Boy George Revisits Stylish Items From His Collection Ahead Of Auction

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 27: Boy George of Culture Club performs onstage during Uptown Festival at Blackheath Common on July 27, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Lorne Thomson/Redferns)

Redferns

Before Boy George found fame as the lead singer of the popular British band Culture Club in the early 1980s, he was one of the “Blitz kids” associated with the London nightclub of the same name that became the epicenter of the New Romantic movement. Then known by his real name, George O’Dowd, the future star made one of his earliest television appearances on the BBC program Something Else in 1979, debating about fashion. For the show, George, who was 18 at the time, wore a plaid suit designed by his mother, who was his clothing collaborator during his youth.

“I remember coaxing her to make the legs wider,” George recalls today about the outfits she worked on for him. “She had a basic pattern. And I was like, ‘Maybe a bit more here.’ She’d be like, ‘You look like a clown.’ I was like, ‘Perfect.’”

Forty-seven years after that TV appearance, George still has the plaid suit. “What’s lovely about it is it’s actually in quite good condition considering how that was worn till it danced off on its own,” George says. “It was one of my mum’s triumphs. She could never believe that it was still in my wardrobe. She’d go, ‘Jesus, you still have that?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I still have that.’”

That outfit is one of over 350 items from the last 45 years — including clothing, artwork, dolls, posters and framed record sales awards — from the star’s collection that he is now auctioning through Julien’s Auctions. Titled Bold Luxury: Boy George Edit — whose press preview occurred at New York City’s Soho Grand Hotel last week — the live auction will take place on July 14, and fans can now register to bid online ahead of the event.

“Some of them I haven’t seen for years, and I am worried if I look at them long enough, I want them back,” he charmingly jokes. “Obviously you romanticize it in hindsight; you go, ‘Oh, look at that.’ If I could step into those clothes being the person I am now, I would do it all day long. I would never not be dressed.”

Taken together, the items in Bold Luxury tell the story of George’s life and document his transformation into a style icon; he had previously worn several of the outfits for Culture Club album and singles covers, music videos, tours and TV talk show appearances.

“I’d like to do something at some point where you do a musical cultural map,” he explains, “because there’ll be stories within stories of like what influenced me when I first started dressing up — what was I trying to be: Liz Taylor, Carmen Miranda, a bit of Mae West, a bit of the Marx Brothers, a bit of Fred Astaire. Just that whole glamour for the sake of glamour.”

In addition to the plaid suit, a black leather jacket from 1979 that George wore to the Blitz in his younger days is one of the oldest items featured in the auction. At the time, the music and style scene in the U.K. shifted from punk to the New Romantics.

“Punk was my regular look,” he says. “And then punk got a bit sort of political, more angry, more about protesting certain ideas. In a way, we felt like we were doing that anyway. [I] remember the Sex Pistols on Bill Grundy’s show [in 1976] swearing. I remember my parents being so horrified, and it was such a beautiful moment. [They said,] “Back off, back off.” I was like, “I’m watching TV.” You didn’t even hear that in your own house. [The f-] word wasn’t used often. And it certainly wasn’t something you’d see on the TV. So it was a kind of exciting time to be a teenager.”

In 1981, George co-founded the band Culture Club, which became one of the most popular groups in the U.K. and later in the U.S. Along with the music, George became renowned for his flamboyant appearance and fashion sense. One of the items of note in the auction is the Foundry trousers from 1980, designed by Sue Clowes, who helped shape Culture Club’s look during the band’s early years. Her designs incorporated and combined messages (among them war and peace, tribalism and religion) and the band members’ cultural heritages.

“She was definitely doing the printing, and she came up with all her own ideas—kind of the dualities in a way,” George says. ”Because I think life is really a series of dualities: love and hate, left and right, up and down, black and white. There are always shades along the way as well, but as a rule, it’s quite a good template to log into, because how would the left know what it was if there was no right and how would the right know what it was?”

Some of the other items featured in the auction include a “pearly king” cap by John Galliano; a ruffle blouse from Vivienne Westwood; and several hats designed by Philip Treacy.

“John Galliano was one of those people who emerged on the scene,” George says. “There were whispers that he was someone special. He was bringing some new things to the party, but also being very observant of what was going on. That’s the great trait of Galtier, Galliano, McQueen. Although Vivienne was much more of a kind of instigator, there was something daring about what she did.”

The item from Bold Luxury expected to fetch the most money (estimated between $50,000 and $100,000) is a 1983-1984 Colour By Numbers tour performance-worn ensemble from the height of Culture Club’s popularity around the world.

“That ensemble came about after a very rare trip to Spain,” he explains. “I was in Madrid, and I saw this bedspread in a furniture shop. I was like, ‘Oh my God, look at that. It’s so good. I can make that into a fabulous outfit.’ So I went into the shop, and it wasn’t for sale. They were selling beds. And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, but I really want this.’ And they were like, ‘Well, we don’t know what to charge you.’ So they actually gave me a discount. I bought the bedspread, I took it back to London and had it made into the fabulous outfit for that it is.”

Whether it’s in his music, fashion or both, George’s sense of combining styles has always been part of his creative DNA. “I’ve had excessive periods in my life where I’ve spent too much on clothes, but I’ve never really been the person that wants to go out head-to-toe in someone’s [outfit], whatever it may be. I don’t need to pick a brand. Of course, I’ve done stuff for all of them.

“I love fashion, but I also love style more. I think ‘fashion for the fragile, style for the brave.’ And you don’t necessarily have to be fashionable to be stylish. You could be some mad old guy with like this big spiked hair and great glasses and just have that attitude that you’re in your skin. There’s so many ways to wear yourself. I think that’s a really nice lesson.”

The proceeds from the auction will go to the nonprofit MusiCares, which provides financial help and services to those in the music industry in need. “I’m a musician,” George says. “I hope that I will always be taken care of. I hope that I will continue to work and be able to provide that freedom for myself. It’s good to have something that helps people who don’t have that possibility. Often these people have done amazing things, but they have just been forgotten, or their families have gone.”

This year marks a busy time for George, who celebrated his 65th birthday on June 14. In addition to the auction, he and the other members of Culture Club will be touring later in the year with ABC and Haircut 100. Most recently, Culture Club unveiled an AI-assisted version of their classic 1983 smash “Karma Chameleon” through Artists Included. Co-founded by Paul “PK” Kemsley (George’s manager) and Jeremy Rosen, Artists Included is an AI music company whose focus, per a news release, is on helping “iconic artists reclaim creative participation, ownership, and long-term value in their music.”

George says that the band is already reimagining other previous recordings via the technology such as “It’s a Miracle” and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.” “Artists Included is really for classic recordings,” he says. “It’s for ownership of things that you’ve lost control of. Maybe you’re not in the same voice. I love my voice now…Although, would I object to me doing a version of something with Madonna and me in our original voices? The most hilarious thing ever.”

As far as the upcoming live auction goes, George hopes that those who successfully bid for his items come away with big smiles on their faces. “That would be the most important thing, wouldn’t it? It’d be interesting whether people buy it to hang it or to wear it. I mean, you’d have to be quite ghoulish, have a lot of chutzpah to buy something and step out in it. I mean, I would love it, as long as it’s done well and it brings on that feeling. But then also at the same time, you have to kind of let go. There are more things. So I’m not going to stop being a collector.”

Bold Luxury: Boy George Edit will take place on July 14. For information and to register to bid, visit juliensacution.com.