Interview conducted February 14, 2023

By Ryan Lowe, edited by Ben Pigott

Ryan: Who are you? Where are you from and what was your upbringing or environment like?

Arthur: I’m Arthur Boyd, I’m from the Cotswolds which is an area in the midwest of England, in Oxfordshire. I grew up in a little countryside village of about 600 people, most of them retired. I spent all 18 years of my life growing up there, I never moved once from that village. I went to other villages nearby for schools, primary schools, and secondary schools. I changed secondary schools at the end of year nine to be able to do textiles for my GCSEs, the exam that you take at the end of high school. I moved to Oxford college, the final two years of high school, in the city of Oxford to do an art and design course, which was pretty dreadful.

My mum taught me the basics of sewing, her sewing machine’s in front of me now, it’s what I’ve made everything on. She’s very good at sewing, she made her own wedding dress, not designing-wise, she follows other people’s patterns which is something I’ve never been interested in. When I was 11 we made a waistcoat together and it was really boring because we were just following a pattern. There were a couple of years that I didn’t do anything but then I got back into it by just cutting up things and putting them back together. Now I’ve come full circle, I design my own patterns and everything. I’m self-taught except for the two internships but they were mainly just assisting work, not really prominent design work. 

RL: I read that you’ve been exploring multiple mediums, like four or five. What are those mediums and how do they fuel you to create fashion?

AB: I’ve never deliberately done fashion, I’ve never deliberately done anything. It’s actually something I was just writing about, it just popped into my head literally half an hour ago, and I wrote it all down. I don’t think anyone creative should ever try to do anything. I think you should only do the things you feel compelled to do, that you feel a real urge to do, that you feel the desire to do. You shouldn’t force yourself to do anything. It might sound like it’ll never get you to be outside of your comfort zone but I think it’s something that I experience I feel the need to get outside of my comfort zone. I only do that when I feel the need, I’m not going to force myself to do it otherwise. The main thing with me, regardless of the medium, is that I just love learning things. I want to become the best at everything, which isn’t possible but it’s a nice driving factor. I like teaching myself techniques, right now I’m looking at my various film cameras which I just bought with money from working at a pub in my village. I would teach myself how to use them and how to develop the film because I was curious. Once I get good at something I tend to stop doing it because I no longer need to do it. It’s nice because with most creative mediums you can just keep getting better. I suppose the four or five mediums were fashion, fine art, printmaking, graphics, photography, and sculpture, lots of different things. I shot the looks from the latest collection. It was great fun being able to shoot all of that myself, I love photography. 

RL: What is fashion like in London and how do you create something you believe is different from the fashion industry? Why do you feel you need to play this role?

AB: It comes back to, ‘I’m not trying to do anything,’ I’m just doing and creating because I feel compelled to. I don’t really look at any fashion work of other people, I try to stay pretty detached from it. I wrote a manifesto of where I’m at right now basically saying, ‘There should be no such thing as an art world or fashion world and the creators are the last people that should be looking at what other people are doing.’ Again, if art and creation are storytelling and it’s an interpretation of your world but your entire world is only other people’s creations, then you’re just going to be formulating new designs based on other people’s designs. In order for it to actually be original, in the sense that it’s your story that you’re telling, you need to actually live a life in the real world. Process that, and the designs will come naturally. You shouldn’t try to formulate anything, it should just come naturally.

RL: Do you believe in-season work, like Spring/Summer, Autumn/Winter or is it just when Arthur’s ready to show the world?

AB: Up until the New Currency collection I’ve designed solely for myself which meant that I designed based on necessity. I never really bought clothes, I didn’t really have the money growing up and my parents would never be eager to buy me clothes. I have two older sisters and honestly wear a lot of hand-me-downs from them. When I was making clothes for myself Spring would come around and I’d be like, ‘Oh, I need some nice trousers to wear outside,’ so I made myself a nice pair of khakis. Summer would come around and I’d say, ‘I need some shorts, I need some light shirts,’ and I’d make them but, ‘Let me make them interesting, let me teach myself a new technique as I do this.’

RL: What would you say your strongest technique in fashion design is?

AB: Because I’ve developed them all equally, as I needed them, they’re all pretty much equal. For a while, I made mostly trousers and then I got into shirts… I know none of the names of these things either, I just see them. It’s sort of trial and error, I make it, okay, how do I solve this bit out, get rid of that crease, do this. Very rarely do I actually look something up or try and get someone else to teach me. I love learning techniques and teaching myself things, it’s problem-solving, it’s a puzzle. It’s entertaining and interesting, and I get something nice to wear out of it, it all works together. I’ve just started, with this collection, becoming curious about how tailors line their garments and do all of the various pad stitching. I don’t know what all the names of these things are but when they use horse hair to line things and they do tailor stitches just to slip the pin. With this collection, most of it is reinforced nicely, with the best shoulders I’ve done yet, and the best sleeves I’ve done yet. From a design point I’m like, ‘I did that shoulder really well,’ But then I look at other bits and think, ‘Well I need to improve on that for the next one,’--taking it back to my, ‘Don’t be so critical that you don’t put anything out, but critical enough on yourself that you get better.’

