Katrina Rees
The iconic Boy George is the latest cover star of 10 Men Magazine.
In addition to appearing on the cover, he had the opportunity to speak to the magazine about his iconic debut appearance on Top of the Pops, his thoughts on plastic surgery, and the exciting prospect of a new TV programme.
Boy George also spoke about his Dior Homme partnership, and how its origin began as a joke. He was announced as a star of the brand’s latest campaign alongside A$AP Rocky, Ernest Klimko, and Rami Malek, back in January.
On modelling for Dior Homme:
“You know what was really funny about the whole modelling thing? I’d made a joke to my manager and told him, ‘I want to do some modelling,’ and he was like, ‘I’d probably give that idea up if I were you.’ ‘No, I know!’ I said. ‘But wouldn’t it be funny if I did some modelling at my age? It would be great!’ And he said ‘Well, you know… whatever.’”[a month later] “He said, ‘You know you asked me about doing some modelling? Well, do you want to start really big?’ I said ‘Why, who’s interested?’ He said, ‘Dior,’ and I said ‘Oh, that’s a good one, let’s do that!”
On his iconic debut appearance on Top of the Pops with Culture Club:
“I thought I was really worldly. I thought I knew everything. Ha! I didn’t know shit.”
On plastic surgery:
“I’ve had] no work [done] whatsoever. No way!…I love women talking about other women who’ve had loads of surgery – ‘Oh they haven’t aged a bit,’…Does anybody actually age anymore? I think the smart thing is probably to have a facelift rather than all the fillers.”
On the prospect of a TV programme celebrating his 1991 hit Bow Down Mister:
“I don’t know if it will ever happen, but a song I wrote called Bow Down Mister, well we’re talking about maybe doing a TV programme where I go back to India and go to all those places mentioned in the song.”
Dior Homme’s artistic director, Kris Van Assche, on Boy George:
“Boy George is, for me, the ultimate reference from when I was a teenager. He was screaming, saying that difference was OK – that you could actually celebrate difference – which is so not the mood of the moment now. So I felt like everybody needed a little wake-up call with everything that’s going on in the world…I feel like he definitely made a big difference in the lives of many young people in my generation…What he and others managed to do in the 1980s, I’m not sure artists get away with nowadays, weirdly enough. It’s very strange. I find we live in a very conservative moment. He was a flamboyant, eccentric image. He made a huge impact on the political side of things.”
You can read more on Boy George’s 10 Men cover feature here.
You can also catch him performing at Children in Need Rocks the 80s this October. Tickets available here.
