Tilda Swinton (March 2004 - January 2012) - Page 5

Luxury's Lap · 01-09-2005

I just came across an article (and fashion slide show) on Tilda Swinton in my NY Times e-mail. Here's the article:

White Mischief
By LYNN HIRSCHBERG

One of Tilda Swinton's ancestors on her very posh, very military Scottish family tree was painted by John Singer Sargent, and it is easy to imagine Swinton, with her alabaster skin, otherworldly green eyes and regal 5-foot-11 bearing, captured in oils. ''I do look like all those old paintings,'' Swinton joked over a midsummer lunch of raw oysters at the Mercer hotel. ''But I'm afraid my temperament does not conform. At all.''

She said this, as she said nearly everything, with a mix of direct authority and engaged enthusiasm that was both immediately ingratiating and commanding. Swinton, who is 44, was wearing no trace of makeup, a print sundress and flip-flops, and her hair, which is naturally red, was dyed white-blond. ''I love the roots,'' she said, as she tilted her scalp forward for inspection. ''That's the best part of being this blond.''

Her unique looks, her ease with herself and her voracious interest in the more esoteric worlds of cinema and style have made Swinton a kind of goddess of the avant-garde. In her movies, she has continually transformed herself -- changing class, nationalities, gender. For ''Orlando,'' perhaps her most famous film, she played multiple incarnations of the title character, including a man. In ''Thumbsucker,'' opening in theaters on Sept. 16, she is utterly convincing as a suburban American mom. The director Jim Jarmusch cast her as an ex-girlfriend of Bill Murray's in the recent ''Broken Flowers,'' in which she is terrifying, her face half-obscured by a foreboding curtain of long brown hair. For ''The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,'' a big-budget movie that is due out from Disney at the end of the year, Swinton embodies the White Witch. ''The studio couldn't understand that someone evil would not have black hair,'' she said. ''They told me, 'She has to be beautiful.' I said: 'The witch will be beautiful; the key is no makeup. After all, she's the White Witch; her face should be bare.' And I think, eventually, they saw my point. She's very scary. I'm fully at peace with the idea that children who see this film will be backing away from me for the rest of my life.''

Swinton's own children, 7-year-old twins named Xavier and Honor, will probably not see the movie. They live on a farm in northern Scotland with their father, the writer John Byrne. ''As much as I enjoyed playing the White Witch,'' she said, ''it made me realize, as I have before, that I am just not an industrial actor. What is important to me is to find myself around other curious people and to feel involved. That's much easier when you get outside the industry of movies. I'm less interested in just playing a character. I'm more interested in the larger film. Derek Jarman taught me that it's all about the frame; acting is simply smoke and mirrors. He changed my life by showing me what was possible; he was the first person I ever met that lived as an artist.'' Until his death in 1994, Jarman was an experimental filmmaker fascinated by two topics that often intersected in his movies: the history of England and homosexuality.

He worked with fellow travelers who shot, edited, dressed (Sandy Powell, the Oscar-winning costume designer, started out with Jarman) and acted in his imaginative and transgressive films. Swinton met Jarman after graduating from Cambridge. She went to school to study writing, but began acting, and he immediately recognized her talent. From 1986 to 1994, she starred in eight of his films. ''He was a person who found a way to make movies without any studio,'' she says. ''Through him, I saw that I could live in a pre-industrial way.''

Swinton's upbringing was the direct opposite: she grew up in privilege. Her family lived in a castle in Scotland that it had owned since the ninth century. Her father, Maj. Gen. Sir John Swinton, was a commander of the Queen's Household Guards in London, and she and her three brothers were sent to proper boarding schools. ''I have a different life than my parents,'' Swinton said. ''But I do feel like a soldier. It's hard work getting these movies made. It took us about five years to convince people to finance 'Orlando,' and it took two years for Mike Mills to be able to direct 'Thumbsucker.' Lots of people told him he was insane. I appreciate that sense of dislocation. As a child, I felt like a changeling, at odds with the planet I arrived on. I didn't understand the world I was born into, and that feeling of dissonance colored my youth. I saw that rigidness existed, and as a result, for me, rigidness got a bad name. Looseness was far better. And I gravitated towards a different life.''

