Decadence · Scholar

my favorite would have to be wild Oscar Wilde.

It was difficult to rank them. I considered 1) how much of a dandy reputation they have, 2) how much I like their stuff, and of course, 3) how sexy they look in the photo.

The judging must be skewed though, because the really authentic historical dandies are the men at the bottom of the list--D'Orsay, Disraeli, Brummel. They just looked so dour and stodgy. But check out Prince, Bowie, Dietrich, Annie Lennox, Fran Lebowitz. Those photos are so sexy!

I must be passing over some obvious dandies, but I can't think of anyone. Can you?

Prince Charles

I have a Wilde tattoo. He's my favorite as well - but I was happy to see Quentin Crisp on the list, there aren't enough delightful old queens in the world.

_Tura

What a great idea for a tattoo!

And unfortunately Crisp is not in the world anymore either--died in 1999.

I didn't know this, but he was quite a wit! Here is one of his quotations: "The continued propinquity of another human being cramps the style after a time unless that person is somebody you think you love. Then the burden becomes intolerable at once."

If you haven't seen it, rent 'The Naked Civil Servant', Quentin Crisp's autobiography, with the title role being played [brilliantly] by John Hurt. Quite entertaining, and a fantastic little gem of pure dandyism at it's cinematic finest.

Great idea for a journal, by the way!

I will--thanks very much.

I'd have to take issue with several of your choices. 'Dandy' does not mean, as is often thought, simple sartorial extravagancy. Rather it's a sort of flamboyant understatement - something that surely doesn't apply to the likes of Prince. A blend of funereal chic, sang froid and witty snobbishness perhaps?... Several influential theorists of the cult of dandyism - notably Baudelaire - even maintained that there could be no such thing as a female dandy. I'm not so sure - there's a good case for Marlene Dietrich as the definitive female dandy.

I stand by my choices. Dandyism is certainly a slippery concept, but I like to have an inclusive interpretation of it. There are a number of sources that have helped shaped my view, including these great books:

Ellen Moers's The Dandy: Brummell to Beerbohm

Ellen Moers, in her 1960 book The Dandy: Brummell to Beerbohm, traces the development of dandyism as a social and literary phenomenon from Regency England until just before the First World War.

Rhonda Garelick's Rising Star: Dandyism, Gender, and Performance in the Fin de Siècle

Garelick (comparative literature, Univ. of Colorado) finds the birth of the modern celebrity in the "dandy" of 19th-century France and England. From Mallarme to Madonna, Oscar Wilde to Jackie O, Balzac to the Artist Formerly Known As Prince, the self-constructed cult personality figures of the past two centuries share many of the same traits. When the cultural tradition of the dandy merged with the erotic icon of the female stage performer, the modern star was born. Electronic mass-media only served to further distance the performer from the audience and the world in general. The richly annotated title's somewhat narrow, albeit interesting, focus makes this purchase more suitable for academic libraries, especially those collecting in the fields of entertainment, the arts, and cultural studies. (Library Journal)

In my opinion, Bowie is the last real dandy in our times - at least among celebrities. And it's not only the way he dresses, it's he way he thinks, speaks, acts. Above all in the 70's, the guy was the classical dandy: elegant, cynical, ultra-individualistic. Ah, I'm glad you remembered Robert de Montesquiou. I've been obsessed with him lately. Well, that's it, your blog is very nice.

[Six months later...] Thank you.

Found this while looking up Tilda Swinton. Great entry. :)

Thanks. Aren't those photos great? Do you have an interest in Swinton?

The photos are faaabulous.

I explain a bit more here, but I started looking her up when, post-Narnia, friends suggested she might be my celebrity doppleganger. :)

alex kapranos apears to be dandy.let us love him as a dandy