Tilda Swinton Channels Her Hero, David Bowie, on the Red Carpet
If you didn’t already know that Tilda Swinton has a deep connection with David Bowie, you likely won’t be shocked to learn it’s true. “He just looked like me, and looked like someone from the same planet as I did,” the 61 year-old actress once told The Daily Beast about first seeing images of the late rock legend. So, we’re probably not making a risky assumption that the sharp-cut, sky blue suit Swinton stepped out in on Thursday night for a gala screening of her film The Eternal Daughter intentionally channeled Bowie’s style.
Swinton’s suit was custom from London-based designer Bella Freud. Its roomy silhouette and the decidedly wide-cut points were quite on trend (Hollywood stars and models both can’t seem to get enough of big pants lately), but there was something unmistakably Bowie about it all. The late singer seemed to have a fondness for a pale blue suit; he most memorably wore one in the Mick Rock-directed clip for his 1971 single “Life On Mars” (the same one Jessica Lange memorably payed homage to on an episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show). Swinton’s suit seems about as good as an homage as any. Of course, the actor opted out of the shocking blue eye shadow and bright red mullet Bowie wore, but her pink lip did recall his look as well.
Bowie would return to suits in that color palette time and time again throughout his life. If we had to guess, perhaps Swinton’s biggest inspiration was from Bowie’s 1983 Serious Moonlight tour. Swinton’s hair certainly seems to match the vibe.
Swinton did eventually get to meet and work with her idol, and the feeling that the two looked alike was reciprocated. Swinton appeared in two Bowie music videos, including one in which the pair played a role-swapping couple. At one point, they even dressed up as the other.
The film Swinton was celebrating the night she donned the suit is deeply personal, and the result of her bond with another British creative: director Joanna Hogg. In the arty horror flick, Swinton plays both the main character and her elderly mother–further proof of her uncanny shape-shifting abilities.
