- Award winning costume designer Kym Barrett, grew up in a nomadic environment on Christmas Island off the coast of Australia, before moving to Sydney where she would eventually study design at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art).
Her creations on Romeo & Juliet (1996) garnered great attention. This lead to a collaboration with sibling directors Lana & Andy Wachowski, starting with The Matrix (1999). Barrett's original and now iconic designs catapulted her to fame, with the sleek and sexy costumes from The Matrix Trilogy (2003) being imitated and absorbed into global fashion trends of the day.
Not one to be pigeon holed, Barrett has mastered a vast array of theater, TV and film genres including: action, adventure, animation, circus, comedy, crime, fantasy, horror, mystery, opera, period (1800s - 1980s), romance, science fiction, thriller etc. She recently debuted at the Met in NYC having designed costumes for The Tempest. She was responsible for the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi as well as Cirque du Soliel's 26th production - Totem.
Other film work includes - Three Kings, Gothika, Monster in Law, Rumor Has It, Green Hornet, The Amazing Spiderman and The Nice Guys (2016).
Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas, and Jupiter Ascending, highlights Barrett's enduring association with the Wachowski siblings.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Megan Worthy
- Neo's (Keanu Reeves) coat wasn't actually a very expensive fabric. It was a wool blend I got in New York for like three dollars a yard - but it was the perfect fabric, it did the job perfectly. But people still say to me, "What about Neo's leather coat? Well, he didn't really ever have a leather coat. - [about Neo's costume in 'The Matrix' (1999)]
- We made a rule: there is no blue in the Matrix. But in the Matrix, we do infuse almost everything with green, so even what you see as white on the screen has been through a green dye bath.
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