An aristocrat or a democrat? A peacock or an enigma? To some the answer is simple. A dandy is just an over-dressed, brainless, conceited idler. But for others he remains an enigma. What makes him tick? Is it only clothes? To find out we must look back to Beau Brummell, the first dandy.
“The dandy represents the type of man who stylizes himself…He has sublimated the will to power into a will to style…Endeavoring to stylize himself, he stylizes the world and accomplishes this mission when he captures a situation in an elegant formulation…For that, he must subject himself to discipline, abnegation, and rigorous asceticism.” - Ernst Junger
Costume Parisien 1823
(Source: petitdictionnairelamode)
The Chap magazine, founded by Gustav Temple, a louche, debonair anarcho-dandy whose other activities include organising The Chap Olympics, “an annual Olympiad for the over-dressed, in which sportsmanship, athleticism and physical strength are not rewarded as highly as panache, guile and sporting a well-pressed trouser.”
The Chap Manifesto:
1. THOU SHALT ALWAYS WEAR TWEED. No other fabric says so defiantly: I am a man of panache, savoir-faire and devil-may-care, and I will not be served Continental lager beer under any circumstances.
2 THOU SHALT NEVER NOT SMOKE. Health and Safety “executives” and jobsworth medical practitioners keep trying to convince us that smoking is bad for the lungs/heart/skin/eyebrows, but we all know that smoking a bent apple billiard full of rich Cavendish tobacco raises one’s general sense of well-being to levels unimaginable by the aforementioned spoilsports.
3 THOU SHALT ALWAYS BE COURTEOUS TO THE LADIES. A gentleman is never truly seated on an omnibus or railway carriage: he is merely keeping the seat warm for when a lady might need it. Those who take offence at being offered a seat are not really Ladies.
4 THOU SHALT NEVER, EVER, WEAR PANTALOONS DE NIMES. When you have progressed beyond fondling girls in the back seats of cinemas, you can stop wearing jeans. Wear fabrics appropriate to your age, and, who knows, you might even get a quick fumble in your box at the opera.
5 THOU SHALT ALWAYS DOFF ONE’S HAT. Alright, so you own a couple of trilbies. Good for you - but it’s hardly going to change the world. Once you start actually lifting them off your head when greeting, departing or simply saluting passers-by, then the revolution will really begin.
6 THOU SHALT NEVER FASTEN THE LOWEST BUTTON ON THY WESKIT. Look, we don’t make the rules, we simply try to keep them going. This one dates back to Edward VII, sufficient reason in itself to observe it.
7 THOU SHALT ALWAYS SPEAK PROPERLY. It’s quite simple really. Instead of saying “Yo, wassup?”, say “How do you do?”
8 THOU SHALT NEVER WEAR PLIMSOLLS WHEN NOT DOING SPORT. Nor even when doing sport. Which you shouldn’t be doing anyway. Except cricket.
9 THOU SHALT ALWAYS WORSHIP AT THE TROUSER PRESS. At the end of each day, your trousers should be placed in one of Mr. Corby’s magical contraptions, and by the next morning your creases will be so sharp that they will start a riot on the high street.
10 THOU SHALT ALWAYS CULTIVATE INTERESTING FACIAL HAIR. By interesting we mean moustaches, not beards.
Here are some shots that my friend Lynn Redmile took of me last Friday at the Farmers Cabinet in Midtown Village, Philly. They say “Dandyism” is in the details and I believe there are plenty of details here. Now for this ensemble I broke a rule or two. For instance, I wore a french cuff shirt with and odd jacket and trousers instead of a suit. But this shoot was about having fun.
With summer all but here already except in name (it’s been in the 90s), the colors had to be vibrant. I chose the orange pants because not many colors are as vibrant as orange. The jacket is your run of the mill blue jacket with gold buttons. It’s a three button, single breasted jacket with notched lapels. A very versatile piece of my wardrobe. It is easy to dress up or down depending on the event.
The tie and the socks match just to add a little more detail to the outfit with a bright green and blue for more of a pop. The new (to me) vintage 1920s “D” snap cufflinks are my favorite part. Well, simply because I love snap links and it’s my initial. Of course I wore a vest so I had to have a pocket watch, which is one of my most treasured gifts. (Thank you, Gin!) Also, there is the pocket square which I actually picked up that night. It is purple with yellow and green. It jumped out at me and I’m sure you can see why.
Now I will add trinkets from time to time to make every outfit a little more dandy. My mainstay is the viking broach. Yes, I said broach. As I am of Irish descent I like that it has a Celtic feel with the knot work. It definitely adds to any jacket I wear.
You should know that I always wear plugs, or spacers, in my ears that match what I’m wearing. In this case the blue stripes in the shirt I was wearing are a little faint so I wore blue plugs to bring out the shirt and my eyes a little more.
Now the shoes are a different story. I was taught that spectators, especially two-tone specs, are to be warn in the summer months. That is when this is acceptable. The ones I am wearing in the photo are dance shoes but they still add a lot to the outfit. As a matter of fact, my shoes are the foundation for any ensemble I put together.
All in all I believe to be one of the best outfits I have put together. I am usually more traditional in the way I dress, a little more toned down. But this being a fun kick off to hanging in the city this summer after nights selling clothing, I thought this was appropriate.
Working Class Dandy Style
Gentlemen (and ladies),
Today I greet you as I start this journey into personal style through my experience with a working class background. This is a blog for myself and all others who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty but don’t want to stay in jeans and a t-shirt forever. Or for the “Regular Joe” who has that special event and isn’t quite sure what to wear. He might not like modern style and wants to look more like the men of the past; Bogart, Grant, McQueen, etc., who defined for him what is was to be a man.
I believe there are a lot of men out there like me who break their backs yet would like to dress like their grandfathers did in all those all photos. With that same attention to detail that they gave to their appearance I hope to show through photos, tutorials, and a little understanding of sartorial matters how to properly dress once you have washed the grease off your hands and dug the dirt out from under your fingernails.
Margaret Sullavan
Unidentified photographer, “Beauties of Today”, Cigarette card, Britain, ca. 1937
‘Torches of Freedom’
(via trockneblumen)
