Given that it feels like every day we are closer to taking the red pill and strapping on a long leather jacket, now is the perfect time for the latest Matrix sequel to arrive in cinemas. When the original first appeared in 1999, the leads - Keanu Reeves as Neo, Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus and Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity - made their eyewear look instantly iconic. Tom Davies, the British luxury eyewear designer remembers watching it for the first time in the cinema. "I loved the story. It's easy to say the "ground breaking special effects" but it wasn't. It was the idea that we are living in a simulation. The concept blew me away and it still does."
For the 2021 version, The Matrix Resurrections, the filmmakers approached Davies to provide 200 frames. Davies has form in this regard: you may have seen his work on screen in Disney’s Cruella, Tom Holland in Spider Man: Homecoming or Henry Cavill in Batman Vs Superman. "I was very conscious of the need both to pay tribute to the original designs but also to produce something new. It was evolution, not revolution,’ Davies explains. ‘In The Matrix, Neo wore rimless frames. I had a nod to that design in my design by floating the lens from the centre of the frame, like it would in rimless, but with a frame shell around it. This gives something totally unique and innovative but recognisable to the viewer."
After a difficult year - the brand's Sloane Square store was burgled in June - it is tremendous to see Davies back on track. His line Catch London is being received well, particularly in America, after launching in September and next week he is set to start selling online through iwearbritain.com. But if you're craving a pair of pince nez that resemble Morpheus' own, arrange a personal bespoke appointment - and try and avoid bending over backwards in bullet time.
Tom Davies frames start from £295, bespoke from £595. A selection of glasses from Catch London, new brand MD1888 and eyewear as seen in Cruella will be sold on iwearbritain.com from the middle of December.
