The figure of the Dandy and its relationship to Fashion and Distinction

The Figure of the Dandy in his relationship to Fashion and Distinction.

Abbreviations for studied works:

*MM refers to Sir George Etherege, The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter [1676] in Four

Great Restoration Comedies, Mineola, New York, Dover Publications, inc., 2005.

*CP refers to Stendhal, La Chartreuse de Parme [1839], Paris, Le Livre de Poche Classique,

ed. de Michel Crouzet, 2000.

*PG refers to Honoré de Balzac, Le Père Goriot [1835], Paris, Pocket Classiques, 1989.

*P refers to Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton, Pelham; Or, the Adventures of a Gentleman [1828],

Doylestone, Pennsylvania, Wildside Press, 2009.

*GE refers to Charles Dickens, Great Expectations [1860-61], London, Penguin Books, 2003.

*PDG refers to Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray [1891], London, Penguin Books,

2003.

*DD refers to Jules Barbey d‘Aurevilly, Du Dandysme et de George Brummell [1845], Paris,

Payot & Rivages, 1997.

*PVM refers to Charles Baudelaire, Le Peintre de la Vie Moderne [1863], édition numérique,

Collections Litteratura.com.

2


To avoid any confusion:

*―Dandy‖ with a capital ―D‖ refers here to the original figure of the Regency. Any other

occurrence of the term refers to the common idea of such a figure, which will become more

definite as the study goes on.

* ―dandyism‖ always refers to the general concept which has evolved in time and will

become more definite as the study goes on.

*―Fashion‖ with a capital ―F‖ refers to the modern social phenomenon which is defined in the

introduction. Any other occurrence of the word refers to the non-massive phenomenon, the

simple act of wearing clothes.

*―Distinction‖ with a capital ―D‖ refers to the precise social concept defined by P. Bourdieu

in la Distinction, Critique sociale du Jugement. Any other occurrence refers to the verb

―distinguish‖, in the sense of being remarkable in society.

3


TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………5
I – THE BIRTH OF DANDYISM ………………………………………...10
DANDIES OF THE FIRST TIMES…………………………………………...12
The fop……………………………………………………………………...12
The Macaroni……………………………………………………………….14
THE ORIGINAL DANDY AND THE INVENTION OF DANDYISM……..15
George Bryan Brummell………………………………………………...…15
The outfit, mirror of the mind……………………………………………...17

II – THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE DANDY
IN 19TH CENTURY LITERATURE…………….……………….……19
A ―FRENCH ACCULTURATION‖: THE DANDY-WRITER…………..…21
THE LITERARY FIGURE OF THE DANDY……………………………...24
The Romantic hero or Brummell mythified………………………………25
Dandyism as an achievement……………………………………………….27
The critical rebellious figure………………………………………………30

III – DANDYISM AND DECADENCE:
THE DANDY AS AN ARTIST………………………………………33
THE DANDY: A FIGURE OF MODERNITY………………………………36
AESTHETICISM AND DANDYISM OF THE SENSES:
THE SELF-AS-ART…………………………………………………………..39

IV – THE DANDY, FASHION AND DISTINCTION…………………....44
THE TRIUMPH OF SOBRIETY: A HISTORY OF ELEGANCE………46
Dandy dress, common dress………………………………………………47
THE DANDY‘S DISCOURSE:
THE BIRTH OF FASHION AS A MEANS OF DISTINCTION……………49
The dialectic movement of Imitation-Distinction………………………….50

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………54
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………58
APPENDIX A: BEAU BRUMMELL………………………………………61
APPENDIX B: THE MASCULINE COSTUME…………………………62
4


―La brute se couvre, le riche ou le sot se pare, l‘homme élégant s‘habille.‖
Honoré de Balzac, Traité de la vie élégante, 1830.

This paper aims at providing a reflection on the figure of the dandy, its evolution

and ultimately its influence on Fashion as a means of social distinction. Its premise is that

there is an essential relationship between the dandy and his clothes, since they appear to be

fundamental in the definition of this figure. It is necessary here to speak of a ―figure‖, since

the dandy is as much a man as the representation of a man. As we shall see, there was an

original Dandy who set the initial concept of Dandyism, but the image has been declined

through time and space later on. Therefore, the dandy is more a figure that has undergone a

certain number of variations rather than a settled representation. That is why a first point to

explore before going further in the study is the definition of dandyism. What is exactly a

dandy? It is commonly believed that it is a man ―unduly concerned with a stylish and

fashionable appearance‖1, a superficial self-conceited man, fond of gossips and most of the

time, with androgynous looks. However, studies and reports on dandyism show that the

original Dandy was actually nothing, or little, of this. Traditionally, it is considered that the

Dandy was born during the British Regency (1811-1820), under the features of George

Bryan Brummell, nicknamed ―Beau‖ Brummell. Clever and refined, he ruled London high-

society for more than twenty years and is believed to have durably imposed his notion of

masculine ―Elegance‖. Despite the pejorative image conveyed by the word ―dandy‖ nowadays,

there is evidence that the Dandy of the Regency dressed with sobriety and had a refined

style, which encourages us to revise our common idea on dandyism.

1 Catherine Soanes, Angus Stevenson, ed., Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford, OUP, 11th edition, revised.
5


The dandy has actually been a most controversial figure, from the 19th century

onwards. The initial confusion as to the exact definition of this figure might first have come

from the paradoxical nature of the original Dandy: his fame and greatness were grounded on

nothing. Indeed, Beau Brummell had no artistic, commercial or scientific talent; he climbed

the social scale thanks to his stylish looks and sharp remarks – his cynicism being the main

intellectual characteristic of his posture. He was idle and squandered his heritage in clothes

and games. This apparently empty way of life, which revolved only around being

worshipped in society thanks to fashionable and superior airs, aroused sharp criticism. To

some, the dandy was nothing but ―a clothes-wearing man‖2 or a mere empty-headed ―meuble

de boudoir, un mannequin extrêmement ingénieux […]; mais un être pensant? […]

jamais‖3. Others however assumed that dandyism was much more than a matter of clothes

and appearance. French writer Barbey d‘Aurevilly defended dandyism, claiming that ―c‘est

bien davantage. Le dandysme est toute une manière d‘être, et l‘on n‘est pas que par le côté

matériellement visible.‖[DD43] He goes to the point of saying that the Dandy was an artist

of appearances. What emerges here is that the Dandy is a rather blurred figure: was he only

a fashionable self-conceited man, or a man who mastered the art of ―paraître‖ – as opposed to

―être‖?

Another reason for the uncertainties concerning the dandy is probably to be sought

in the variations and alterations the original figure underwent as the 19th century went on.

Indeed, the concept initially established by Beau Brummell at the beginning of the century

was taken up by French writers in the 1830‘s. They associated dandyism to a certain way of

living and writing, and reinvented the figure in the prism of Romanticism. It is

unquestionably the moment at which dandyism passed from being an individual posture to

2 Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus [1833-1834], Paris, Aubier Editions Montaigne, édition bilingue, 1999, p.
430.
3 Honoré de Balzac, Traité de la Vie Elégante [1830], quoted in Davina L. Eisenberg, The Figure of the Dandy in

Barbey d’Aurevilly’s “Le Bonheur dans le Crime”, New York, Peter Lang, 1996, p. 14.
6


an intellectual collective attitude. Later on, dandyism crossed the Channel back and was

adopted this time by artists and thinkers belonging to the Aesthetic movement of the ―fin-

de-siècle‖. An emblematic figure of dandyism at the end of the 19th century is Irish

playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde. His desire to make his life a work of art and the

dressing eccentricities that resulted from it contributed once more to change the idea of

dandyism. What is clear at this point is that there is not one definition of dandyism. It

appears to be a concept that has evolved and fluctuated in time and space and was each time

reinvented.

