Cosplay Guide
Nine items, heavy layering, one mask that does the heavy lifting. The Paris heist mastermind from Netflix’s Berlin, built piece by piece.
Berlin plans a high-end Paris jewelry heist in the Netflix spin-off series Berlin (2023), assembled from the same universe as La Casa de Papel. Pedro Alonso plays him as someone who treats the heist like a performance. The layered jacket-over-sweater look is his visual signature throughout the series, and the respirator mask is what places him in operation mode. If you know the show, the costume lands immediately. If you don’t, you’re a well-dressed stranger at a convention, which is not the worst outcome.
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The leather jacket is what people read first, and it has to sit right at the shoulders or the whole layered look falls apart. A jacket that sags reads as borrowed, not intentional. The mask around your neck is the second thing that does identification work. Without it, the layers read as fashion. With it, there is a character attached.
Berlin does not explain himself. He states things and moves on. At a convention, this means you do not rush to identify yourself when someone approaches. You hold eye contact for a half-second longer than normal, nod once, and let them place you. If they don’t place you, that tells you something about whether the cosplay landed, not something about the character.
The Layering Order Matters
Base layer first, then field jacket or work shirt, then leather jacket on top. If you reverse this and the leather jacket ends up underneath anything, the costume reads as a different character entirely. Lay everything out before you put it on and check that the collar hierarchy looks right in a mirror before you leave.
Where to Wear the Mask
Keep the respirator around your neck, not over your face, for most of the event. Wearing it pulled down is the character in between operations, which is accurate and practical. It is also the position that lets people see your face for photos. Pulling it up when someone asks for a picture takes one second and makes the shot work.
The Paris Heist Crew
This is the right call for a group that has all watched the series. The dynamic between the characters reads naturally without setup, and the costumes vary enough that not everyone looks identical. The honest condition: this group lands at a convention or among fans of the show. At a general event, recognition outside that circle will be low, and you will spend the night explaining who Cameron and Damian are.
Suave Mastermind Thieves
This group concept explains itself without a caption. Every character here is a known thief with a specific, recognizable style, and the visual contrast between them works well. Assane Diop and Danny Ocean are the two that most people will place immediately. Neal Caffrey and Thomas Crown are a reach for younger crowds. I’d call this strong for a film-literate group, conditional for anyone else.
Crimson Suits and Hidden Faces (Niche)
This is a loose concept built around masks and red. It is not a strong narrative group. Half the people in the room will not find the connection between these characters because there isn’t a strong one. It works if your group enjoys the aesthetic and does not care whether strangers understand the reference. Do not build this one expecting recognition.
The leather jacket, respirator mask, and wig are the three things you need to source specifically. The rest has a reasonable chance of already being in your wardrobe. Most of the layering pieces are generic enough that a close match works fine.
Berlin is theatrical but not loud. He makes declarations, not announcements. That is a useful mode at a convention because it requires very little energy to sustain.
Nine items build the look: short brown wig, brown leather jacket, respirator mask, military field jacket, turtleneck knitted sweater, dark grey knit t-shirt, fit pleat front trousers, work shirt, and dress Oxford shoes. The leather jacket and respirator mask are the two essential pieces. Everything else fills in the layering that defines the character’s visual style in the series.
Two lines that fans of the series know well:
Deliver them quietly. Berlin never raises his voice. The quieter you say them, the more they land.
Berlin (2023) has a solid fanbase among La Casa de Papel followers, and Pedro Alonso built genuine audience loyalty through the original series. Outside that fanbase, recognition drops quickly. This works well at conventions with a strong Netflix crowd, less so at general events where the character needs context to land.
Yes, for the heist version. Without it, the layered jacket look reads as general European fashion rather than a specific character. The mask is what places Berlin in operation mode. Wear it around your neck for most of the event and pull it up for photos.
The leather jacket, a turtleneck or knit base layer, the brown wig, and the respirator mask are the core four. The character reads without the work shirt or field jacket if budget is a concern. Do not skip the wig if your natural hair color is different, and do not skip the mask.
Berlin is the lead character of the Netflix spin-off series Berlin (2023), played by Pedro Alonso. He was first introduced in La Casa de Papel as a calculating and theatrical heist architect. The spin-off follows him assembling a crew for an ambitious Paris robbery. Alonso plays him as someone who treats the planning of a heist as an art form, which is either compelling or exhausting depending on how you feel about men who take themselves very seriously.