A
dandy, also
known as a
beau or
gallant, is a man who places particular importance upon
physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the
appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self.
The female
counterpart is a quaintrelle. In the 12th century, cointerrels (male) and
cointrelles (female) emerged, based upon coint, indicating a person of
beautiful dress and refined speech. By the 18th century, coint became quaint,
indicating elegant speech and beauty. Middle English dictionaries note
quaintrelle as a beautifully dressed woman (or overly dressed), but do not
include the favorable personality elements of grace and charm. The notion of a
quaintrelle sharing the major philosophical components of refinement with
dandies is a modern development, one which returns quaintrelles to their
historic roots.
So a dandy
is a name for a man who pays great attention to dress and fashion and often
dresses with a flamboyant style. The term was first used in the late eighteenth
century, but became better defined in the early nineteenth century. At first,
"dandy" referred to a group of trendsetting young aristocrats in England. Other names for dandies include
beaus, mashers, macaronis, fops, and exquisites. Although first used to refer
to a flamboyant dresser, by the nineteenth century a dandy was a man who
dressed with a careful stylishness. In the twenty-first century the term
"dandy" is still used to refer to either a fastidious or a flamboyant
dresser.
Dandyism
had its roots in the Macaroni Club formed in London, England, in the 1760s by a group of rich
young Englishmen who had just returned from a tour of Italy. The Macaronis championed elaborate
and exaggerated styles of dress. They loaded themselves down with layer after
layer of lace ruffles and gold embroidery and wore knee buckles, striped
stockings, and shoes with bright red heels. Some of them sported wigs that were
at least a foot high, topped by a tricorne, or three-cornered, hat. In fact,
the lyric from the famous American patriotic song "Yankee Doodle":
"Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni," refers to these
early dandy fashions.
Accessories
were critical to the dandy's style. The typical dandy carried a long
gold-knobbed, tasseled walking stick and was never seen in public without his bejewelled
snuff box, in which he carried chewing tobacco. To ward off bad odours he may
have carried an artificial nosegay, a small bunch of flowers, or worn powder or
perfume. Many dandies brandished swords with diamond handles and hung two fobs,
or pocket watches, from their elegantly tailored waistcoats. These early
dandies, many of whom adopted the name "Beau," developed a reputation
for grace and coolness. Before long, dandy styles popularized by the English macaronis
began migrating to the European continent. In France the Incroyables (the Unbelievables)
of the 1790s combined fashionable fantasy garments and English country clothes.
The most
famous dandy of all, and the man who truly changed the course of men's fashion,
was George Bryan "Beau" Brummell (1778–1840). The son of an English
butler who was educated at Oxford, a prestigious university in England, Brummell resisted some of the more
flamboyant trends of his day. He dressed simply and plainly, preferring wool
and cotton fabrics, carefully tailored jackets, and ankle length, loose-fitting
trousers in dark or neutral colors worn with white shirts. A typical outfit for
Brummell consisted of a blue woolen tailcoat with brass buttons, buckskin
colored pantaloons (loose-fitting trousers), and immaculately polished boots.
And he didn't wear a wig or makeup. The only item of elaborate clothing he wore
was his necktie—a large bow-tied cravat, a scarf tied around the neck.
Brummell's
contribution to fashion was to set a new standard of elegance and ideal of
perfection in male dress. He stressed the importance of neatness and
cleanliness, as well as refinement and restraint. Brummell took up to five
hours to dress every day, though his goal was to make it appear as though he
had not. He was one of the first to take regular baths (a custom which was
catching on quickly in nineteenth-century Europe), priding himself on the fact that he did not
need to wear perfume. It was said that he had three separate hairdressers: one
for his forelock, or bangs, one for the hair at the back of his head, and one
for his sideburns. He sent his shirts out of town to be washed because he
didn't think London laundresses could bleach them white enough.
Beau
Brummell's fame and influence long outlived him. Through his friendship with
the future British king George IV (1762–1830), he left a lasting mark on
English fashion. Though the dandies are long gone, and often mocked in comedies
about the period for their excessive manner of dress, men in the West continue
to wear trousers and somber colors and to dress themselves in the elegant style
set by these fashion pioneers.
Oscar Wilde
was much more than a witty wordsmith who created plays, novels and poems that
still feel modern today. He was also a trendsetter, a party animal and a dandy
from head to toe. He is probably the world’s most famous dandy, and could be
seen walking down Piccadilly with his long hair, lavender-coloured gloves,
velvet coat, white silk cravat and flowered waistcoat. Sometimes he even held a
lily in his hand.
The Dandy
and its subgenres:
The
butterfly Dandy: Joyaux of the fashion world
The
romantic Dandy: The lover of elegance past
The esthete
Dandy: The well-dressed artist
The
decadent Dandy: The Philospher of fun
The Dandy
striving after elegance and this is his ultimate and unique goal. Everything he
does is designed to be social elegant presentation to make, so great care must
be taken not only appear in his extravagant clothes but with a personality. A
dandy is a man whose pursuit of elegance in dress, manners, etc. to highest
target set.
The
Butterfly Dandy: butterflies dandyism was Joyaux of the fashion world for most
of the Victorian period and although they did not meet the rules for dandyism
is inspired by Brummel and deeply marked in the world of fashion for men. Even
until today
The
Romantic Dandy loves elegance. Like the first dandy he knows this to embody and
like the Decadent enjoys full of fun. He adores the past, and the elegance they
contain and crying: how could such an elegance lost! The Romantic loves
elegance and want to catch anywhere.
The
Romantic is the Gothic temperament par excellence.
An esthete
is an artist. His life is built around his art and he lives for his own
creativity. A wardrobe esthete, manners, style, conversation will generally
focus on the impressive, capturing attention, and entertaining to those to whom
he speaks, he lives for the crowd.
The
decadents are philosophers of fun. They look elegant, but not for himself as
the first. The fashion for the Decadent is rich, colorful and inspires an
almost tactile admiration. Decadents life for love elegance and beauty and
dress accordingly.
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) is a British
rock group from 
Electric Light Orchestra was often rejected
by critics as a pallid 1970's imitation of psychedelic-era Beatles. This
critique was unfair and shortsighted but there is no doubt that group
mastermind Jeff Lynne wore his Beatles influence on his sleeve. The ultimate
example of this tendency was "Mr. Blue Sky", a multi-layered pop
treat that was a pure Beatles pastiche. This song closed the "Concerto For
A Rainy Day" side of Out Of The Blue and its lyrics celebrate the
emergence of the title character to end a day of rain: "Mister Blue
Sky/Please tell us why/ You had to hide away for so long/Where did we go
wrong?" The music divides its time between verses that repeat the same two
notes to hypnotic effect a la "I Am The Walrus" and an effervescent,
constantly-ascending chorus that recalls. Electric Light Orchestra’s recording
of "Mr. Blue Sky" takes the Beatles references even further: the
staccato bassline recalls the chorus of "Hello Goodbye" and pounding
piano lines and panting background vocals recall the midsection of "A Day
In The Life." However, the swirling strings, the call-and-response
interplay between Lynne and his falsetto vocal overdubs, and the use of a choir
make sure listeners know this is an 
