348
The
NE WS
TILDA
THE SECRETS OF BEING
The fashion world is obsessed with Tilda Swinton. Laura Brown asks her how to be the ultimate original.
Something weird happens to
fashion people when they talk about
tilda Swinton. these are folk who
use the term “obsessed” about a pair
of shoes, so when it comes to Swin-
ton, they basically collapse, clutching
their dior pearls.
to boil it down, Swinton is an
original. Yes, she dresses incredibly,
in exotic haider Ackermann silks,
epic Lanvin gowns, and kilts with
nubby Pringle sweaters. And she
lies in a glass box in a gallery for a
week. But she’s also funny as hell.
i’ve met Swinton a number of times,
had tea, gossiped. our last detailed
discussion involved unfortunate
male-celebrity Botox.
So while i love tilda for all the
fashion reasons, i thought i’d ask her
how i can tilda-fy myself. “Super
easy,” she replies. “Just take your mas-
cara of.” done. how about her famed
mystique? “i bulk-buy it online at a
discount by the tin. i can hook you
up.” oh, this tilda stuf is simple.
even though she’s often sans mas-
cara, Swinton adores makeup. the new face of nars, she loves
cosmetics’ transformative power. “the wonderful thing about
makeup for me is that a little goes a very long way,” she says. “So
the possibilities of making new faces with it—in my work—are
pretty tantalizing.” what has remained the same is Swinton’s signa-
ture androgynous haircut. “Sam mcKnight was the frst one to buzz
the sides, about nine years ago. But now odile gilbert cuts it most
often, bless her heart. it’s like pruning a bush or a very furry animal.”
Like an animal, Swinton follows her instincts. She recently starred
in a one-woman performance piece in Paris, Cloakroom, in whichshe inspected guests’ jackets and inter-
acted lovingly with each garment.
the experience was described as a
“fashion show without a net.” “hmm,
i suppose every fashion show thinks
of itself as netless,” she muses. “Cer-
tainly for most designers i know,
showing their work publicly for the
frst time seems to be an experience
akin to throwing yourself of a clif
for a seven-minute free fall.”
in Swinton’s own cloakroom at
home in Scotland, you will fnd “six
pairs of gum boots, a pair of ancient
trawlerman’s loafers, one velvet slipper,
a can of deicer for the car, three macs,
nine ponchos bought on impulse in
mexico—rarely worn and never
regretted—four pufy jackets, two
schoolbags, six stripy cushions for
the lawn, and a framed placard writ-
ten by my friend mark Cousins from
our flm festival saying, ‘there is a
light that never goes out.’ ”
As for her actual closet, Swinton
explains that it’s smaller than her
groupies would think. her sartorial
highlight reel consists of “boys’ shirts, three kilts, an extended fam-
ily of jerseys, some of which i’ve had since school, horiyoshi the
third and Bella Freud cardigans and scarves, three highly prized
Sybil Connolly skirts for dancing, Liwan nightshirts, summer dresses,
and general Lebanese menswear.”
this is why we silly fashion people love tilda Swinton. She’s the
only woman on the big screen, on the stage—and certainly in
Scotland—who owns “general Lebanese menswear.”
So why does she think fashion folk get so obsessed with her
anyway? her answer is both amused and swift: “now stop this.” n peter hapak/trunk archive