Dandy 8859 224989456 2008-07-11T09:58:24Z Egeese 7459032 /* External links */ {{Otheruses4|the persons}} [[Image:Dandys 1830.jpg|thumb|upright|Sporty Parisian dandies of the 1830s: a girdle helped one achieve this silhouette. The man on the left wears a [[frock coat]], the man on the right wears a [[morning coat]]]] A '''dandy'''<ref>"One who studies ostentatiously to dress fashionably and elegantly; a [[fop]], an exquisite." ([[OED]]).</ref> (also known as a beau, gallant or flamboyant person<ref>{{cite book | title=Oxford English Dictionary | date = 1989 | url=http://dictionary.oed.com |quote=dude, n. U.S. A name given in ridicule to a man affecting an exaggerated fastidiousness in dress, speech, and deportment, and very particular about what is æsthetically ‘good form’; hence, extended to an exquisite, a dandy, ‘a swell’. | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref>) is a man who places particular importance upon [[physical appearance]], refined language, and leisurely hobbies. Historically, especially in late 18th- and early 19th-century [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]], a dandy, who was self-made, often strove to imitate an [[aristocratic]] style of life despite coming from a [[middle-class]] background. Given these connotations, dandyism can be seen as a political protestation against the rise of [[egalitarian]] principles — often including nostalgic adherence to feudal or pre-industrial values, such as the ideals of "the perfect gentleman" or "the autonomous aristocrat".{{Fact|date=March 2008}} Though previous manifestations, of [[Alcibiades]], and of the ''petit-maître'' and the ''muscadin'' have been noted by John C. Prevost,<ref>''Le Dandysme en France (1817-1839)'' (Geneva and Paris) 1957.</ref> the modern practice of dandyism first appeared in the revolutionary 1790s, both in [[London]] and in [[Paris]]. The dandy cultivated skeptical reserve, yet to such extremes that the novelist [[George Meredith]], himself no dandy, once defined "cynicism" as "intellectual dandyism"; nevertheless, the [[Scarlet Pimpernel]] is one of the great dandies of literature. Some took a more benign view; [[Thomas Carlyle]] in his book ''Sartor Resartus'', wrote that a dandy was no more than "a clothes-wearing man". [[Charles Baudelaire]], in the later, "metaphysical," phase of dandyism<ref>See Prevost 1957.</ref> defined the dandy as one who elevates [[æsthetics]] to a living religion,<ref>Baudelaire, in his essay about painter [[Constantin Guys]], "The Painter of Modern Life".</ref> that the dandy's mere existence reproaches the responsible citizen of the middle class: "Dandyism in certain respects comes close to spirituality and to [[stoicism]]" and "These beings have no other status, but that of cultivating the idea of beauty in their own persons, of satisfying their passions, of feeling and thinking .... Contrary to what many thoughtless people seem to believe, dandyism is not even an excessive delight in clothes and material elegance. For the perfect dandy, these things are no more than the symbol of the aristocratic superiority of his mind." ==Etymology== The word ''dandy'' first appears in a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[Scottish Borders|border]] [[ballad]], circa 1780,{{Dubious|date=March 2008}} but probably without its more recent meaning. The original, full form of 'dandy' may have been ''jack-a-dandy'', ([http://56.1911encyclopedia.org/D/DA/DANDY.htm ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' 1911]); it was a [[vogue]] word during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. In that contemporary [[slang]], 'a dandy' was differentiated from 'a [[fop]]' in that the dandy's dress was more refined and sober than the fop's. In the 21st century, the word "dandy" is a jocular, often sarcastic adjective meaning "fine" or "great", while "a dandy" refers to a well-groomed, well-dressed, and self-absorbed man. ==Beau Brummell and early British