SINGAPORE – Younger generations seem to have lost touch with the collective spirit that powered older cohorts of artists, said Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton to a hall of 420 local students.

The popular notion now is to treat the self as a brand and fly solo, but that is “actual nonsense”.

The 64-year-old Scottish screen icon said: “It’s a global disease, this individuation. We are all in it together and we need each other so badly.”

The Chanel ambassador was speaking at the French luxury label’s student day event at Capitol Theatre on Nov 4, where she addressed a rapt audience of youth from Nanyang Technological University, Institute of Technical Education, Lasalle College of the Arts, Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore Institute of Technology and Essec Business School.

The 1½-hour masterclass session – which also covered how local creativity inspires and enriches the global imagination – was a prelude to Chanel’s Singapore restaging of its Cruise 2025/26 runway show, which premiered in April at Lake Como, Italy.

The event’s moderator and managing editor of Monocle magazine Tyler Brule had raised the cultural turn towards chasing personal stardom, saying it “irked” ...