Grayson Perry: Pure Class

‘There is no such thing as good or bad taste,’ argues Grayson Perry. ‘Good taste is just something that doesn’t alienate your peers, that helps you fit in with your tribe’

Bold as brass
“Naturalness is a bit boring,” says Perry. The working class prefers “beauty you can measure with a ruler”: spray tans, big hair, fake breasts if you’re a woman, tattoos and pumped-up pecs if you’re a man — who ideally boasts a dazzling set of wheels.”

Goody two-shoes
“Underpinning all middle-class taste is an unconscious desire to project the idea that I am a nice person, with a shiny house, a shiny car and a shiny wife. Branded consumerism: bad taste. Organic food and cultural capital: good taste. But the good taste seems to involve a lot of consumerism, too.” Middle-class essentials include coffee, Ikea, Cath Kidston, olive oil, “retro vintage” and “green” baby clothes.

Tough at the toff
For the upper class, “taste is dictated by their ancestors beyond the grave. They don’t really have any taste at all; they’re just trying to hang on to what they’ve got. They’ll live in a tired house and drive a Morris Traveller. The posher the person, the less they have to prove.”

Postscript to a smashing Sunday Times Magazine interview with Grayson Perry.
Grayson has a new TV series and exhibition on the class/taste nexus coming up.
All in the Best Possible Taste with Grayson Perry starts on Tuesday at 10pm on Channel 4.
The Vanity of Small Differences is at London's Victoria Miro gallery from Thursday.
Can't wait.

Update: Start The Week: Grayson Perry at Charleston Festival.