Therefore, studying the figure of the dandy implies exploring the various forms it

took throughout the 19th century. However, despite the modifications the original figure

underwent, an essential point is that there has been one persisting characteristic: the

relationship between the man who calls himself a dandy and his outfit. Sociologists who are

interested in fashion agree on the fact that Beau Brummell was the first one to grant clothes

a personal and individualistic meaning. Whereas clothes used to indicate a professional or

social category until the end of the 18th century, the Dandy made them representative of

himself and the mirror of his personality. The shift observed in the meaning of clothes is

closely related to a shift in the social pattern. Since the 18th century in Europe, the

bourgeoisie had been progressively rising, slowly taking over the aristocratic-ruled

traditional order. The rise of an individualistic society can be seen as cardinal in the

development of such a figure as the Dandy. Social distinction is taken to be a key-notion

here, as the ruling orders were no longer defined by hereditary titles. ―Distinction‖, as the

desire to offset oneself from the social group, in one way or another 4, led to a permanent

struggle to ostensibly show one‘s superiority and as a matter of fact, uniqueness, be it

intellectual or moral. Brummell‘s way of distinguishing himself allowed him to become the

4 Pierre Bourdieu, La Distinction, Critique sociale du Jugement, Paris, Editions de Minuit, 1979.
7


emblematic fashionable man. Not only did he make clothes the sign of his individuality, but

he also made them indicate social superiority. Seen from this angle, it seems legitimate to

consider that the Dandy was the first to develop an ―interpretative discourse on fashion‖5,

that is, to give clothes a language of their own, able to express something abstract. It can

probably be assumed that his intentions to distinguish himself thanks to his outfit is a

concept that shaped modern and post-modern societies in terms of Fashion – taken here as a

―cyclical phenomenon grounded on the temporary moods and trends of a definite period

regarding the style of clothing and behaviour‖6, in which each one tries to express a certain

uniqueness through clothes.

It is thus, as a complex set-piece of history and sociology, that we should approach

the figure of the dandy in his relationship to fashion and distinction. Starting with an

account of the birth of dandyism, I shall go through the variations performed on the original

figure of the Dandy and try to show to what extent dandyism is responsible for our modern

conception of fashion as a prime means of social distinction. In a first part, I shall deal with

the original figure, introducing what could be considered as ancestors of the Dandy in the

previous centuries, and then studying the personage of Beau Brummell himself. I will then

explore the different variations the figure of the Dandy was subjected to throughout the 19th

century. I shall deal with the way the posture was adopted by French writers such as Barbey

d‘Aurevilly, Stendhal or Balzac in the 1830‘s, giving birth to a new figure, that of the

―Dandy-writer‖. My main point here will be to inquire into this by going through the

French and British literature of the time. Indeed, the Dandy-writers created heroes who

were dandies themselves, thus producing what could be called a ―dandy literature‖. Its study

shall help us to better understand the combination of dandyism with art and its social

implications. Further on, I shall focus on the dandy as an artist, when the figure was adopted

5 Frédéric Monneyron, Sociologie de la Mode, Paris PUF, 2006.
6 Catherine Soanes, Angus Stevenson, ed., op. cit.
8


by the Aesthetic movement at the end of the 19th century. Dandyism progressively became

associated with a decadent imagery, which gave birth to the figure of the ―Dandy-aesthete‖,

who was above all an artist of his own life. Advocating ―Art for art‘s sake‖, the Aesthetes

adopted a ―Dandyism of Dress‖7, that is to say the use of clothes in an attempt to make their

lives works of art. Surrounding themselves with beautiful objects, dressing in rich outfits,

Dandy-aesthetes had an interpretation of dandyism that differed once more from the original

figure. Eventually, the principal focus of my last part will be the lasting influence of

dandyism on Fashion, taken as a means of Distinction. I shall study at this point the

evolution of the masculine costume under the influence of dandyism, and the way the outfit

became a means to express one‘s individuality in society. The focus will be on the

development of an interpretative discourse on clothes and the role played by the dandy here.

I shall conclude by questioning the reminiscences of dandyism in Fashion nowadays: to what

extent is it possible to say that the figure of the dandy inspired our conception of modern

Fashion?

7Max Beerbohm, Dandies & Dandies [1896], in The Works of Max Beerbohm, E-book 1859 on Project
Gutenberg, 2008.
9


PART I

THE BIRTH OF DANDYISM

10


A first point to emphasize is that the word ―dandy‖ has an imprecise etymology,

which casts doubts on its definition right from the beginning. The term appeared in

dictionaries in the 1780‘s and is referred to as the diminutive of Andrew. However, Ellen

Moers, who has worked on the dandy as a historical figure, has tried to go back to the

origins of the word and argues in her book The Dandy – Brummell to Beerbohm that the term

first appeared in a song sung in the American colonies in the 1760‘s : ―Yankee Doodle came

to town…/Yankee Doodle Dandy…‖ That song had been written to make fun of American

military uniforms, and the author assumes that it actually referred to the Macaronis, a group

of men dressed in a flamboyant way in the 18th century. According to Ellen Moers, this use

shows that the term was already employed in ―an ambiguous social situation in a

revolutionary climate‖ and ―had the power to fascinate‖ 8 , an idea that will be further

developed.

Although historians and writers who have been interested in the matter assume

that the Dandy, as a social phenomenon, appeared only at the beginning of the 19th century,

previous figures had been associated to the term beforehand. The fop of the 17th century for

instance, originally referring to a fool of any kind, came to designate "one who is foolishly

attentive to and vain of his appearance, dress, or manners; a dandy, an exquisite."9 The first

occurrence of the word ―fop‖ in such a sense dates from 1672. In modern collective

imagination, ―dandy‖ has kept the negative connotation it took on when associated to such a

figure. Conspicuous and ridicule in his outfit, the fop was the ancestor of the Macaroni

aforementioned. At this point, we shall try to study both figures in order to determine to

what extent they can be considered as his predecessors.

8 Ellen Moers, The Dandy – Brummell to Beerbohm, quoted in Davina L. Eisenberg, op. cit., p. 2.
9 Catherine Soanes, Angus Stevenson, ed., op.cit.
11


I – DANDIES OF THE FIRST TIMES

―The Dandy was got by Vanity out of Affectation – his dam
[…] Macaroni – his grandam, Fribble – his great-grandam,
Bronze – his great-great-grandam, Coxcomb – and his earliest
ancestor, FOP.‖
Pierce Egan, Life in London, 1820.10

The Fop – In the 17th century, a fashionable manly figure appeared on the London

stage: the fop, also called coxcomb. He was flamboyant and self-conceited, exceedingly

concerned with his appearance. At the time, the royal court of Versailles was the European

arbiter in terms of fashion. The three-piece suit, the cravat and the periwig were

characteristic of the French style. As a consequence, most aristocratic men in Britain had

adopted these items. In his desire to make believe he was of a higher birth than he really was,

the fop was no exception to the rule. He behaved like a caricature of the aristocrat, arranging

his cravat and his periwig with extreme care and using French words to appear fashionable.