RL: You have a fashion collection debuting this Saturday. Tell me about that, what is your process for designing a collection? 

AB: The Reference Point is a library, a bookshop, and a bar and community space. All of the books in the library are archive and first-edition books of fine art, photography, architecture, literature, poetry, fashion design, footwear design, and magazines. They have chess night every Wednesday, poetry every Tuesday, book launches and magazine launches most Thursdays and Fridays and they did their first alternative fashion week back in September. It’s not endorsed by London Fashion Week and it’s sort of competing with them, offering an opportunity for young designers who aren’t selling things yet but have a creative expression and are a part of this Reference Point community to present. Back in September Marshall James presented his first collection, he’s a good friend of mine. In October they asked me and Marshall, Isabella Smith, and Spencer Badeau to all present a collection this February. Marshall is Friday, I’m Saturday, Spencer is Monday, and Isabella is Tuesday. 

The four of us were told, ‘You’ve got a night, do whatever you want with it. You need to have a short film and a collection.’ and that’s it. The short film was necessary because, at all Reference Point events, by the bar, they have a big wall that they project things on as visual interest. I knew this was going to be a capsule collection, I was creating it on my own, and I was aiming for about five or six looks. In the weeks prior to that, I had looked, for the first time, at victorian funeral wear – sort of just by chance. All of my design processes sort of flowing from that. Even up until that point, I feel like my designs have always been focused on elegance and fluidity. Sort of an interpretation of beauty, most coherently with the New Currency collection, that was all quite classical, inspired by Machiavelli and villains in operas in the 1920s. With this collection, I designed 15 looks – I would have been happy to present all 15 if I had the time or the team to create those, it would’ve been great, and really coherent. I’ve done three whole new looks and then a new colorway of one of the things from the New Currency collection and half of a look from the New Currency collection with a new skirt. 

I was doing some designs and it was all coherent and I liked it. Then you start thinking about models and realizing models. Three new looks for three new models – all from Reference Point, they’re all my friends there. The male model from the shoot, Oliver, I met him playing Chess at Reference Point. He had never modeled before. I asked him and he said, ‘Yeah, sure’ but once I realized he could be a model, an entire design popped into my head, straight away, for him. The same thing happened to Phoenix and Linda. What was lovely was that, when we did the shoot at a country home of a friend of my mother’s, all of the models were saying how comfortable they felt in the looks and they all really felt like themselves. They were saying, ‘I fully wear this, I love how I look it in. I feel confident and I feel comfortable.’ For me, that was the first time hearing someone say that. Up until now, I’ve created for myself, the first time creating for other people and all of them really loved it. I suppose in that way it’s collaborative but not consciously on their part, my brain imagining things for them, rather than things just for me. It’s been beautiful to say that.

RL: You’re onto something. You mentioned you’re doing this on your own, in the past have you had a fashion team or have you just been a one-man army?

AB: It’s been all by myself which is lovely because I like problem-solving and learning things. Because I love learning things I’m dreadful at deligating. We had the show rehearsal last night and we were laughing at how poor I am at delegating. I want to do everything because I like to learn, I want to become the best at everything, even if there are other people that are better than me at that moment. I’m like, ‘Yeah, but I could become better than them if I practice.’

But logistically that’s not possible, of course. I’ve had a wonderful team that’s made this happen. Jessica, who put us in contact, is a stylist full-time. I’ve known her for about a year and a half, she acted as the producer, PR agent, and assistant. We’ve been sending out physical invites – you’ll actually quite like this, I did them myself. They are on old playing cards and then my mum gave me a typewriter for Christmas and I typed the invites on the playing cards themselves. I seal the invites with the wax stamp of my family crest. When I send a letter to a friend or send an invite to a party, I do proper party invites. Whenever my friends receive a letter with the seal on the back of it, they know it’s from me. 

RL: Are you excited about this weekend? Are you nervous?

AB: Yeah, of course. I’m not nervous at all.

RL: What’re your thoughts on sustainability? 