While she has consistently resisted being called Jarman's muse (''He needed no muse other than himself''), she is pleased to be thought of as a fashion muse. ''I met Viktor and Rolf backstage at one of their shows, and we started cooking things up together,'' she said. ''One collection was designed for me, and they ask me all the time what I want to wear. Once, I was gardening, and I told them that it occurred to me that I wanted some padded trousers. They made them for their next collection. Although they've yet to give me a racing-driver suit, and I've asked and asked.''

Swinton is a generous, nonexclusive muse: she starred in a film by the designer Hussein Chalayan at the recent Venice Biennale and is devoted to Stefano Pilati, now at Yves Saint Laurent. ''Some of the most interesting artists I know are working in fashion,'' she said, after ordering cheesecake for dessert. ''Generally, in fashion, one's looking for what's new. Where, in film, something new takes five years to be acceptable, and then it's often not new anymore. Fashion, then, becomes like a sorbet between courses for me. It's cleansing. And then I get back to the hard work of fighting for some film that no one wants to make. That's what I mean when I say an artist's life: this is a calling, not a job.''

Luxury's Lap · 01-09-2005

And, of course, here's the fashion slide show....

The info for the slides:
Slide 1: Yves Saint Laurent gown, $12,255. At Yves Saint Laurent Boutiques. Fashion Editor: Tiina Laakkonen

Slide 2: Half ’N’ Half Haider Ackermann jacket, Price on request. Call 011 33 142 03 9100. Fred Leighton Pin.

Beauty note: Swinton wears Lancôme Sheer Peach Organza Blush and Estée Lauder Melon Lipstick.

Slide 3: Zero Maria Cornejo dress, Price on request, and bolero, $380. At Zero, 225 Mott Street.

Slide 4: Vivienne Westwood Gold Label silk faille bustier dress. To order, call 011 44 207 629 3757. Fred Leighton ring.

Slide 5: Hussein Chalayan dress, $1,200. At Ikram, Chicago.
Swinton entered the dark side with M.A.C. Carbon Eye Shadow and Smolder Eye Pencil.

Fashion associate: Lindha Jacobsson. Fashion assistant: Anouk Beguery. Hair by Yannick d'Is for Management Artists. Makeup by Christian McCulloch for Tim Howard Management. Manicure by Roseann Singleton for ArtDepartment.

Luxury's Lap · 01-09-2005

And then here's the cover (couldn't find info on it).

WhiteLotus · 01-09-2005

Here are all of Tilda's costume changes in the upcoming The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe film. Absolutely stunning! I especially love how her ice crowna nd dreads start to melt and come apart as spring returns to Narnia!The costumes make me even more giddy over the idea of the book coming to the big screen! I apologize that many of the pics aren't full length. To see more that are of less quality go to
http://costumes.narniaweb.com/witchbattle.asp. There is plenty of info about the costumes themselves!

WhiteLotus · 01-09-2005

I apologize for the awkward placement and size of the photos. I obviously screwed up somehow posting them. The website, however, has many more photots of her various looks.

**MulletProof** · 01-09-2005

those are beautiful, luxury's lap.

Luxury's Lap · 01-09-2005

Thanks, Mullet!

Thanks for posting those pics, WhiteLotus, they're fantastic!

And I found the info for the cover page: Cover Photo Tilda Swinton: Yves Saint Laurent tuxedo jacket, $2,320, blouse, $860, and waistcoat, $995. At Yves Saint Laurent boutiques. Fred Leighton diamond brooches.

Estella* · 08-09-2005

by craig mc dean for 'another magazine', originally posted by s'ngac in the 'what magazines have you...' thread:

thefashionista · 08-09-2005

i ADORE tilda swinton

Estella* · 10-11-2005

this will only be screened today and during the weekend at showstudio

http://www.showstudio.com/projects/m...php/2005/11/10

Quote:

Babelogue by Emma Reeves
Photographic Editor
Running Time: 55 secs
Source: Sony DV camera
Production Credits: Film: Emma Reeves, Edit: Stephen Bell, Photography: Craig McDean, Stylist: Katy England, Model: Tilda Swinton, Fashion: Dress by Yohji Yamamoto, cardigan by John Galliano Homme, dress by Haider Ackermann, kimono by Roberto Cavalli, dress by Future Classics, gloves by Yohji Yamamoto, dress by Hussein Chalayan, Hair: Sam McKnight, Make-up: Val Garland, Location: Nairn, Scotland

susie_bubble · 10-11-2005

I just love looking at pics of her.....she just looks so out of this world, not of this era yet you can't place her in any specific era. And she's a brilliant actress.

purechris · 10-11-2005

anna

beautiful

luxlap--such great pics....so much better than in BlackBook even though those were pretty good.

whitelotus--thanks.....looks like I might be interested in that movie more than I thought

Spacemiu · 29-11-2005

.......

courtknee01 · 29-11-2005

my friends family are good friends with tilda swinton

nookie · 29-11-2005

I think she is scary. Don't know why thou.

