Tilda Swinton Is Fashion
Just-released, Impossible Wardrobes ( Rizzoli ) documents three groundbreaking exhibitions as performed by Tilda Swinton over a period of three years, 2012 – 2014, in collaboration with Olivier Saillard, director of the Palais Galliera in Paris.
The only record of these unique shows, the three-book set begins in 2012, when a speechless Swinton slowly walked down a runway carrying (as they were too delicate to be worn) a selection of historical garments from the last 200 years, from a coat that belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte to vintage Dior, Schiaparelli, and Balmain.
Next, in 2013, a garment was tailor-made in front of a live audience, with Swinton acting as a kind of dress form. And finally, in 2014, Swinton communed with items the audience left for her in a makeshift cloakroom ,considering their emotional significance as she gently stroked and cradled each, occasionally leaving a keepsake in a pocket.