The figure of the fop can be studied most particularly in the instance of The Man of Mode, or

Sir Fopling Flutter, by George Etherege. This Restoration comedy, first performed in 1676,

draws a faithful portrait of London high society at the end of the 17th century. At first sight,

the criticism targets the French eponymous character, but the prologue of the play suggests

that it is actually addressed to British young men: ―But I‘m afraid that while to France we

go,/ To bring you home fine dresses, dance, and show,/ The stage, like you will but more

foppish grow‖[MM89] Indeed, the main character Dorimant says from the very first act:

―That a man‘s excellency should lie in neatly tying of a ribband or a cravat! How careful‘s

nature in furnishing the world with necessary coxcombs!‖[MM97] This play actually seems

to be a warning against the contamination of British high society by superficiality.

10 Quoted in Ian Kelly, Beau Brummell, The Ultimate Man of Style, New York, Free Press, 2006, p. 18.
12


The foppery of the eponymous character is suggested by his name, Sir Fopling.

Horridly affected in manners, he claims coming from Paris and having brought along to

London all the refined qualities of French coxcombs while he is in fact merely a dull empty-

headed imitator of aristocracy, just good enough to be manipulated by Dorimant. Sir

Fopling‘s only concern is in his outfit, as shown when he declares: ―My clothes are my

creatures. I make ‘em to make my court to you ladies.‖[MM140]. Another relevant instance

occurs in Act III when, detailed from head to foot, he keeps emphasizing the fact that each

item of clothing comes from the most renowned tailors in Paris:

―Lady Townley – His gloves are well fringed, large and graceful.
Sir Fopling – I was always eminent for being bien ganté.
Emilia – He wears nothing but what are originals of the most famous hands in Paris.
Sir Fop. – You are in the right, Madam.
L. Town. – The suit!
Sir Fop. – Barroy.
Emil. – The garniture!
Sir Fop. – Le Gras.
Medley – The shoes!
Sir Fop. – Piccar.
Dorimant – The periwig!
Sir Fop. – Chedreux.
L. Town., Emil. – The gloves !
Sir Fop. – Orangerie – you know the smell, Ladies.‖[MM122]

Such a detail as perfumed gloves actually recalls the French Count of Gramont,

who was a real fop. This libertine gambler was admired for his refined French outfit, which

he ordered each week, had made in Paris and then delivered to London. However, at that

time, a man‘s interest in clothes was associated with superficiality verging on the ridicule

and debauchery, since it reflected the atmosphere of libertinage then characterizing Europe.

This helps us to understand why the Dandy, who devoted so much care to his outfit, was

immediately negatively perceived. In some way, he was associated with the disturbing figure

of the fop, who seemed to advocate superficiality, and recalled a period of moral disorder in

high-society.

13


The Macaroni – The figure considered as the ―dandy‘s nearest flamboyant

ancestor‖11 is the Macaroni. Born at the end of the 18th century, he is reminded of as the

successor of the fop in terms of extravagancy and lavishness of dress. However, unlike the

fop, the Macaronis‘ choice to wear exaggerated outfits carried a political meaning: they were

a group of young bourgeois who challenged the established order. By taking up and

parodying a fashion traditionally worn by the aristocracy, they expressed their desire to be

recognized for their talent rather than for their birth. As is argued in Colin McDowell‘s

Histoire de la Mode Masculine, it was the first time a political movement used the costume as a

means of protest. 12 The Macaronis adopted an ostensible style which deformed the

tendencies of the time. The relaying of this style by Charles Fox contributed to give clothes

a political significance. A prominent Whig statesman with revolutionary tendencies, he

knew that wearing red heels for example would be seen as a political provocation by his

enemies – the red heels being the symbol of the French courtesan submitted to Louis XIV‘s

authority. Fox was a sharp critic of King George III, whom he regarded as an aspiring

tyrant. The excess in his outfit was a challenge to the presumptuous monarchy and the

privileged aristocracy, for he believed that artificial ostensible clothes were a sign of the

ruling orders‘ power as opposed to the people‘s miserable condition. Seen from this angle, it

can be assumed that for the first time, clothes were used as signs and went beyond their

traditional function of mere ornaments of the body.

What is particularly noticeable here is that although it is commonly believed that

fashion has always been the privilege of women until recently – in the 20th century – it has

actually been a man‘s preoccupation as much as a woman‘s for a much longer time. Besides,

associating the Macaroni to the dandy tends to confirm Ellen Moers‘s theory according to

which the dandy evolved in a ―revolutionary climate‖ – an idea we shall further study.

11 Davina L. Eisenberg, op. cit. , p. 3.
12 Colin McDowell, Histoire de la Mode masculine, Paris, Ed. de la Martinière, 1997, p. 44.
14


II – THE ORIGINAL DANDY AND THE INVENTION OF DANDYISM

Although before the 19th century the term ―dandy‖ was commonly associated to

flamboyant figures, there was nothing in the appearance of the Dandy that could be called

lavish or extravagant. To many, the Dandy refers to the social figure born during the

Regency (1811-1820) in Great-Britain, under the features of a man called George Bryan

Brummell. His entry on the London stage introduced the concept of Dandyism, as the

Dandy‘s specific habits and way of behaving. While the term ―dandy‖ used to be a mere

synonym for ―coxcomb‖ or ―macaroni‖, it began to refer to an entirely new figure embodied

by George Brummell nicknamed the ―Beau‖. This name was usually attributed to foppish

men because of its French origin that recalled the pomp of 17th-century fops. However the

study will show that as far as Brummell was concerned, it was misplaced, since he was far

from being extravagant. On the contrary, he is considered by historians of Fashion as the

founder of masculine Elegance.

George Bryan Brummell 13 – Later known only under the nickname of ―Beau

Brummell‖, he was born in 1778 in London. He came from a reasonably well-off background

but had no title, and thus was supposedly condemned to anonymity. But this is not what fate

had in store for him, for by his twentieth year, he had already made a sensational first season

and was acquainted with the Prince of Wales. The life of Beau Brummell has been the

subject of many biographies, either by contemporaries evolving in the same circle or by later

authors interested in his success as ―king of fashion‖[DD66] or fascinated by his ambivalent

personage. I must speak here of a personage, as we will see that the figure of Brummell is

constantly oscillating between reality and representation. He was not a handsome man,

13 See Appendix A, p. 61.
15


according to his contemporaries, but had a sort of natural grace. Brummell actually

constructed his physical appearance so that he would appear graceful and handsome.

Through the careful choice of his outfit, he became in some way the artist of his own body.

In addition to a natural taste and elegance, Brummell was characterized with a cynicism that

struck many of his companions and came to be part of his personage. He used to insist on the

importance of ―the right word‖, which, in parallel to his outfit, contributed to produce ―the

desired effect‖ in society. This is what seduced the Prince of Wales when they first met in

1793. His friendship for Brummell became a patronage, until it was withdrawn in 1816

following an umpteenth sarcastic word pronounced by the Beau. Compelled to the exile on

the continent, Brummell died of madness after more than twenty years spent alone in Calais,

far from ―what was, to him, the oxygen of publicity and public adoration‖14.

