trench coats. In other words, uniform de rigeur for a weekend spent gouching in a Berghain dark room. We truly were not deserving of a power couple like Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid.
As we navigate the early days of 2020, Kanye West was photographed outside his Calabasas office this weekend in a powder blue leather trench coat that looked like it could have been pulled from Neo's off-duty wardrobe. In the vein of Bottega Veneta's Intrecciato coat, Prada's military coat, and some of the square shoulder efforts from Balenciaga's Summer 2019 show, it's a jacket that oozes attitude. "Drip coming back," read one of the comments on fansite @teamkanyedaily.
Across the Atlantic a day later, Martine Rose showcased her FW20 collection at London Fashion Week Men's. As well as introducing latex into her vocabulary for the first time, Rose upped her leather game to new heights, as evidenced by the belted-trench-coat-slash-house-coat. Rather than The Matrix, the aesthetic was more reminiscent of Wesley Snipes' Blade: think sexy garb a vampire would wear to an EBM night. Even ruffled shirts, as flexed by Brad Pitt in '90s goth-horror flick Interview With the Vampire, could be seen on the models at one point. Ruffles in 2020?! Sign us up!
While not strictly similar, both Blade and The Matrix share a post-apocalyptic, BDSM-indebted sensibility that can be felt in ever-popular brands like ALYX, Marine Serre, and of course, Balenciaga. Instead of calling it a return, West and Rose show that Matrixcore was something that never really went away, while also highlighting the unflagging influence of sci-fi movies from the turn of the millennium. Get on the same wave with some of our selections below.