AB: That’s really important. I only use natural fabrics even though that’s not the main reason. All of this collection is wool, linen, cotton, or silk. It’s nice that it happens to be biodegradable. It’s English wool, Irish linen, and Indian silk, it’s properly done but the main thing is that it’s way more fucking comfortable and it looks nicer. Why wouldn’t you want those things? I will never use polyester–not even a poly-blend. Never. It’s a pretty privileged thing to say, but people need to be willing to spend more on clothes and have fewer clothes. Something that I’ve thought about a lot is that I come from a place of great privilege and I can’t dictate people of less privilege buy my clothes buy less eco-friendly, more accessible clothes. What we need is an emphasis on repair and longevity, rather than just replacement. In the future, if I’m sending out clothes, they’ll come with a self-repair kit. Swatches of the same fabric and matching thread and a pack of needles, instructions for basic stitches, so that with every single garment that comes, people are able to repair it themselves. It’s a skill that’s been completely lost since about the 1950s. People used to repair clothes almost endlessly because it was way cheaper than buying new ones. People talk about durability and that’s true but even if it breaks it should be repairable. I want to make my clothes as cheap as possible but I also never want to put out excess amounts of clothes. I suppose I’d always do it on a consumer basis. I don’t know much about market mechanics and this is something that I would employ someone for, I would want to do it properly. It would never be an exclusivity thing, we would make enough for however many customers there are and never make any more than that.

RL: I wish I could come to London this weekend and scream for you!

AB: Thank you

RL: Has your family had a hold on you to make your perspective in life like this?

AB: I was going to become a ballet dancer until I was about 15 or 16. I was going to become a professional ballet dancer, and got a scholarship to a junior program at the Royal Ballet school. That was going to be the main focus. My parents always wanted me to be active and have hobbies but they didn’t care what they were. You have to do something. Whatever that is, as long as you're passionate about it, that’s always been their attitude. I went from like 18 hours a week of dance and realized I wasn’t going to pursue it professionally so I just stopped it all. They were like, ‘Okay, sure’ – they’ve always been very supportive in a sort of indifferent way, almost. Indifferent from what I do as long as I’m happy. Giving me lots of freedom. I’ve definitely learned to think.

RL: Do you want to stay in London forever?

AB: No, it’s very nice to be here. I’ve been coming here consistently for the last one or two years. It’s been nice to move here because before I was only able to come for one or two days a week, now I’m here all the time. I love the countryside, I love all of that but I know I want to travel again. I want stories to tell. If I stay in London I’m going to have nothing, it’s going to run itself out. My only world would be the creative one, not the real one. I see myself moving to Paris for some time, northern Italy, southern Italy, wherever. I see myself taking big breaks in the future, like two or three-year breaks. Go and travel, be a no-one. Fame is just going to be a byproduct of this, it’s not a goal. You need to stay grounded, whatever that means. Loyal to reality rather than the superficial world of art and fashion. I see myself moving out of London and experimenting with new techniques, working on farms, anything. 

RL: What do you want to see the fashion industry move toward?

AB: An emphasis on beauty and execution and self-respect. I want to see the dissolution of ironic design and meta-design. You shouldn’t be referencing yourself, it should be storytelling from the individual’s point of view. I think it’s objectively wrong if your entire world is fashion, it’s kind of disgusting. From a superficial standpoint, how do you hold clothes in that high of regard? Designers need to become much more self-critical and know when to step out. You shouldn’t force yourself to create. I want to see audiences become far more critical, I want to see critics become more critical and not abide by sheep herding. Critics only review what’s already popular and even then, because it’s already popular, they don’t criticize it! It prevents new voices from being heard and it amplifies what’s likely already shit because it appeals to the masses. 

RL: Do you have, on the horizon, any marvelous creations that you can tell us about? You have a way of telling a story with many layers… What does the future look like for you?
AB: It’s just the start of the year but I’m starting to get really excited about it. I fucking love what I do. I have a tailor in mind I want to go and work for immediately after the show. I’ve made no approach to them yet but I plan on walking in and showing them my work and asking to work with them. I want to learn it properly, up until now it’s been self-taught and it’s been fun. On my Instagram, I haven’t really spoken about the book, I Can’t Speak On This and I need to because that’s a good piece of work. Also this big collaborative piece I did in a cafe in Oxford. I think I called it ‘Reflections’ – I want to post that properly. I still place a great emphasis, mainly subconsciously, on performance and I think my background in dance is definitely informing a lot of my designs. Marlo, who helps run Reference Point, says that every time I come in wearing a new piece of clothing I’ve made I always move about to show how it moves – I do that subconsciously but he says I do that because it informs me. I want to explore that more deliberately, a collaboration of dance and fashion. Creating fashion for performance art, I don’t want to be known solely as a “fashion” designer. I want to place equal emphasis on all of my explorations. We plan on making a photo book from the collection, it will be nice to have that out in physical print. I’ve got a couple of magazine articles coming out. Exploring photography, poetry, and writing. I’ll see what happens, I work instinctively so I can’t plan too far ahead.