Tilda Swinton And Charles Jeffrey’s Fashion Awards Collaboration – VOGUE
Tue 6 Dec
We Understand Each Other’s worlds – It’s So Powerful And Magical
Tilda Swinton
What do revered indie actor Tilda Swinton and designer Charles Jeffrey have in common? Quite a lot, as it turns out. Given their shared Scottish origins and deep understanding of the arts and all of its complexities, it’s not surprising that Tilda chose Charles to create her look for the Fashion Awards. The garment in question was made using prints by the artist John Byrne.
“From a personal point of view, it feels like I found a brother in Charles, so I couldn’t imagine asking anyone else to dress me, especially when I’m to present the Special Recognition Award for Cultural Curation for Jefferson [Hack], a great ally to all of us,” Tilda told Vogue via FaceTime ahead of the event. “But when it comes to Charles’s work, from the moment I saw it, it felt so familiar to me – it’s where outsider art and a classical aesthetic meets, which incarnates an iconoclastic sensibility that resonates so deeply with me.”
Photography Thurstan Redding
When asked how it feels to collaborate with Tilda and how she embodies the Charles Jeffrey Loverboy brand ethos, Charles said: “Since seeing Tilda in Derek Jarman films, I’ve always been intrigued by her alignment with queer culture and queer expression, and there’s something androgynous about the way she presents herself that also aligns with [the brand’s] characters. Then, when we met on the set of a Candy Magazine shoot, Tilda introduced me to Byrne’s work, which was incredible because I had never seen it before.”
Tilda’s look consisted of two custom Charles Jeffrey Loverboy pieces adorned with prints by John Byrne: a floor-length gown and a double-breasted trench coat. The gown, rendered in viscose made from wood pulp adorned with a circular print (titled All the World’s a Stage, 2013) that features Tilda’s face appearing at the neck (“See here, we have two heads!”), is cut into a circular pattern resulting in a capelet that drapes like liquid over the shoulders. The micro knit coat, which is double-breasted and also printed (titled Dead End, 2014), has the signature Loverboy tartan under the collar. “It’s all a sort of prelude to the show in January,” explained Charles.
Photography Darren Gerrish