The Dandy Boys

Ultimate Dandies

Numero Homme
by Karl Lagerfeld

"One should either be a work of Art, or wear a work of Art"
- Oscar Wilde

I have always found it rather regrettable that the Dandy movement of the Regency period seems doomed to stay within the confines of historical caricature. The movement is today most commonly associated with the effeminate and self-absorbed male ranks of comedic creation. Yet for any man with an eye for style and fashion, this luxurious and pivotal period in the history of menswear provides a wealth of inspiration. Indeed I find myself fascinated, if only from a stylistic perspective, of the refinement and elegance of the gentlemen who came to represent this most exceedingly fashion conscious movement.

I think it is interesting to consider such movements alongside what one could perhaps consider as the more contemporary issues within menswear. The masculine identity and its relationship towards clothing certainly underwent a revolution in the twentieth century, the constructs of which arguably still shape the world of menswear today. From the rise of mass production, to the marketing of fashion towards women, to the affluence of the 1950s, to the realisation of the menswear market and the efforts of magazines such as Esquire and Playboy, to the mainstream awareness of men's fashion; the masculine relationship with fashion, along with the identity itself, has undergone tumultuous change.

As such from a historical perspective, the unabashed interests of these men in the delights of fashionable excess is an intriguing one to behold. And yet, there has always been that interest in fashion, even if it were confined only to those upper echelons of society which could afford to pursue it. I suppose that it was the democratisation of clothing which was the most important step to the creation of the fashion industry as we perceive it today. But then again these curious gentlemen certainly played some part in paving the way.

Lord George Gordon Byron
6th Baron Bryon
by Thomas Phillips
1813
(one may note a certain stylistic similarity to one of the editorial shots above)

Robert de Montesquiou
Comte de Montesquiou-Fezensac
by Giovanni Boldini
1897

Currently playing: Shining Down ft. Matthew Santos - Lupe Fiasco

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