If it weren’t for Barbey d’Aurevilly, you probably wouldn’t be reading this.
What do we mean? That if he hadn’t been born this week in 1808 and penned “Of Dandyism And George Brummell” in 1845, Brummell would be just a minor historical footnote, and there would likely be no philosophy of dandyism.
And while Brummell is remembered as the “father of modern costume,” Barbey could be called the godfather of retro-eccentric costume. As Ellen Moers writes in “The Dandy”:
Barbey’s own costume, as an old man… was also a reminder of dandyism, though it certainly owed nothing to Brummell. His garish wardrobe of props and disguises, like de Savigny’s sapphire earrings, proclaimed the essential doctrine of “Du Dandysme et de Georges Brummell”: disdain for the ideas and taste of the day. He affected tight black satin trousers, blood-red gloves, full-skirted frock coats, shirts with lace frills, gaudily striped capes, towering broad-brimmed hats, white linen trousers strapped under the foot and trimmed with a band of mauve silk. The extraordinary feature of this costume was not so much that it was flamboyant as that it was resolutely old-fashioned.
And without a philosophy of dandyism, it would surely have been destined to become just another historical footnote, instead of a topic to digitally vex and delight the 21st century. Not to mention serving, according to Barbey’s successor Baudelaire, as the last stroke of heroism in times of decadence. — D.NET STAFF