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01-09-2005	64
WhiteLotus windowshopping Join Date: May 2005 Location: Canada Gender: homme Posts: 45	White Witch Costumes Here are all of Tilda's costume changes in the upcoming The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe film. Absolutely stunning! I especially love how her ice crowna nd dreads start to melt and come apart as spring returns to Narnia!The costumes make me even more giddy over the idea of the book coming to the big screen! I apologize that many of the pics aren't full length. To see more that are of less quality go to http://costumes.narniaweb.com/witchbattle.asp. There is plenty of info about the costumes themselves! __________________ "Why don't you slip out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini"-Mae West Last edited by MulletProof; 12-11-2006 at 02:04 PM.

01-09-2005	65
WhiteLotus windowshopping Join Date: May 2005 Location: Canada Gender: homme Posts: 45	I apologize for the awkward placement and size of the photos. I obviously screwed up somehow posting them. The website, however, has many more photots of her various looks. __________________ "Why don't you slip out of those wet clothes and into a dry martini"-Mae West

01-09-2005	66
MulletProof Take me drunk, I'm home Mod Squad Leader Join Date: Apr 2004 Gender: femme Posts: 24,433	those are beautiful, *luxury's lap. __________________ Metal teeth of carousels.*

08-09-2005	68
Estella* a dim capacity for wings Design Team Leader Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: la rue Gender: femme Posts: 7,651	by craig mc dean for 'another magazine', originally posted by s'ngac in the 'what magazines have you...' thread: __________________ mode schoepfung estella mare