dandyism== The model dandy in [[United Kingdom|British]] society was [[Beau Brummell|George Bryan "Beau" Brummell]] (1778-1840), an undergraduate student at [[Oriel College, Oxford|Oriel College]], [[Oxford]], and an associate of the [[George IV of the United Kingdom|Prince Regent]]: ever unpowdered, unperfumed, immaculately bathed and shaved, and dressed in a plain, dark blue coat, perfectly brushed, perfectly fitted, showing much perfectly starched linen, all freshly laundered, and composed with an elaborately knotted [[cravat]]. From the mid 1790s, Beau Brummell was the early incarnation of 'the [[celebrity]]' man chiefly famous for being a laconically witty clothes-horse.{{Facts|date=March 2008}} By the time [[William Pitt the Younger|Pitt]] taxed hair powder in 1795 to help pay for the war against France, Brummell had already abandoned wearing a wig, and had his hair cut in the Roman fashion, "à la Brutus". Moreover, he led the transition from [[breeches]] to snugly tailored dark "[[pantaloon]]s," which directly lead to contemporary trousers, the sartorial mainstay of men's clothes in the Western world for the past two centuries. In 1799, upon coming of age, Beau Brummell inherited from his father a fortune of thirty thousand pounds, which he spent mostly on costume, gambling, and high living. In 1816 he suffered bankruptcy, the dandy's stereotyped fate; he fled his creditors to France, quietly dying in 1840, in a [[lunatic asylum]] in [[Caen]], just before age 62.{{Facts|date=March 2008}} Men of more notable accomplishment than Beau Brummell also adopted the dandiacal pose: [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron]] occasionally dressed the part, helping re-introduce the frilled, lace-cuffed and lace-collared "poet shirt." In that spirit, he had his portrait painted in Albanian costume.{{Facts|date=March 2008}} [[Image:Murat2.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Joachim Murat]] – the French [[King of Naples]], is dubbed the "Dandy King" because of his flawless appearance.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=dZbjtGC48-8C&pg=PA247&lpg=PA247&dq=joachim+murat+%22dandy+king%22&source=web&ots=JDwyaDnJ4Y&sig=q6GB320S3gY6cw38PPIlA-BuwHg&hl=en 10,000 Famous Freemasons from K to Z]</ref>]] Another prominent dandy of the period was [[Alfred Guillaume Gabriel d'Orsay]], the Count d'Orsay, who had been friends with Byron and moved in the highest social circles of London. ==Dandyism in France== The beginnings of dandyism in France were bound up with the politics of the [[French revolution]]; the initial stage of dandyism, the [http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/456/ gilded youth], was a political statement of dressing in an aristocratic style in order to distinguish its members from the [[sans-culottes]]. During his heyday, Beau Brummell's ''dictat'' on both fashion and etiquette reigned supreme. His habits of dress and fashion were much imitated, especially in [[France]], where, in a curious development, they became the rage, especially in [[bohemianism|bohemian]] quarters. There, dandies sometimes were celebrated in revolutionary terms: self-created men of consciously designed personality, radically breaking with past traditions. With elaborate dress and idle, [[decadence|decadent]] styles of life, French bohemian dandies sought to convey [[contempt]] for and superiority to bourgeois society. In the latter 19th century, this fancy-dress bohemianism was a major influence on the [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolist movement]] in French literature.{{Facts|date=March 2008}} Baudelaire was deeply interested in dandyism, and memorably wrote that a dandy aspirant must have "no profession other than elegance ... no other status, but that of cultivating the idea of beauty in their own persons ... The dandy must aspire to be sublime without interruption; he must live and sleep before a mirror." Other French intellectuals also were interested in the dandies strolling the streets and [[boulevard]]s of Paris. [[Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly]] wrote ''The Anatomy of Dandyism'', an essay devoted, in great measure, to examining the career of Beau Brummell.