In 1988 I graduated high school and took off on my first solo road trip, and the adventure onto which I embarked was a quest […]
Category: Columns
Gautier On Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire By Theophile Gautier, 1867 Although his existence was short — he lived scarce forty-six years — Charles Baudelaire had time to assert himself, […]
Dandies By Holbrook Jackson, 1914
In the history of dandyism, four works hold pride of place. They are, in chronological order, Barbey d’Aurevilly’s Du dandysme et de George Brummell, Baudelaire’s The […]
Eye For Elegance
Eye For Elegance By Christian Chensvold Ralph Lauren Magazine, Fall 2008 Norman Rockwell’s name is synonymous with the golden age of American illustration, while […]
Saint-Loup
First impressions of Robert de Saint-Loup From “Within a Budding Grove” By Marcel Proust, 1919 One afternoon of scorching heat I was in the dining-room […]
The Complete Dandy
From “D’Orsay, or the Complete Dandy” By W. Teignmouth Shore, 1911 Image: detail of Count d’Orsay in the National Portrait Gallery What a delightful fellow […]
Letters To A Young Dandy
My Dear Palmieri: It is a rare and wonderful gift for a curmudgeon such as myself to receive the praise of youth. It’s nice […]
Blasé In The Face of Death
In literature, dandyish characters occasionally find cause to duel. Sword in hand, Mikhail Lermontov’s dandyish Byronic hero Pechorin fights a duel on a cliff’s […]
The Dandy Horse
When one considers the classic dandyish modes of conveyance, the bicycle does not at first blush top the list. Rather, one first thinks of the […]
Beauography
I was prepared to thoroughly dislike Ian Kelly’s biography of Beau Brummell. The attendant ballyhoo when it was released was lascivious and sensational — Brummell […]
Dandy In The Otherworld
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Subtlety & Dignity
Lounging nude in a bathtub, George Brummell holds a razor to his throat. Will he remove his stubble, or end his life? This stark suicidal […]
The Golden Age Of The Dandy
The Golden Age of the Dandy By John Peale Bishop Vanity Fair, September 1920 The first dandy was, I suppose, the son of a Macaroni […]
Adventures In Beauty
There is no excitement quite like that of unwrapping books you have just gotten in the mail. Pretensions to maturity and sophistication fly out the […]