01-09-2005	61
Luxury's Lap ....ITMFA.... Join Date: May 2005 Location: Mpls, MN, US Horoscope: Leo Gender: femme Posts: 1,630	I just came across an article (and fashion slide show) on Tilda Swinton in my NY Times e-mail. Here's the article: White Mischief By LYNN HIRSCHBERG One of Tilda Swinton's ancestors on her very posh, very military Scottish family tree was painted by John Singer Sargent, and it is easy to imagine Swinton, with her alabaster skin, otherworldly green eyes and regal 5-foot-11 bearing, captured in oils. ''I do look like all those old paintings,'' Swinton joked over a midsummer lunch of raw oysters at the Mercer hotel. ''But I'm afraid my temperament does not conform. At all.'' She said this, as she said nearly everything, with a mix of direct authority and engaged enthusiasm that was both immediately ingratiating and commanding. Swinton, who is 44, was wearing no trace of makeup, a print sundress and flip-flops, and her hair, which is naturally red, was dyed white-blond. ''I love the roots,'' she said, as she tilted her scalp forward for inspection. ''That's the best part of being this blond.'' Her unique looks, her ease with herself and her voracious interest in the more esoteric worlds of cinema and style have made Swinton a kind of goddess of the avant-garde. In her movies, she has continually transformed herself -- changing class, nationalities, gender. For ''Orlando,'' perhaps her most famous film, she played multiple incarnations of the title character, including a man. In ''Thumbsucker,'' opening in theaters on Sept. 16, she is utterly convincing as a suburban American mom. The director Jim Jarmusch cast her as an ex-girlfriend of Bill Murray's in the recent ''Broken Flowers,'' in which she is terrifying, her face half-obscured by a foreboding curtain of long brown hair. For ''The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,'' a big-budget movie that is due out from Disney at the end of the year, Swinton embodies the White Witch. ''The studio couldn't understand that someone evil would not have black hair,'' she said. ''They told me, 'She has to be beautiful.' I said: 'The witch will be beautiful; the key is no makeup. After all, she's the White Witch; her face should be bare.' And I think, eventually, they saw my point. She's very scary. I'm fully at peace with the idea that children who see this film will be backing away from me for the rest of my life.'' Swinton's own children, 7-year-old twins named Xavier and Honor, will probably not see the movie. They live on a farm in northern Scotland with their father, the writer John Byrne. ''As much as I enjoyed playing the White Witch,'' she said, ''it made me realize, as I have before, that I am just not an industrial actor. What is important to me is to find myself around other curious people and to feel involved. That's much easier when you get outside the industry of movies. I'm less interested in just playing a character. I'm more interested in the larger film. Derek Jarman taught me that it's all about the frame; acting is simply smoke and mirrors. He changed my life by showing me what was possible; he was the first person I ever met that lived as an artist.'' Until his death in 1994, Jarman was an experimental filmmaker fascinated by two topics that often intersected in his movies: the history of England and homosexuality. He worked with fellow travelers who shot, edited, dressed (Sandy Powell, the Oscar-winning costume designer, started out with Jarman) and acted in his imaginative and transgressive films. Swinton met Jarman after graduating from Cambridge. She went to school to study writing, but began acting, and he immediately recognized her talent. From 1986 to 1994, she starred in eight of his films. ''He was a person who found a way to make movies without any studio,'' she says. ''Through him, I saw that I could live in a pre-industrial way.'' Swinton's upbringing was the direct opposite: she grew up in privilege. Her family lived in a castle in Scotland that it had owned since the ninth century. Her father, Maj. Gen. Sir John Swinton, was a commander of the Queen's Household Guards in London, and she and her three brothers were sent to proper boarding schools. ''I have a different life than my parents,'' Swinton said. ''But I do feel like a soldier. It's hard work getting these movies made. It took us about five years to convince people to finance 'Orlando,' and it took two years for Mike Mills to be able to direct 'Thumbsucker.' Lots of people told him he was insane. I appreciate that sense of dislocation. As a child, I felt like a changeling, at odds with the planet I arrived on. I didn't understand the world I was born into, and that feeling of dissonance colored my youth. I saw that rigidness existed, and as a result, for me, rigidness got a bad name. Looseness was far better. And I gravitated towards a different life.'' While she has consistently resisted being called Jarman's muse (''He needed no muse other than himself''), she is pleased to be thought of as a fashion muse. ''I met Viktor and Rolf backstage at one of their shows, and we started cooking things up together,'' she said. ''One collection was designed for me, and they ask me all the time what I want to wear. Once, I was gardening, and I told them that it occurred to me that I wanted some padded trousers. They made them for their next collection. Although they've yet to give me a racing-driver suit, and I've asked and asked.'' Swinton is a generous, nonexclusive muse: she starred in a film by the designer Hussein Chalayan at the recent Venice Biennale and is devoted to Stefano Pilati, now at Yves Saint Laurent. ''Some of the most interesting artists I know are working in fashion,'' she said, after ordering cheesecake for dessert. ''Generally, in fashion, one's looking for what's new. Where, in film, something new takes five years to be acceptable, and then it's often not new anymore. Fashion, then, becomes like a sorbet between courses for me. It's cleansing. And then I get back to the hard work of fighting for some film that no one wants to make. That's what I mean when I say an artist's life: this is a calling, not a job.''

08-09-2005	69
thefashionista backstage pass Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: over the hills and far away Gender: femme Posts: 620	i ADORE tilda swinton __________________ the bloominator is god.

10-11-2005	71
susie_bubble V.I.P. Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: London Gender: femme Posts: 4,072	I just love looking at pics of her.....she just looks so out of this world, not of this era yet you can't place her in any specific era. And she's a brilliant actress. __________________ 'A fashion that does not reach the streets is not a fashion.' Coco Chanel. MyStyleDiary My blog - Style Bubble - http://stylebubble.typepad.com/style_bubble/

10-11-2005	72
purechris no photos, no photos Join Date: Jan 2004 Gender: homme Posts: 2,887	anna beautiful luxlap--such great pics....so much better than in BlackBook even though those were pretty good. whitelotus--thanks.....looks like I might be interested in that movie more than I thought __________________ happiness is the fat girl dancing in the corner

29-11-2005	74
courtknee01 rising star Join Date: Sep 2005 Gender: femme Posts: 128	my friends family are good friends with tilda swinton

29-11-2005	75
nookie front row Join Date: May 2005 Gender: femme Posts: 276	I think she is scary. Don't know why thou.

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