Callahan & Adams Books Signing At Gieves & Hawkes
Last night London witnessed possibly the most illustrious gathering of British dandies since the days of Brummell and his circle.
They had assembled at Gieves & Hawkes, No.1 Savile Row, to celebrate the British launch of Rose Callahan and Nathaniel Adams’ book “I Am Dandy: The Return of the Elegant Gentleman.” The event certainly provided an impressive array of sartorial splendors, with styles of dress on show running the gamut from full-on retro-eccentricity to contemporary elegance.
Those attending included flamboyant individualists such as Dickon Edwards and Robin Dutt, a strong Chappist faction led by Gustav Temple and Michael “Atters” Attree, as well as representatives of a more considered contemporary dandyism, such as Barima and Winston Chesterfield.
The overall effect was to leave your correspondent afflicted with a sense of sartorial indigestion and in a state of some uncertainty as to what might constitute dandyism today:
Nevertheless, the looming form of the Abercrombie & Fitch store immediately across the road stood as a reminder to all present of a common cause: that of resistance to the tide of ill-dressed barbarism that persists in sullying our streets.
As Rose Callahan said in her brief address to the assembled congregation, “Beauty and elegance matter.” — STEWART GIBSON
September 18th, 2013 at 10:31 am
“resistance to the tide of ill-dressed barbarism”
In here we have retro-eccentrics, moderates and modernists; but in the bottom we are all dandies and this proves it.
September 18th, 2013 at 10:32 pm
I will, naturally, eventually get the book but the event organizers at ‘gestalten’ were shockingly unhelpful and the overall tone of the event strikes me as exceedingly self-congratulatory. I agree with the sentiment that “beauty and elegance matter” but we mustn’t forget that one reason that elegance became socially unfashionable and almost unacceptable was the whiff of exclusivity that surrounded it.
September 19th, 2013 at 12:12 pm
Isn’t exclusivity at the heart of dandyism?
September 19th, 2013 at 10:49 pm
I think you mean exclusive in the modern sense of ‘highly refined’. I meant exclusive in the classical sense of ‘meant to exclude’ / snobbish. Free to adopt that stance, of course, but then why have blogs and post pictures? Why invite people to participate?
September 20th, 2013 at 3:38 am
I think Chenners means” exclusive” in the Regency sense.
September 20th, 2013 at 8:23 am
Peut etre. I still don’t understand why someone would extend an invitation insincerely, though.