Paradoxically, there is not so much to say about biographical facts, for despite his

fame and large social influence, Brummell had no specific talent. This is stressed by Barbey

d‘Aurevilly in his essay Du Dandysme et de George Brummell : ―Mais ôtez le dandy, que reste t-

il de Brummell? Il n‘était propre à être rien de plus, mais aussi rien de moins que le plus

grand dandy de son temps et de tous les temps. […] il fut le dandysme même.‖[DD43] It is

this contradictory position we shall here examine. Brummell had succeeded in entering

London high-society by the only means of his charm. The following words by Captain

Gronow, an acute observer of London in the 19th century, faithfully sum up Brummell‘s

qualities : ―Rare étaient ceux qui pouvaient compter sur leur seul charme pour entrer dans

l‘intimité d‘un prince ou d‘un sénateur […] Son talent de convive l‘emportait sur tous les

autres.‖15 Beau Brummell did not climb the social scale thanks to the usual means. The

traditional achievements of the time were financial power, artistic achievement or scientific

Ian Kelly, op.cit. , p. 1.
14

Captain Gronow, Reminiscences and Recollections (1810-1860) [1885, London], Trad. Henriette Levillain, in
15

Henriette Levillain, L’Esprit Dandy, Paris, José Corti, 1991, p. 107.
16


accomplishment, but he had none of these. The social context in Regency Britain appears as

a crucial element in the construction of such a figure as Brummell. The British society of the

18th century was characterized by fluidity. The aristocracy and the landed gentry still

constituted the elite of the country, but they were accessible to other classes, especially the

bourgeoisie who had made their fortune out of commerce in the 18th century. There were

different ways into the titled elite: money, marriage, and politics. Alliances contracted by

marriage between the titled elite and the wealthy bourgeoisie contributed to a merging of

social standards. Thus, even people without any nobility could be part of the elite. Thereby,

although Brummell had none of the talents mentioned, he knew how to take advantage of

social mobility.

The outfit, mirror of the mind – What characterizes Brummell as the founder of

Dandyism and a unique personage is that he managed to shape his life in such a way as to

become one of the most influential social figures of his time. Indeed the first dandy of all

times was perceived by his contemporaries as the master of the art of ―paraître‖. To do so, he

had put all his talent in his outfit. However, it is clear that Brummell‘s way of dressing was

far from eccentric. It was characterized by utmost sobriety and barely changed. Worshipped

for his remarkable style by young gentlemen, he became a model and his deep blue riding-

coat a reference, as its cut favoured a slender figure. The only touch of originality in

Brummell‘s outfit was in the cravat, in which he put much care. The art of the detail was

mastered by the Dandy. The neckcloth16 was the only part of the outfit that expressed its

wearer‘s creativity and showed he was not a mere empty-headed mannequin. It was the

ultimate artistic detail to his elegant outfit – for ―L‘élégance est l‘art de l‘accessoire.‖17 – and

what made him stand out of the crowd. So by advocating utter simplicity, Brummell actually

16 See Appendix B on the art of tying the neckcloth, inspired from Brummell, p. 62.
17 Henriette Levillain, op. cit., p. 14.
17


reinvented the principle of social distinction: the less conspicuous you are, the most

remarkable you become. Yet it is insufficient to describe Brummell through his sole outfit,

for his elegance was more than a matter of clothes. His art of dressing was combined to the

art of conversing. What is striking is that there was a correspondence between Brummell‘s

way of dressing and his conversation. First of all, he made a point of talking only when

necessary. He was not exactly what is called ―un homme d‘esprit‖, but he had his own

aphorisms and sharp remarks. Like his outfit, his speech was sober. There was no eloquence,

no repetition, only cynicism. His remarks had to be unique, as ephemeral works of art, like

his cravat. And thus Beau Brummell gradually built his ascendancy. In some way this is

what Dandyism was all about: the outfit being the visual expression of the speech.

The Dandy controlled every single aspect of the image he projected, thus making

―une mise en scène de son corps et de son esprit‖18, living a life in which he was at the same

time protagonist and stage manager. In that sense, he was far from being a slave of fashion.

By mastering the art of ―paraître‖, he managed to express his ―être‖. He actually put himself

at distance of society, thus proving inexact Pierce Egan‘s genealogy of the Dandy quoted

earlier. He had scarcely to do with the Macaroni or the fop, who were victims of their desire

to shine and thus obliterated their own personality. By imitating and at the same time

playing with the etiquette, Brummell reinvented its rules to make them his. In this

ambivalent power is probably to be sought one of the reasons why writers such as Barbey

d‘Aurevilly were fascinated by the Dandy. However, Brummell‘s Dandyism was made to be

ephemeral since he had no preoccupation beyond the daily cult of himself. Therefore, Beau

Brummell only survived thanks to the chronicles of his time. But above all, it is because

Dandyism has been theorized by French writers of the 1830‘s that he now endures in minds.

18 Ibidem, p. 15.
18


PART II

THE TRANSFORMATION

OF THE DANDY

IN 19TH CENTURY LITERATURE

19


―The three greatest men of the age are Napoleon, Brummell and I. But had I the

choice, I‘d rather be the dandy than the emperor.‖ Attributed to Lord Byron, this phrase

stresses the fascination such a poet and writer could have had for the arbiter elegantiarum of

his time. The eponymous hero of his masterpiece Dom Juan has been said to be inspired from

Beau Brummell. It has been argued that from the moment Byron declared his admiration for

the dandy, an official relationship was established between literature and fashion. In her

work on French writers and fashion, Rose Fortassier speaks of a ―mariage morganatique

entre l‘écrivain et la mode.‖ 19 It is from the observation and analysis of this particular

relationship that I wish to tackle the question of the Dandy in 19th century literature.

The names of Byron and Brummell crossed the Channel at the same time. France

and its writers welcomed the influence of these two British personages in a post-Napoleonic

wars context. After being closed for a relatively long time, the routes between Great-Britain

and France reopened, thereby revealing to people of either countries how much fashion had

evolved. That the exchanges should be made possible again is taken to be cardinal in our

subject-matter. Indeed, between 1815 and 1830, a wind of Anglomania blew over France.

Subsequently, Fashion started to bear the traces of English taste. Yet in the 1830‘s,

Dandyism in France was perceived as an attitude limited to ―elegant dressing, affected airs

and the frequentation of fashionable cafés‖. 20 The importance given to elegance by Lord

Byron seemed to be misunderstood, until Balzac seized the British poet‘s aesthetics and

started to consider the appearance as an essential aspect of the writer‘s image. 21 This

accounts for the burst of interest in fashion on the part of French writers, and explains the

way dandyism was adopted and reused in France, as we shall see.

19 Rose Fortassier, Les Ecrivains français et la Mode – De Balzac à nos jours, Paris, PUF, 1988, p. 5.
20 Ibidem , p. 9.
21 Ibid., p. 5.

