Dealing with death is always a hard thing. Dealing with the death of someone you have written about is harder still — especially when what […]
Casual Elegance
Despite the best intentions of our Founding Fathers, Americans have long been crazy for aristocrats — particularly when it comes to emulating their style. In […]
Spleen On Me
Since 1863, a certain type of young man — talented perhaps, but not creative; spiritual and philosophic, yet with expensive tastes; dismissive of commercial success, […]
Born To Be Wilde
Oscar Wilde was controversial almost from the start. The languid pose he struck during his days at Magdelen College, Oxford in the 1870s would become […]
Dandy Of The Apocalypse
The Dandy Of The Apocalypse By Christian Chensvold I am the dandy of the zombie apocalypse Riding the underground tunnel amid blips, Lights […]
Dapper Fellows
In the spring of 1934, a gentleman with a neatly trimmed mustache casts an eye in the direction of the door to an office waiting […]
Dandyism As Spiritual Path
Dandyism As Spiritual Path By Christian Chensvold From “The Philosophy Of Style,” 2023 Can dandyism actually serve as a spiritual path, guiding us through the […]
The Canon
This list of canonical texts has not been updated since the belle epoque of Dandyism.net circa 2006, but perhaps it will be someday. Principal Texts […]
Refined & Debonair
Beau Brummell By Virginia Woolf, 1925 Image: John Barrymore as Brummell, 1924 When Cowper, in the seclusion of Olney, was roused to anger by the […]
Beerbohm’s “Dandies & Dandies,” 1896
Dandies and Dandies By Max Beerbohm, 1896 Image: detail of a portrait by William Rothenstein, via Merton College How very delightful Grego’s drawings are! For […]
The Art Of Wearing Clothes
The Art of Wearing Clothes: The history of this rare masculine art and of the men who practice it supremely well By George Frazier Esquire, […]
A Man For Times Of Decadence
From “Essai de psychologie contemporaine: Charles Baudelaire” by Paul Bourget La Nouvelle Revue 13, 1881 If a special nuance in the meaning of love and […]
Blackwood’s On Brummell
Beau Brummell From Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, 1844 Article unsigned Minor edits by Moonstone Research and Publications Image: Richard Mansfield as Beau Brummell, 1907 All things […]
The Dandies, 1861
The Dandies From Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature Science and Arts, 1861 By Anonymous While George III was king, a great number of remarkable events […]
Hazlitt’s Brummelliana
Brummelliana By William Hazlitt, 1828 Image: Detail from 1924 movie poster We look upon Beau Brummell as the greatest of small wits. Indeed, he may […]
Beaux Regard
Habits — good, bad and in between — start early. The other day, as I sat in my easy chair reading Christopher Hibbert’s new biography “Disraeli, […]
The Parks Of London
From “The Parks of London,” 1868 By Mary Elizabeth Braddon Image: “Portrait of Octave Maus” by Theo Van Rysselberghe But we must pass on […]
The Eccentric Mr. Brummell
Beau Brummell From “Eccentric Personages,” 1864 By W. Russell It is a solemn truth that every death-bed is the final scene of a great […]
Opposition & Revolt
The Dandy From “The Painter of Modern Life,” 1863 By Charles Baudelaire Translation by P.E. Charvet The wealthy man, who, blasé though he may be, […]
But Knot For Me
The decadent dandy has as his guidebook “Against Nature,” the “poisonous” yellow book redolent of incense that Lord Henry gives to Dorian, the catalyst for […]
King Of Fashion
Beau Brummell From “Miscellaneou Works Vol 1: Habits And Men” By John Doran, 1857 The Distinction of Nash was his impertinence; the characteristic of Orlando […]