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 […]
On Dress And Deportment
On Dress and Deportment From “Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow,” 1886 By Jerome K. Jerome They say — people who ought to be ashamed […]
Last Of The Dandies, 1862
From Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 1862 Article unsigned MR. THACKERAY tells us that having, as he supposed, created his famous Captain Costigan out of innumerable […]
Born A Dandy
From “The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table,” 1858 By Oliver Wendell Holmes Image: Sir Philip Sassoon by John Singer Sargent Dandies are not good for much, […]
Wit & Wisdom
“Style is the dress of thought.” — Lord Chesterfield “A dandy does nothing. Can you imagine a dandy addressing the common herd except to make […]
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 […]
The Vice Of High Civilization
Beau Brummell From “Wits and Beaux of Society” By Grace and Philip Wharton, 1861 It is astonishing to what a number of insignificant things high […]
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 […]
Robert de Montesquiou
Robert de Montesquiou: The Magnificent Dandy From “Elegant Wits And Grand Horizontals” By Cornelia Otis Skinner, 1962 In a charming book of memoirs Elisabeth de […]
The Dandy’s Perambulations
The Dandy’s Perambulations Author unknown, 1819 Five hours (and who can do it in less?) By Mr. Pink was spent in dressing. […]
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 […]
The Beau Of Our Times
The Beau of Our Times From Apparel Arts, Spring 1933 Article unsigned “If there were no God,” said Voltaire some little time before he embraced […]
All Hallow’s Eve
At a shopping mall near you, on a cool autumn night when all the world was fast asleep, there suddenly materialized a temporary pop-up shop […]
Radical Wolfe
Tom Wolfe has been gone long enough to warrant a documentary. “Radical Wolfe” debuted last week. Below, the trailer; above, portrait by Everett Raymond Kinstler.
Romeo & Internet
Romeo Coates By Max Beerbohm, 1896 Even now Bath glories in his legend, not idly, for he was the most fantastic animal that ever stepped upon […]
Idle Talk
Since its founding in 2004, Dandyism.net has kept track of the colorful comments made behind our backs for all the world to see on the […]
Man Of Flowers
“Reginald slid a carnation of the newest shade into the buttonhole of his latest lounge coat and surveyed the results with approval. ‘I am just […]
Chic Sheik
“Dark Lover,” by Emily W. Leider, is an eminently readable, very sympathetic account of the life and work of Rudolph Valentino. The subject comes across […]
The Jockey Horror Picture Show
While strolling the museum, I recently made the acquaintance of a top-hatted and mustachioed gentleman, who was lounging within the confines of Edouard Manet’s “Bar […]