20


I – A “FRENCH ACCULTURATION”: THE DANDY-WRITER

The adoption of dandyism by some French writers in the 1830‘s shall be studied in

the light of History. Baudelaire in his time assumed that ―le dandysme apparaît surtout aux

époques transitoires où la démocratie n‘est pas encore toute-puissante, où l‘aristocratie n‘est

que partiellement chancelante et avilie.‖[PVM20] The British social fluidity of the Regency

also existed in France at the same period; it was even exacerbated by the July Revolution of

1830 which saw the temporary restoration of the low aristocracy, but this was constantly

threatened by the pressure of an ambitious bourgeoisie. In his glorious days, Brummell was

despiteful of bourgeois values – assimilated to the ordinary. This rejection found an echo in

some French artists who did not feel at ease in a century they regarded as vulgar because it

was on the verge of being controlled by the middle-class. To them, the glamour of art was

lost in an era ruled by politics and capitalism, people being obsessed with money. These

themes are highly criticized in most of the books from Balzac‘s Comédie Humaine. In Le Père

Goriot or Eugénie Grandet, thirst for money and power are the main causes for fatal loss. As

we shall see, French writers such as Barbey d‘Aurevilly or Balzac were quite ambiguous in

their perception and interpretation of Dandyism, and the confusion about the term ―dandy‖

was probably born then. We shall focus here on the figure of the writer, which is of

particular interest for whom wants to understand the blur that has been hovering upon the

figure of the dandy since the 1830‘s.

Barbey d‘Aurevilly‘s Du Dandysme et de George Brummell, published in 1845 by an

unknown editor of Caen, had no immediate impact on the public. However, this ―treatise on

Dandyism‖22 was to be cardinal in the perception of the figure of the Dandy. It argues that

true dandyism could only exist in Britain. As early as in chapter 2, it can be read :

22 Davina L. Eisenberg, op. cit., p. 13.
21


―[…] cette fatuité […] n‘est point cette autre espèce qui, sous le nom de dandysme,
cherche depuis quelques temps à s‘acclimater à Paris. L‘une est la forme de la vanité
humaine, universelle ; l‘autre, d‘une vanité particulière et très particulière : de la vanité
anglaise. Comme tout ce qui est universel, humain, a son nom dans la langue de Voltaire ;
ce qui ne l‘est pas, on est obligé de l‘y mettre, et voilà pourquoi le mot dandysme n‘est pas
français.‖[DD39]

As a matter of fact, ―dandyism‖ à la française strongly differed from the original concept.

What is of primary interest is that the term became quite soon exclusively associated to a

group of writers who were particularly watchful of their appearance, among whom Balzac,

Barbey or Stendhal. I believe that this is the precise moment when ―dandyism‖ started to be

used in its modern meaning. The original figure underwent a ―French acculturation‖ 23 ,

through which dandyism became associated to a certain bohemian way of life, that of the

―écrivains en marge‖. Considered a kind of in-between figure, the French writer of the time

was simultaneously very much involved in social life and at a distance from it, as his task

consisted in depicting the social scene – hence probably the attraction for the ambivalent

figure of the dandy. However the novelty was that, besides the recognition of his talent, the

writer became aware of the necessity of existing not only as an artist, but also as a man. The

adoption of specific clothes, somewhat lavish or extravagant, acted thus as a way to impose

the writer‘s own personality and personage.24 And that is how the figure of the ―Dandy-

writer‖ was born.

It is clear that the Dandy-writer is a totally new figure, different from the Dandy of

the Regency, of which he can be considered a French variation. What is interesting is that

the keys and characteristics of their interpretation of dandyism can be found in his literary

production. The Dandy-writers‘ works were tinted with Romanticism – which is where we

find the influence of such writers as Byron. The heirs of Chateaubriand and Victor Hugo,

they could scarcely avoid the rebellious spirit that had characterized their predecessors. This

23 Ibidem, p. 10.
24 Rose Fortassier, op. cit., p. 6.
22


might be a reason why they felt attracted by the latent rebellious mood lying at the bottom

of the figure of the Dandy and expressed in his clothing choices. In Rose Fortassier‘s opinion,

Romanticism and fashion had to become complementary in this age, for they assume the

same ―pouvoir d‘invention‖. She argues that ―à partir de 1830 la mode et le vêtement

partagent avec la littérature les ambitions opposées et complémentaires de la nouvelle école:

se saisir de ce monde extérieur qu‘on dit parfois réel, et privilégier l‘Imagination.‖25 That

latent spirit of rebellion also accounts for the paradoxical interpretation of dandyism in

France. Though characteristic of Dandyism, the sobriety of the masculine suited only

sadness and conformity in the eyes of French writers. Quoting from Rose Fortassier once

more: ―Notre écrivain du XIXe siècle a soif de fantaisie et de rêve, il n‘aime pas le bourgeois,

il a jugé le mondain : et le voilà condamné à la vulgarité du vêtement moderne en général et

au deuil de l‘habit en particulier! […] c‘est un fait que la tristesse de l‘habit masculin a

frappé les écrivains.‖26 What emerges here is that by rejecting the conformity of the initially

dandiacal black suit, not only did the French Dandy-writer transform the whole signification

of dandyism, but he also made the term synonymous of ―originality‖. Indeed, by imitation of

the ruling orders, the black suit had been widely adopted by the bourgeoisie and symbolized

the notion of ―respectability‖, and above all the subjection to the material and commercial

exigencies of the time.27 This rejection is visible for instance in Barbey‘s crimson outfit: the

French writer constantly wore scarlet clothes, and even sported red heels. Therefore, being

a dandy meant being original and refusing the dull commonness of ordinary bourgeois

people who blindly sought to look like aristocrats.

25 Ibidem.
26 Ibid. , p. 9.
27 Philippe Perrot, Les dessus et les dessous de la bourgeoisie : une histoire du vêtement au XIXe siècle, Bruxelles,

Complexe, 1984, p. 59.
23


II – THE LITERARY FIGURE OF THE DANDY

Despite the writers‘ propensity to originality, and paradoxically enough, a great

number of Brummellian features persist in the Dandy-writers‘ works, which is what make

John C. Prévost say that the two aspects of dandyism co-exist within this figure.28 Indeed, as

we shall see a little further, the heroes of Stendhal‘s La Chartreuse de Parme or Balzac‘s Le

Père Goriot strongly recall the idealized figure invented by Beau Brummell. Unlike the fop or

the Macaroni, the dandy can be perceived as an object of fascination since he has generated a

literature, he provided ―un scenario pour les legends et les récits romanesques.‖29 However

before going through the analysis of these French works, I shall here briefly go back to the

other side of the Channel. The focus having been, by now, only on French writers, it is

nonetheless necessary to expose the evolution of the figure of the Dandy-writer in Great-

Britain. As a matter of fact, there has been a trend called ―dandy literature‖ there, or

―fashionable novels‖ but it reflected dandyism in a different way from the French approach.

This can be studied in the instance of Bulwer-Lytton‘s novel Pelham, which stages a man,

Henry Pelham, in his ascension from a young inexperienced dandy to an influent man and a

―man of fashion‖ in the high society of 1830‘s London. The author‘s position as a politician

made him a public man and provided him a privileged position to observe and describe his

fellow contemporaries. Written by a dandy, about a dandy and to some extent, probably for

young dandies, Pelham, is an insight into the mind of a typical dandy of the time. It mirrors

the purpose of the figure in literature: addressed to a new readership, the average

bourgeoisie, it provided identification with a protagonist ―marginal intégré‖30. On the other

hand, I also wish to study dandy literature through the work of an author who was no dandy

28 John C. Prévost, Le Dandysme en France (1817-1839), quoted in Davina L. Eisenberg, op. cit., p. 10.
29 Rose Fortassier, op. cit., p. 17.
30 Ibidem, p. 18.

