Grayson Perry discusses ‘intuition around the language of dress’ ahead of knighthood ceremony

The 62-year-old artist was made a Knight Bachelor for services to the arts in the New Year Honours list

Sir Grayson Perry says that he will contact his dressmaker to create an outfit to wear to the New Year’s Honours ceremony, where he will receive a knighthood.

Perry, an artist, writer and broadcaster – known for his tapestries, ceramic works and cross-dressing – was made a Knight Bachelor for services to the arts in the New Year Honours list.

The 62-year-old said he has “intuition around the language of dress” that should prove useful for the ceremony. He often explores fashion, conformity and prejudice in his work, and appears in public as his female alter-ego, Claire.

In 2014, he became a CBE after an investiture by the King when he was the Prince of Wales. Perry wore what he called his “Italian mother of the bride” outfit – a midnight-blue dress with a wide-brimmed black hat – for the occasion where he was recognised for services to contemporary art.

In his 2016 Channel 4 programme Grayson Perry: All Man, he put himself in three ultra-male worlds to see what their masculinity explained about the changing lives and expectations of men in modern Britain.

Perry’s other Channel 4 programmes include Why Men Wear Frocks, Grayson Perry’s Big American Road Trip, Rites of Passage, Divided Britain, and Who Are You?.

His recent hit TV series Grayson’s Art Club was launched in April 2020 with his wife Philippa Perry, a trained artist who is best known as a psychotherapist, columnist and author.

The pair have made two series, soon amassed more than a million viewers each week.

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In 2020, Perry won the prestigious Netherlands-based Erasmus Prize, awarded each year to an individual or institution who has made a major contribution to the arts, humanities or sciences, in Europe and beyond.

The artist was praised by judges for “demonstrating that art belongs to everybody and should not be an elitist affair”, and was given what was then worth 150,000 euros (£127,000).

The largest-ever retrospective of Sir Grayson’s work will take place at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh from 22 July to 12 November 2023.

Additional reporting by agencies