{{Facts|date=March 2008}} ==Later dandyism== The gilded 1890s provided many suitably sheltered settings for dandyism. The poets [[Algernon Swinburne]] and [[Oscar Wilde]], [[Walter Pater]], the American artist [[James McNeill Whistler]], [[Joris-Karl Huysmans]], and [[Max Beerbohm]] were dandies of the period, as was [[Robert de Montesquiou]] — [[Marcel Proust]]'s inspiration for the Baron de Charlus; in [[Italy]], [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]] and [[Carlo Bugatti]] exemplified the artistic bohemian dandyism of the [[fin de siecle]].{{Facts|date=March 2008}} The 20th century has been impatient with dandyism:{{POV-statement|date=March 2008}} the [[Prince of Wales]], briefly [[Edward VIII of the United Kingdom|Edward VIII]] was a dandy; it did not increase his public appeal. Nevertheless [[George Walden]], in the essay ''Who's a Dandy?'', identifies [[Noël Coward]], [[Andy Warhol]], and [[Quentin Crisp]] as modern dandies. In [[Japan]], dandyism became a fashion subculture during the late 1990s.{{Fact|date=March 2008}} The artist, writer, and hedonist [[Sebastian Horsley]] identifies himself as a dandy, and discusses the subject at length in his biography. ==Female dandies== {{Refimprovesect|date=May 2008}} The female counterpart is a [[quaintrelle]]. In the 1810s, when ''dandy'' had a more immature definition of "fop" or "over-the-top fellow", the female equivalents were ''dandyess'' or ''dandizette''. Charles Dickens, in ''All the Year Around'' (1869) comments, "The dandies and dandizettes of 1819-1820 must have been a strange race. ''Dandizette'' was a term applied to feminine devotees to dress and their absurdities were fully equal to those of the dandy." In 1819, the novel ''Charms of Dandyism'' was published "by Olivia Moreland, chief of the female dandies"; although probably written by Thomas Ashe, "Olivia Moreland" may have existed, as Ashe did write several novels about living persons. Throughout the novel, dandyism is associated with "living in style". Later, as the word ''dandy'' evolved to denote refinement, it became applied solely to men. ''Popular Culture and Performance in the Victorian City'' (2003) notes this evolution in the latter 1800s: "...or ''dandizette'', although the term was increasingly reserved for men." Female dandies became extinct and then went on to develop their own distinct philosophy, quaintrellism, apart from male influences. Possible 19th century quaintrelles could be found in the [[demimonde]], in such extravagant women as the courtesan [[Cora Pearl]], while the [[Luisa Casati|Marchesa Luisa Casati]] lived a dandy's career in post–[[World War I]] [[Venice]]. Analogously, the artistic [[diva]] might be considered a quaintrelle. Possible 20th century quaintrelles include [[Coco Chanel]] and [[Lady Annabel Goldsmith]]. ==Quotations== {{quotation|A Dandy is a clothes-wearing Man, a Man whose trade, office and existence consists in the wearing of Clothes. Every faculty of his soul, spirit, purse, and person is heroically consecrated to this one object, the wearing of Clothes wisely and well: so that the others dress to live, he lives to dress ... And now, for all this perennial [[Martyrdom]], and Poesy, and even [[Prophecy]], what is it that the Dandy asks in return? Solely, we may say, that you would recognise his existence; would admit him to be a living object; or even failing this, a visual object, or thing that will reflect rays of light....