24


at all: in Great Expectations, Charles Dickens describes the rise from childhood to adulthood –

or ―gentlemanhood‖ – of Pip, an initially poor child. As opposed to Pelham, Dickens‘s novel

is more critical than praiseful of dandyism. At this point, I will thus make an attempt to

explore these four French and British novels in the light of dandyism. I shall analyse its

different aspects in literature and ultimately see the place of the Dandy-writer in society.

The Romantic hero or Brummell mythified - In his work on dandyism in France,

John C. Prévost explains that despite his originality in dress, the Dandy-writer frequently

stages protagonists who are dandy figures ―in the original and historical sense of the term‖31.

The hero as he appears in La Chartreuse de Parme or Le Père Goriot is a young man who

knows nothing of the world. However, he seems to be endowed with a natural grace. Fabrice

Del Dongo, the hero of La Chartreuse de Parme was born privileged, as the narrator says in

Chapter 1: ―Il venait justement de se donner la peine de naître […]‖ [CP34]. An echo of this

is to be found in Barbey‘s Du Dandysme in a description of Brummell, whom he depicts as

―une individualité des plus rares qui s‘était donné uniquement la peine de naître‖ [DD29]. Of

Eugène de Rastignac, hero of Balzac‘s Le Père Goriot, the narrator says: ―Sa tournure, ses

manières, sa pose habituelle dénotaient le fils d‘une famille noble, où l‘éducation première

n‘avaient comporté que des traditions de bon goût. S‘il était ménager de ses habits […]

néanmoins il pouvait sortir quelquefois mis comme l‘est un jeune homme élégant.‖[PG34]

What the narrator describes here as a natural grace seems to be immediately associated to

elegance and the way of dressing. This is of central significance in our study.

In the wake of Romanticism and under the influence of such poets as Byron or

Lamartine, the novels of the time sketched archetypal Romantic heroes. Indeed, both Fabrice

and Rastignac present the features of a melancholy young man, often adopting a dreamy

31 John C. Prévost, op. cit., quoted in Davina L. Eisenberg, op. cit., p. 11.
25


posture. At an early age, Fabrice is depicted as spending his lonely hours on the banks of the

Como Lake, where the landscape unrolls his ―aspects sublimes et gracieux‖[CP52] These

two adjectives recall Lamartine‘s poem ―Le Lac‖, an emblematic text of Romanticism.

Subsequently, our heroes are often subjected to what is referred to as ―Byronic melancholy‖.

What is striking is that this mood is often relayed in their outfit. Indeed, as opposed to their

creators, the protagonists are always shown wearing a black suit, thus following the model

imposed by the Dandy. There are several allusions to this sobre costume in La Chartreuse de

Parme: ―[…] le soir, quand il n‘allait pas dans le très grand monde, [Fabrice] était

simplement vêtu de noir comme un homme en deuil‖ [CP209], or else ―Tout le monde ici a

des uniformes ou des habits richement brodés : quel peut être ce jeune homme en habit noir

si simple ?‖[CP603] This last occurrence stresses the singularity of Fabrice in his black suit,

among men dressed with colours, and supposedly, without taste. It tends to highlight the

process of discretion as a means of distinction advocated by Brummell. At the same time, it

further secures the idea that Fabrice‘s melancholy is encapsulated in his way of dressing: the

black suit of the original Dandy is deployed here as a visible expression of the melancholy

mood. The dark costume echoes the heroes‘ romantic and stoic postures, their silent

suffering before the ordeals of live. Thereby, such heroes appear as mirroring the visual

figure of Beau Brummell.

Another distinctive feature of these dandy-heroes is that they behave like Brummell.

John C. Prévost argues that ―they are attributed his self-complacency, impassivity and

impertinence‖32. It is true for Fabrice, whose talent of orator is regularly shown, especially

as he officiates as a cardinal. However, we are far from Brummell‘s aphorisms or maxims.

Such a character as Fabrice does not really take pleasure in teaching lessons to the rest of

society. It can be argued here that the Dandy has undergone a true transformation. As a

32 Ibid.
26


literary character, the dandy-hero must be more than a mere public figure. In reality, the

depths of his melancholy personality cannot perfectly fit the Brummellian mood, for the

Dandy was exclusively self-centered, which is not the case with Fabrice or Rastignac. Both

young men are too sincere to remain insensitive to the throes of society. At this stage, it can

be said that the historical Dandy‘s features are being transformed for the sake of fiction.

Already mythified by Barbey d‘Aurevilly in Du Dandysme, here the personage of the Dandy

has acquired the ―exposition of a legend.‖33 The process of mythification is further reinforced

as the fictional dandy-hero becomes autonomous and independent from its source of

inspiration. The interlacing of Romanticism and Brummellian Dandyism simultaneously

shows its limits and gives birth to a totally new figure which could be described as the

modern French hero of the 19th century.

Dandyism as an achievement – A common feature in dandy literature is that the

young hero starts from nothing – or scarcely – and has to learn the ways of a gentleman into

success and thereby adulthood. Thus, he needs master the etiquette and be worthy of the

elite. In Paris‘s high-life, society was ruled by the once fallen and restored aristocracy –

restored under the July Monarchy. The frail equilibrium this social category has managed to

establish is constantly threatened by the vulgarity of the bourgeois world. The values

conveyed by such ladies as Mme de Bauséant or Maxime de Trailles – the archetypal

dandiacal social climber – in Le Père Goriot, are entirely characteristic of the world the

young dandies wished to belong to. Surprisingly enough, although it is depicted as

hypocritical and fake, the only ambition of Rastignac is to be part of this world. His

enthusiasm is described as such:

27


―Être jeune, avoir soif du monde, avoir faim d‘une femme, et voir s‘ouvrir pour soi deux
maisons! Mettre le pied au faubourg Saint-Germain chez la vicomtesse de Bauséant, le
genou dans la Chaussée-d‘Antin chez la comtesse de Restaud ! plonger d‘un regard dans
les salons de Paris en enfilade, et se croire assez joli garçon pour y trouver aide et
protection dans un cœur de femme !‖[PG55]

As this passage implies, the debut of a young man into the world is of capital importance. An

entire section of Balzac‘s book entitled ―L‘entrée dans le Monde‖ is dedicated to Rastignac‘s

initiation into Paris high-society. In a similar context, Dickens‘s Great Expectations stages

young Pip, at the beginning miserable and with no education, who gradually becomes a

gentleman. By way of consequence, the hero who wants to enter the world is to become a

man of fashion. For this purpose, his suit is used as an essential element, as shown when

Rastignac is taught about a fashionable man‘s outfit:

―Vous serez indigne de votre destinée si vous ne dépensiez trois mille francs chez
votre tailleur, six cents francs chez le parfumeur, cent écus chez le bottier, cent écus chez le
chapelier. […] Les jeunes gens à la mode ne peuvent se dispenser d‘être très forts sur
l‘article du linge : n‘est-ce pas ce qu‘on examine le plus souvent en eux ?‖[PG174]

The same idea is conveyed in another occurrence : ―Quand il eut essayé ses habits du soir, il

remit sa nouvelle toilette du matin qui le métamorphosait complètement. – Je vaux bien

