A Biographical Wardrobe | Tilda Swinton—Olivier Saillard

Revered fashion historian, curator, and museum director Olivier Saillard is known for his forward-thinking fashion presentations. Rather than soulless mannequins, his exhibitions feature minimalist installations that evoke the living body. His performances breathe life into historical garments. Saillard and Swinton have collaborated on several such presentations, with Swinton in the role of living ‘socle,’ or foundation.

Her timeless, gender-fluid appearance offers an effortless capacity to incarnate an array of historical eras and embodies a gamut of people and characters, such as “The Impossible Wardrobe,” featuring unwearable objects from the collection of the Galliera fashion museum in Paris, and “Embodying Pasolini,” in which, by reanimating costumes known for their brief lives captured on film, Swinton creates an unspoken dialogue with these ongoing traces from Pasolini’s iconic work. The latter was presented at Onassis Stegi in December 2023.

In the performance “A Biographical Wardrobe,” which takes place as part of her exhibition at Onassis Ready, Saillard and Swinton together tell the story of Swinton’s personal wardrobe, comprising garments worn by her forebears and countless costumes and outfits she has worn in films, in the public arena and continues to wear in her private life.