Ever look at a movie from a decade ago and just cringe? The "state-of-the-art" effects usually age like room-temperature milk. But then there's Ex Machina. When you watch Alicia Vikander glide through that glass-walled research facility, her body a translucent mix of silver mesh and exposed hydraulics, it still looks... real.
Honestly, the alicia vikander ex machina suit is a masterclass in how to actually blend a human actor with a machine without falling into the "uncanny valley" trap. It wasn’t just a fancy digital filter slapped on in post-production. It was a brutal, four-hour-a-day ordeal for Vikander that involved a very physical, very uncomfortable bodysuit.
The Secret Material Behind the Mesh
Most people assume the robot body was 100% digital. That's actually wrong. To get that shimmering, "flickering in your periphery" look, the production team didn't start with a computer; they started with a seamstress and a chemist.
The base of the alicia vikander ex machina suit was a custom-made jumpsuit crafted from silver-colored mesh with a grey Lycra lining. But the real "magic" came from the coating. They used a specific polyurethane material infused with metal powder. This gave the fabric a weird, non-organic reflectivity. It didn't just look like silver fabric; it looked like a finished industrial component.
Why the suit felt "off" (in a good way)
- The "O-Rings" trick: If you look closely at Ava’s joints, there are black rubber strips and metal studs. These weren't just for the sci-fi aesthetic. They served as "tracking markers" for the VFX team at DNEG. By having physical rings on Vikander’s body, the digital artists had a fixed point to "attach" the internal CGI machinery.
- Small Stature: Alicia Vikander is famously petite. This was actually a technical requirement. Because they were adding a prosthetic "bald cap" and layers of mesh over her real head and body, her natural "smallness" allowed the final silhouette to look like a standard-sized human rather than a bulky person in a costume.
- The "Alicia #2" Tag: Prop collectors who have seen the original suits (like the ones auctioned by Propstore) noted that the interior linings had hand-written cotton tape labels. It wasn't a mass-produced outfit; it was a series of roughly three highly specific "skins" tailored to her body.
Four Hours of Glue Every Morning
Imagine waking up at 3:30 AM to have someone glue a prosthetic skull to your head. That was the reality. Vikander has mentioned in interviews that the "suit" wasn't just the mesh jumpsuit—it was a full-body transformation.
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First, they had to slick her hair down completely flat. Then came the bald cap, which had to be perfectly seamless because there was no "helmet" to hide the edges. The skin on her face and the mesh on her neck had to meet at a precise line that the camera wouldn't catch. Basically, she spent half her workday just getting into character before a single line of dialogue was spoken.
Bridging the Gap: What Was Real vs. CGI
The reason the alicia vikander ex machina suit works so well is that Director Alex Garland decided to keep "human" anchors. They chose to leave Vikander’s face, hands, and feet completely untouched by CGI.
Wait, why the feet? Because the way a person's weight shifts when they walk is incredibly hard to animate. By keeping her real feet on the ground, the "robot" gained a weight and presence that felt grounded in physics. The CGI was used primarily for the "see-through" parts: the torso, the arms, and the back of the head.
How they filmed the "transparency"
- The Double Take: For every single scene Ava is in, the crew had to film it twice. Once with Alicia in the suit, and once as a "clean plate" with no actors at all.
- The Paint-Out: The VFX artists then digitally "cut out" the parts of the suit they wanted to be transparent and replaced them with the clean background.
- The Internal Organs: Inside those transparent gaps, they layered in 3D models of "muscles" made of metal spirals and spinning gyroscopes. If she moved her arm, the digital muscles inside would "fire" and contract just like a human bicep.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Design
There’s a common misconception that the suit was designed to look "sexy." While the movie definitely explores themes of the "male gaze"—Nathan literally built Ava based on Caleb’s search history—the suit's design was actually inspired by high-end bicycles and Formula One suspension.
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The lead VFX supervisor, Andrew Whitehurst, pushed the team to look at "form follows function." They didn't want a robot that looked like a "girl in a suit." They wanted a machine that looked like it was designed by a billionaire who cared more about aerodynamics and structural integrity than aesthetics. The "feminine beauty" was sort of a byproduct of the precision engineering.
Why This Matters for Modern Filmmaking
Today, we see a lot of "lazy" CGI where actors just wear gray pajamas with dots on them. The alicia vikander ex machina suit proves that a hybrid approach—physical materials mixed with digital augmentation—is always going to win.
If you're a filmmaker or a costume designer, the takeaway here is simple: texture matters. The way the light hit the polyurethane-coated mesh on set provided the digital artists with a "lighting reference" they never could have faked from scratch. It’s why Ava feels like she’s in the room with Caleb, rather than floating on top of the footage.
Practical Lessons from the Ava Suit
If you're looking to replicate this look for cosplay or a small-budget film, don't just buy "silver spandex."
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- Layering is key: Use a mesh overlay on top of a solid base to create depth.
- Incorporate "hard" points: Use rubber or plastic gaskets at the joints. It breaks up the "fabric" look and adds a mechanical logic to the movement.
- Lighting is everything: Avoid flat, fluorescent lights. The Ex Machina set used 15,000 tungsten pea bulbs to create tiny, sharp reflections on the suit's mesh.
The suit wasn't just a costume; it was a character. And even though we're well into the 2020s, the technical execution of that 2014 design remains the gold standard for how to do sci-fi right.
To see the suit's legacy in action today, you can look at how modern "humanoid" tech companies are actually trying to mimic the aesthetic of Ava's mesh skin. The line between science fiction and industrial design has never been thinner.
Check out the original behind-the-scenes "VFX breakdown" videos from DNEG if you want to see the frame-by-frame rotoscoping that made the suit possible. It’s a grueling look at the "invisible" work that goes into making a robot look like a person—and vice versa.