Monsieur de Trailles, se dit-il. Enfin j‘ai l‘air d‘un gentilhomme !‖[PG138] I would argue

here that the accomplishment as a gentleman necessary implies adopting the required

clothes. Similarly, in Bulwer-Lytton‘s dandy novel Pelham, the main protagonist Henry

Pelham gives many information and advice as to his clothes, for he believes them a

fundamental element of social success. This is made visible in the following passage:

―On entering Paris I had resolved to set up ―a character‖, for I was always of an ambitious
nature, and desirous to be distinguished from the ordinary herd. After various cogitations
[…] I thought nothing appeared more likely to be remarkable among men […] than an
egregious coxcomb: accordingly I arranged my hair into ringlets, dressed myself with
singular plainness and simplicity (a low person, by the by, would have done just the
contrary)‖[P31]

28


The latter instance sums up the nature and intentions of the young dandy. The apparent

arrogance and self-complacency of Henry Pelham, though presented with irony and humour

in the novel, provides a clear idea of the artificiality required to enter good society. But it

also shows once again how the simplicity of the dress is taken as a sign of distinction – not

only of taste, but inevitably of social rank. Later on, when Pelham has reached an influent

political position, now in London, he devotes an entire chapter to the art of dress. Chapter 7

in Volume II introduces a series of 22 maxims concerning ―the divine art of which [tailors]

are the professors‖[P162]:

―1. Do not require you dress so much to fit, as to adorn you. Nature is not to be copied,
but to be exalted by art. […]
2. Never in your dress altogether desert that taste which is general. The world considers
eccentricity in great things, genius; in small things, folly.
3. Always remember that you dress to fascinate others, not yourself.
[…] 14. The most principle of dress is neatness – the most vulgar is preciseness.
[…] 16. Dress so that it may never be said of you ―What a well dressed man!‖ – but,
―What a gentlemanlike man!‖
[…] 22. He who esteems trifles for themselves, is a trifler – he who esteems them for the
conclusions to be drawn from them, or the advantage to which they can be put, is a
philosopher.‖ [P162]

From the last maxim, the deduction can be made that Henry Pelham considers the art of

dress as a means to become a gentleman, and thus act as evidence of his social success. We

have to remember here the attitude of the Dandy whose aim was to blur social frontiers.

It has been said of Dandyism that it was a ―culte de soi-même‖, for ―the dandy is the

object of his own worship and sacrament.‖34 However, what emerges more sharply here is

that fashion is used as a means and not an end. The dandy novel as a Bildungsroman

necessarily involves fashion in a process of social climbing. From this perspective, it can be

said that such novels interpret dandyism as part of an achievement in young people‘s life.

The dress becomes a code thanks to which you are likely to be respected, for it becomes a

visual testimony of your accomplishment, adulthood being assimilated to ―gentlemanhood‖.

34 Ibidem, p. 19.
29


Nevertheless, this apparent social glory conveyed through the neat dandiacal dress remains

laden with a latent rebellious mood, since in some way, those heroes are ―extensions‖ of their

authors, these provocative Dandy-writers.35

The critical rebellious figure – A surprising feature of the heroes in dandy

literature is that they often seem to stand alone against the cruel mundane world they wish

to enter, and yet criticize. The social hypocrisy of Milan, Paris or London lies mainly in the

fact that everything is based on appearance and power. This distance the protagonists

manage to acquire through their Romantic and stoic posture is characteristic of their

heroism since it is what allows them to establish their influence over society. Paradoxically,

Dandyism here seems to serve as a means of detachment from society. This contradictory

movement had been evoked by Barbey d‘Aurevilly :

―C‘est une révolution individuelle contre l‘ordre établi, quelquefois contre la nature :
ici on touche à la folie. Le dandysme […] se joue de la règle et pourtant la respecte encore.
Il en souffre et s‘en venge tout en la subissant ; il s‘en réclame quand il y échappe ; il la
domine et en est dominé tour à tour : double et muable caractère !‖[DD47]

The presence of the term ―revolution‖ immediately recalls the anti-authority attitude

advocated by the Dandy-writers, especially in France. Their heroes show ―signs of anti-

bourgeois attitude, abhorrence of commercial values and refusal to be integrated into

bourgeois society‖ 36 and thus perfectly reflect the authors‘ feeling that society was

progressively being overwhelmed by bourgeois vulgarity and excessive materialism. The

continuity of the Industrial Revolution accentuates this at least as much as the social

instabilities. In an age when everything tended to be mechanized, the figure of the Romantic

dandy – and behind him the Dandy-writer – can be interpreted as an attempt to resurrect

moral values and sincere passions. A good example of this is shown by Rastignac‘s

35 Ibid., p. 11.
36 Ibid.
30


exclamation at the end of the novel, when, at last, after experiencing the horrors of people‘s

thirst for high-life, he defies the swarming city of Paris: ―Il lança sur cette ruche

bourdonnant un regard qui semblait par avance en pomper le miel, et dit ces mots

grandioses: « A nous deux maintenant ! »‖[PG308] This defying posture is at one and the

same time deriving from the original dandiacal attitude and completely different since it

aims at criticizing the evolution of society.

One of the most compelling instances of this double-evolution can be found in

Dickens‘s Great Expectations. The fact that it has been written on the pattern of a dandy

novel – a romantic hero in a Bildungsroman – but by a critical author adds to the impression

that the figure conveys ambiguous values. Indeed, even if being a gentleman is praised for its

offering access to high-society, the hypocritical aspect of this process is handled critically by

Dickens. As Pip eventually realizes, his desire for social success has mistaken him into

forgetting about the people who cared most about him, including his thoughtful brother-in-

law Joe. When looking back on his life, the adult narrator often adopts an ironical tone that

casts a doubtful look on the gentleman he has become. This hero‘s specificity is that he had

established in his mind that the ideas of moral, social and educational advancements were

interdependent. Yet, two occurrences lead him to reconsider his idealistic vision of wealth

and social class. The first one happens when he realizes the convict Magwitch‘s loyalty is at

the origin of his fortune:

― ―Yes, Pip, dear boy, I've made a gentleman on you! It's me wot has done it! I swore that
time, sure as ever I earned a guinea, that guinea should go to you. I swore arterwards,
sure as ever I spec'lated and got rich, you should get rich.[…]‖

The abhorrence in which I held the man, the dread I had of him, the repugnance with
which I shrank from him, could not have been exceeded if he had been some terrible beast.

―Look'ee here, Pip. I'm your second father. You're my son,—more to me nor any son. I've
put away money, only for you to spend. […] 'Lord strike me dead!' I says each time,—
and I goes out in the air to say it under the open heavens,—'but wot, if I gets liberty and
money, I'll make that boy a gentleman!' And I done it. Why, look at you, dear boy! Look
at these here lodgings o'yourn, fit for a lord!‖ ‖[GE319]
31


The second one acts as an acceptation of the latter:

― ―Dear Magwitch, I must tell you now, at last. You understand what I say?‖
A gentle pressure on my hand.
―You had a child once, whom you loved and lost.‖
A stronger pressure on my hand.
―She lived, and found powerful friends. She is living now. She is a lady and very beautiful.
And I love her !‖ ‖[GE460]

From the moment Pip accepts the idea that his former ideal of wealth and beauty Estella is

the daughter of a low-class convict, his glorious vision of gentlemanliness collapses for good.

