Renowned for his flamboyant style, 45 years after Culture Club exploded onto the UK music scene, Boy George says he’s become a ‘calmer chameleon.’ Celebrating his new mindset with a massive clear out, he’s putting more than 370 items - from oversized hats to posters and fabulously colourful costumes - under the hammer..The sale at Julien’s Auctions in LA on July 14, titled Bold Luxury: Boy George Edit, is expected to draw fans of the Do You Really Want to Hurt Me singer from all over the world. But they will need a healthy bank balance, as estimates of tens of thousands of dollars have been placed on many items.George, 65, whose mantra is ‘fashion for the fragile, style for the brave,’ says the auction means saying goodbye to “the old,” after embracing the spiritual philosophy ‘The Three Principles’ - a mindfulness guide to wellbeing, which helps followers stay in the present.He says: "Going through decades of clothing, memorabilia and personal treasures for this auction has been a surprisingly cathartic experience, bringing back so many incredible memories along the way.‌"I love the idea that these pieces will find new homes where they can be seen, appreciated and enjoyed, while also making space for me to create a whole new set of memories. I am a compulsive collector, so will continue to create my version of pop culture. Some of the clothes I haven't seen for years, and I am worried if I look at them long enough, I’ll want them back!”Telling the story of George’s life, the auction collection shows his transformation from club kid to style icon and includes several outfits worn for Culture Club album and singles covers, music videos, tours and TV talk shows.Standout pieces include a pink Dexter Wong ensemble - carrying a $100,000 estimate - which he wore on the cover of debut album Colour by Numbers. It included Culture Club’s first UK number one Karma Chameleon, which sold 10 million copies worldwide.‌Of course, the 80s costume comes with a story. George says: "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’. I went into the shop and it wasn't for sale. They were selling beds. I said, ‘oh yeah, but I really want this’ and they replied, ‘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 that it is."Other gems include a yellow outfit worn on the Russell Harty chat show in 1983, a black leather jacket from The Blitz club days in London, various Philip Treacy and John Galliano hats, stage outfits from the musical Taboo and awards from former music magazine Q.There are Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier outfits and a purple plaid suit made for an early BBC appearance by George's late mother Dinah O'Dowd, who died, aged 84, in 2023. Starting out in music, aged 17, George says: "In the early days I used to go home to my mum and say ‘I got this from Oxfam. Cut the sleeves off’. I would get her to dye what I had bought.‌"She was a seamstress. She was really talented at making clothes, but I was like, ‘go off the grid’. For me it was always about DIY. I always wanted to add my own thing. I remember once Vivienne Westwood liked a pair of trousers I was wearing. She asked where I got them from and I told her my mum had made them."George still makes his own clothes, often sprucing up high street finds. But he loves riding the London Underground in his "civvies," making him incognito. He says: "When I'm not dressed up, I'm kind of less recognisable. I can slip by. I love that. But then when I dress up, it's a whole other thing.”George says discovering The Three Principles, a philosophy he began following during the COVID lockdown in 2020, has made him calmer. The spiritual teaching, created by Scottish-Canadian philosopher Sydney Banks, focuses on the mind, thought and consciousness.‌Describing it as “absolutely life changing,” he says: “From the first session, I was just in fits of laughter going, ‘oh my God, I'm making it all up’."When I was 17 or 18 or even in my 30s, I used to walk around with a lot of anxiety about everything. I think once you kind of decide that you're going to be relaxed about being who you are, being a public person, everything kind of shifts. And it's just weird how people just behave differently because you're not dragging that anxiety with you. “Before his spiritual awakening, George would fret if he was spotted when he was under dressed. While he wasn’t rude, he says: “I'd freak out. Now I'm like, ‘hi, you're going to get this version of me whatever I'm doing’. And I'm always friendly to everybody, because I'd much rather somebody walked away and thought ‘wasn't he lovely?’"‌In addition to the auction, Culture Club are playing at the Henley Festival on July 8 and will embark on a 10-date UK tour, ‘The Singles Tour’ in December. Before that, in August, George is playing King Herod in the West End revival of Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium.And a new adaptation of his 2002 musical, Taboo, charting the wild 1980s club scene, is also in the works. This all follows hot on the heels of receiving rave reviews for his role as impresario Harold Zidler in the Broadway production of Moulin Rouge.George says: "When I was on Broadway, that whole experience was so different to anything I've ever done, because I went to America and I decided to leave my insecure self in London. I thought, ‘I'm going to America. They booked me because they think I'm amazing’."So I thought ‘let's be amazing’. I went in there with a very different attitude. Even when I was going on stage every night, I'd be like, ‘this is going to be great’. So I would say, ‘this is going to be amazing. This performance is going to be great.’. Instead of sitting there panicking about, ‘what if I don't remember my lines?’ Literally say to yourself, ‘you're going to be great. This is going to be brilliant’.‌"Even if you just think it, it's amazing how you walk on and you forget that you've done it, but you go, ‘oh, that was f***ing good. Because I told myself that it was going to be good’. One of my brothers came to see me. After the show, .he said, ‘oh, it was so good, you were nothing like you’. They were all quite impressed by the fact that I was able to become the character as much as I physically could."Now, George could not be happier about his upcoming projects and feels far more sanguine than when he started in the music business, as a hungry teenager. He says: "What advice would I give to my younger self? Breathe, breathe more, breathe slower, just, yeah, and smile more, have more fun, because happiness is a choice."‌*The Bold Luxury: Boy George sale is at Julien's Auctions, LA, on July 14. For details visit www.juliensauctions.com. Culture Club play The Henley Festival on July 8. For tickets visit www.henley-festival.co.uk