Most jobs require costume designers to hit the ground running, but Kym Barrett’s work often needs a backflip, some somersaults, and a few spinning kicks before the race even starts. Barrett mints icons like Apple cranks out iPhones. She hit the scene with the shockingly modern Shakespeare adaptation, Romeo + Juliet, and has not stopped sprinting since. In The Matrix series, she reimagined the superhero as an antihero with the unforgettable sweep of a black, floor-length coat and impenetrable mirrored sunglasses…
The superhero genre has seemingly devoured the blockbuster film space. Advances in digital filmmaking have contributed, but the fundamental shift is filmmakers taking their subject matter seriously. Technology that has permeated the film industry manifests in costume design as well, but the theme has shifted from superheroes wearing their underpants on the outside in reference to circus strongmen, to fantastical garments that still convey a sense of realism.