The Lingerie Museum has long championed the idea that what lies beneath our clothes tells a story of rebellion, identity, and artistry. So when British knitwear label Hades—founded by sisters Cassie and Isabel Holland with a distinctly punk-tinged, anti-establishment ethos—announced a second collaboration with actress and icon Tilda Swinton, we took notice. After all, Swinton’s own wardrobe choices have often blurred the lines between costume and couture, much like the intimate garments we study here.
The new six-piece capsule, titled “Notes From the Precipice,” follows their 2024 debut, which celebrated Swinton’s filmography. This time, the collection takes a more introspective turn, drawing from Swinton’s poem “Notes For Radical Living” and her 2025 Berlinale speech. The pieces—cotton skirts, dresses, and jumpers—feature screen-printed text in eco-friendly water-based ink, alongside slogans like “Make Friends With Chaos.” It’s a fitting evolution for a brand that, like the best lingerie, balances structure with subversion.
Swinton, who first approached Hades as a customer, traveled to the brand’s manufacturing factory in Hawick, Scotland, to meet the artisans behind the knits. This hands-on connection echoes the craftsmanship celebrated in historic corsetry and hosiery—garments that once required skilled hands to shape the female form. Today, Hades applies that same dedication to quality, but with a countercultural twist: deadstock fabrics, ruffled handbags, and designs that champion the strange.
As Swinton herself put it, “The spirit of Hades is vivacious and witty and enthusiastically countercultural.” For a museum dedicated to the history of lingerie—a category often dismissed as frivolous—this collaboration reminds us that clothing, even at its most intimate, can be a radical act.
Originally reported by WWD