Dressed to Kilt
Karl Lagerfeld and Tilda Swinton bring Chanel’s Scotsinspired pre-fall collection, PARIS-EDIMBOURG, to life
As inspirations go, nothing could be more befitting than a meeting of Paris and Edinburgh for Chanel’s pre-fall range that hits stores this month. Coco Chanel was a regular at the Scottish residences of the Duke of Westminster—their relationship is one of the fashion world’s most enduring love stories—and the Duke’s tweeds and cashmeres almost define Chanel today. This affair is resurrected in this year’s Métiers d’Art collection, titled Paris-Edimbourg.
Shown in December 2012 at the Linlithgow Palace in Scotland, home of the Stuarts who ruled England and Scotland, and birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots (also once queen-consort of France), Lagerfeld asked actor Tilda Swinton to pose for its campaign. “Tilda perfectly embodies the ParisEdimbourg line,” said Lagerfeld. “She is of course Scottish, and can evoke a character such as Mary Stuart while remaining resolutely modern.” The campaign shows Swinton posing against heavy tapestries, and dressed in tartans and jewels that recall the colours of the Scottish countryside.
“I think I am a common or gardenvariety Scottishrebel-hooligan. There is a warrior in this (collection). Even if the people portrayed in it are quite pious, they will always end up being quite brutal eventually,” said Swinton while being shot by Lagerfeld. “This is one of the reasons we are in front of all these tapestries,” she added.
This isn’t the first time Lagerfeld has photographed Swinton. Chanel’s recent coffeetable tome, titled The Little Black Jacket, also features her. Describing the collection as “romantic, with a touch of cruelty”, Lagerfeld added that Swinton “wasn’t just a model on this shoot, and that’s what makes it interesting.”