Tilda Swinton Becomes Ambassador for Cartier
This morning, Cartier unveiled the face of its new ambassador. The Scottish actress emerges as an obvious choice. Charismatic, elegant, and committed, her personality resonates particularly with the new Into the Wild collection, where panthers, crocodiles, tigers, carp, and rhinoceros mingle. At the heart of this precious fauna, Tilda Swinton seems to be like a fish in water.
The announcement is one of those that is self-evident. Tilda Swinton and Cartier: a natural pairing that the Place Vendôme brand has just revealed, mere days after the launch of its Into the Wild collection, embodied with flair by the actress in a stunning photo and video campaign. For her first campaign as an ambassador of the maison , she appears majestic in a series of portraits, alternately wearing jewelry shaped like tigers, carps, crocodiles and panthers, around her neck, wrist, or fingers. /public-objects/a193b289-e615-436d-bd16-3b2d892caaa8-2caea398-ca45-46b1-b5df-63b8e997e0aa-PUJA1368_ITW_Social_Worn_Set_Croco_Static_1920x1080.webp Image sélectionnée This new role as Cartier ambassador suits her perfectly, particularly in the context of Into the Wild , notably because Tilda Swinton has a special affinity for nature: " The glamour and mystery of the jungle and the wide savanna occupies a similar space in my imagination to the landscapes of wildernesses closer to home which I hold so dear. " According to the actress, the creatures imagined by Cartier embody precious treasures that "invoke both our admiration and our desire for companionship — they call for connection." She also mentions being moved by the whimsical and magical atmosphere of the short films produced by Cartier, to which she lends her voice to pay tribute to the craftsmanship of the artisans who worked on this collection, from gilded lacquer to mosaic, paper bas-reliefs, and marquetry. " We celebrate here the exceptional beauty of these rare techniques, and the dedication of the artisans involved ," shares Tilda Swinton. " They have created the perfect imaginary world to showcase Cartier’s savoir-faire and how it comes to life in precious wild fauna creations. " A Collection Virtuoso by Nature Craftsmanship is at the heart of this new collection. Take the Panthère jeweled watch. Crafted at the Cartier Maison des Métiers d’Art in La Chaux-de-Fonds, it brings together three crafts in harmony and illustrates the artisanal virtuosity at work in the maison 's workshops. The designer, gem-setter, and lacquerer worked hand in hand. The former envisioned this timekeeper, the gem-setter enhanced its brilliance by combining onyx, tsavorite garnets and diamonds for the feline's nose and eyes, while the latter enhanced the animal's spotted coat, drawing inspiration from vintage pieces of the house. Jewelry pieces are also a perfect example of Cartier's creativity and artisanal excellence. Garnets, aquamarines, sapphires, emeralds, chalcedonies, rubellites and diamonds adorn gold and platinum to bring these ornaments to life. On the Tiger and Crocodile necklaces and bracelets, where the head has been crafted as close to the animal's anatomy as possible, the body is flexible, moving and abstract. Each ring in the collection also represents a workshop feat. It is particularly the paving techniques that allow the reproduction of the tiger's fur, the carp's lip hem or the crocodile's scales, and this collection meets all the challenges of Cartier's savoir-faire . A Free Spirit The freedom of spirit embodied by these creatures resonates with Tilda Swinton's own character and her artistic journey. In Cartier's depiction of nature, the fauna is imbued with a tension, that of a free and assertive femininity, and the wild animals are untamed —m uch like the actress herself. A rebellious androgynous beauty who defies commercial norms, Tilda Swinton is politically engaged and favors art house cinema, faithfully collaborating with unique filmmakers like Derek Jarman, Luca Guadagnino, or Apichatpong Weerasethakul. She has made her mark in the art world, using her own body as a work of art in museums, such as at MoMA and the Serpentine, where she presented the performance The Maybe, in which she slept in a glass box, inviting reflection on time and mortality. She also participated in Ongoing, a multidisciplinary project, both a book and an exhibition, allowing this icon of art and cinema to showcase her artistic and friendly collaborations. Notes for a Radical Living , a poetic manifesto, is an excerpt from it. In this, Tilda Swinton proposes daily reminders such as "Make friends with chaos", "Challenge assumptions" or "Reach beyond the binary" in order to remain open, resilient, and connected to the world. More recently, House of Gestures , a performance announced by Dom P é rignon, conceived by Olivier Saillard and performed by Tilda Swinton, was held in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Other silent and poetic fashion shows have also been presented at the Palais de Tokyo or at the Cartier Foundation. Tilda Swinton never ceases to amaze. Bold, charismatic, avant-garde and unique, she shares the strength of character with the fauna of Into the Wild . Each seems imbued with a spirit of freedom that they impart to those who wear them. And Tilda Swinton is the perfect ambassador to showcase it.