|[[Thomas Carlyle]], "The Dandiacal Body", in ''[[Sartor Resartus]]''}} {{quotation| How would I describe myself? Well, I'm a clothes-wearing Man, a Man whose trade, office and existence consists in the wearing of Clothes. Every faculty of my soul, spirit, purse, and person is heroically consecrated to this one object, the wearing of Clothes wisely and well: so that the others dress to live, I live to dress ... And now, for all this perennial Martyrdom, and Poesy, and even Prophecy, what is it that I ask in return? Solely, I may say, that you would recognise my existence; would admit me to be a living object; or even failing this, a visual object, or thing that will reflect rays of light.... I also collect stamps. |[[Emmet McDermott]], "My Dandiacal Body"''}} {{quotation|One should either be a work of Art, or wear a work of Art|[[Oscar Wilde]]''}} ==See also== * [[Bourgeois personality]] * [[Flâneur]] * [[Incroyables]] * [[Maccaroni (fashion)|Maccaroni]] * [[Metrosexual]] * [[Popinjay]] * [[Yankee Doodle Dandy]] == Notes == {{Reflist}} ==Further reading== * Barbey d'Aurevilly, Jules. ''Of Dandyism and of George Brummell''. Translated by Douglas Ainslie. New York: PAJ Publications, 1988. * Carassus, Émile. ''Le Mythe du Dandy'' 1971. * Carlyle, Thomas. ''Sartor Resartus''. In ''A Carlyle Reader: Selections from the Writings of Thomas Carlyle''. Edited by G.B. Tennyson. London: Cambridge University Press, 1984. * Jesse, Captain William. ''The Life of Beau Brummell''. London: The Navarre Society Limited, 1927. * [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton|Lytton, Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton]]. ''Pelham or the Adventures of a Gentleman''. Edited by [[Jerome McGann]]. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972. * Moers, Ellen. ''The Dandy: Brummell to Beerbohm''. London: Secker and Warburg, 1960. * Murray, Venetia. ''An Elegant Madness: High Society in Regency England''. New York: Viking, 1998. * Nicolay, Claire. ''Origins and Reception of Regency Dandyism: Brummell to Baudelaire''. Ph. D. diss., Loyola U of Chicago, 1998. * Prevost , John C., ''Le Dandysme en France (1817-1839)'' (Geneva and Paris) 1957. * Stanton, Domna. ''The Aristoicrat as Art'' 1980. * Wharton, Grace and Philip. ''Wits and Beaux of Society''. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1861. ==External links== * [http://www.eldandy.net/index.php ''El Dandy.net''], The best Dandyism and Dandy Web. In Spanish * [http://nigeltewksbury.blogspot.com The Diary of a Modern Dandy] * [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255-s01/boheme/dandyism.html "Bohemianism and Counter-Culture": The Dandy] * [http://theflaneurblog.com The Flâneur Blog: 'modern hypertext, fin de siècle flair'] * [http://www.dandyism.net Dandyism.net] * [http://www.dandymag.com Dandymag.com] * [http://www.dandyism.net/illuminatingmanu.html Charles Baudelaire, essay on dandyism from "The Painter of Modern Life"], about the artist [[Constantin Guys]]. * [http://www.ditl.info/arttest/art592.php ''Dictionnaire International des termes littéraires'':] "Dandy" Extended definitions and analysis (French) * [http://www.gbacg.org/Articles/dandy.pdf Dandyism: Beyond Fashion (.pdf file)] * [http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~awoodley/regency/dandy.html "The Dandy"] * [http://www.albany.edu/faculty/rlp96/beerbohm.html ''Dandies and Dandies''] by [[Max Beerbohm]] * [http://www.livejournal.com/community/refinement/ Refinement (forum)] * [http://www.noveporte.it/dandy Il Dandy, in Italian] * [http://www.lordwhimsy.com LordWhimsy.com] * [http://www.mmbeyer.com/Papers/Art_History/Mike's/Duchamp.htm "Duchamp is Dandy"] by Michael Beyer * Shubow, Justin. [http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.874/article_detail.asp "The Prince and the Dandy"]: a review of Nicholas Antongiavanni's ''The Suit: A Machiavellian Approach to Men's Style''. ''The Claremont Review of Books'', Fall 2006. [[Category:Human appearance]] [[Category:History of clothing (Western fashion)]] [[Category:Men]] <!-- The below are interlanguage links. --> [[de:Dandy]] [[es:Dandi]] [[eo:Dando]] [[fr:Dandy]] [[it:Dandysmo]] [[nl:Dandy]] [[ja:ダンディ]] [[ru:Денди (щёголь)]] [[fi:Dandy]] [[sv:Dandy]]