Grayson Perry is ace. The other night, That's Not My Age went to see the 50-year-old artist talking about a beloved item of clothing, in conversation with Maggie Semple. GP brought along a set of leathers (pronounced setaleathers) inspired by the Cerne Abbas giant which was a present from his wife Philippa in the early eighties. A keen biker, Mr Perry provided the design work for the setaleathers and chose a blue and white colourway to match his Suzuki 250, admitting that in retrospect, this was, in fact, a terrible fashion crime.
Here's Grayson as a trannie (Claire) with his wife Philippa; 'It's not an alter-ego, it's just me in a dress.'
The Turner Prize winner (2003) says that he doen't dress up if he feels obliged to, 'Doing it for publicity reasons would be abuse,'and bemoans the fact that cross-dressing has lost some of its allure now that he's started to feel like a poor man's Lady Gaga. Lovely Amanda from The Women's Room asked how getting older will affect Claire's style, 'I'm at an in-between stage at the moment but I'm quite looking forward to doing the old lady thing, not wearing make-up, like Edith Sitwell - striking woman. But I won't go down the plastic surgery route. As my wife says "Nobody every looked more intelligent after they had plastic surgery."'
Grayson Perry has an exhibition at the British Museum in October. Book early!
Do you have a treasured item of clothing?
Photos
Maggie & Grayson: Maggie Semple
Grayson in his setaleathers: Chris Scott
Grayson & Philippa: The Independent
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