The staging of such a reversal in the hero‘s life sheds an entirely different light on the figure

of the dandy in literature. The title of the novel itself appears as ironic: what can be called

―great‖ and what should be the real expectations of a young man? The Victorian fascination

for the dandy figure is here put into perspective: Instead of considering dandyism as a

respectable achievement, Dickens reverses the process, thereby encouraging his readers to

go beyond the deformations resulting from the materialistic evolution of society. Yet it

cannot be said that Dickens is against gentlemanliness, since he tends to recognize some

good aspects in it. What he mainly criticizes through Pip‘s behaviour is that young people

tend to deceive the other and themselves in order to appear fashionable and worthy of

respect. But living one‘s life with blinkers can only be considered living a sham.37

Seen from this critical angle, the figure of the gentleman derived from that of the

Dandy does not appear as praiseworthy as it seemed in such novels as Pelham. This tends to

confirm the Baudelairian idea that the dandy is a transitory figure which is constantly being

reworked and modified according to the emotions and fears of the time. We shall see this

theory further reinforced in the next part, in which the theme of the dandy as a

crystallization of the spirit of the time will be further developed.

37 Robin Gilmour, The Idea of the Gentleman in the Victorian Novel, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1981, p. 12.
32


PART III

DANDYISM AND DECADENCE:

THE DANDY AS AN ARTIST.

33


When in 1863, Baudelaire wrote and published Le Peintre de la Vie Moderne, he

intended it to be a treatise on beauty and modernity. He devotes one entire chapter to the

figure of the Dandy. But to begin with, Chapter I, entitled ―Le Beau, la Mode et le Bonheur‖

is of interest for our subject-matter since it associates fashion to such timeless and universal

values as Beauty and Happiness. This will be considered as an open window on an ―essential

quality of the Aesthetic and Decadent sensibility […] that quality we must define as a

Dandyism of Senses‖, which developed in the 1880‘s and 1890‘s in England.38 Indeed, what

is called the fin-de-siècle period saw a growth of artists interested in the figure of the Dandy

in the prism of Aestheticism and Decadence. These two movements have been characteristic

of this period. The term ―Decadent‖ was originally a name given by hostile critics to some

French writers who valued artifice over the naive simplicity of nature, thereby going against

the Romantic ideal that had prevailed at the beginning of the century. Some of them took a

badge of pride in adopting this name. It symbolized their rejection of what they called the

banality of their time. Their prevalent assumption was that Art was a human realization

which had to distance itself from nature in order to reach real beauty. Baudelaire was a

leader of this movement, and it is in this perspective that we shall study Le Peintre de la Vie

Moderne in general, and its chapter dedicated to the Dandy in particular. The Decadent

Movement was echoed in England by the Aesthetic Movement, to which the Irish writer

and dandy Oscar Wilde belonged. Both movements are now considered as having

anticipated Modernity.

We shall discuss how the figure of the Dandy developed and evolved in a post-

Romantic and pre-modern context. At this point, I shall make a brief account of the social

and historical context in Europe at the end of the 19th century. The century was marked by

ongoing mechanization and apparently unstoppable progress, not to mention the fact that

Stephen Calloway, ―Wilde and the Dandyism of Senses‖ in Peter Raby, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Oscar
38

Wilde, Cambridge, CUP, 1997, p. 34.
34


the bourgeoisie had almost completely become the ruling social order. Thus while the

Romantics had exalted the beauty of nature, poets and writers of the fin-de-siècle period

could no longer have an idyllic view of the world. As Baudelaire‘s poems suggest, their

vision was more of a dull gloomy world. Another fundamental criteria of the time is what

Baudelaire calls ―la marée montante de la démocratie, qui envahit tout et qui nivelle

tout‖[PVM21], and its effect on the status of the artist. His main fears come from the fact

that the bourgeoisie has now become the leading social category, thus replacing the

aristocracy who had by then been involved in the system of patronage that had allowed the

survival of the artist. As Davina L. Eisenberg explains,

―During the eighteenth century, the artist was patronized by the aristocracy, with which
he had a parasitic relationship. After the French Revolution, the artist was faced with the
collapse of social hierarchy which, for him, meant that the patrons would no longer be the
aristocracy, but the bourgeoisie. The artist refused any such association, since it would
not be one of exchange. Moreover, the bourgeois knew nothing about art. The artist was
―déclassé‖, belonging neither to the aristocracy nor to the bourgeoisie. He was also
―désoeuvré‖.‖39

Therefore, dandyism, as perceived by the artists at the end of the 19th century, participated

in a movement of social and artistic uncertainty. People were afraid of the dawn of a new

century, and most of them overtaken by the too rapid progress of machinery. This is

probably a reason why Baudelaire looks at dandyism as the signal of a new socio-cultural

climate. As we shall see, he makes an analogy between beauty in Art and dandyism,

assuming that Art, like the dandy, is to be recognized and acknowledged only by those

capable of seeing in a world running to catastrophe.

35


I – THE DANDY: A FIGURE OF MODERNITY

―Ces costumes […] présentent un charme d‘une nature
double, artistique et historique […] c‘est la morale et
l‘esthétique du temps. L‘idée que l‘homme se fait du beau
s‘imprime dans tout son ajustement, chiffonne ou raidit son
habit, arrondit ou aligne son geste, et même pénètre
subtilement, à la longue, les traits de son visage.‖
Charles Baudelaire, Chap. I, « Le Beau, la Mode
et le Bonheur » in Le Peintre de la Vie Moderne.

Departing from Barbey d‘Aurevilly‘s aforementioned essay, Baudelaire‘s chapter on

the dandy in Le Peintre de la Vie Moderne situates this figure as deeply embedded in its time.

He theorizes dandyism as an object of beauty, thus raising elegance to the status of Art. At

one and the same time, he gives an accurate description of this figure he considers as

characteristic of the transitory period called fin-de-siècle. To him, the term ―dandy‖ implies

―une quintessence de caractère et une intelligence subtile de tout le mécanisme moral de ce

monde‖[PMV8], a quality which makes him a privileged observer and actor in society.

Baudelaire puts him on a pedestal, insisting on the ―aristocratic superiority‖ of his mind. He

grants the dandies ―ce qu‘il y a de meilleur dans l‘orgueil humain.‖[PVM20] This portrait

seems rather close to the Romantic hero we have studied previously. However, the French

poet focuses on the close relationship the dandy nourishes with beauty and Art, insisting on

the spiritual aspect dandyism can convey. He sees dandyism as a religion, thus echoing the

caricature Thomas Carlyle had made in Sartor Resartus by saddling the dandies with the

nickname of ―Dandiacal Sect‖40. Although the British author had made a strong caricature,

his analysis of Dandyism seems surprisingly accurate if read in the context of Decadence.

Carlyle wrote in 1833:

40 Thomas Carlyle, op. cit., p. 428.
36


―A Dandy is a Clothes-wearing Man, a Man whose trade, office, and existence consists in
the wearing of Clothes. Every faculty of his soul, spirit, purse, and person is heroically
consecrated to his one object, the wearing of Clothes wisely and well: so that as others
dress to live, he lives to dress. The all-importance of Clothes […] has sprung up in the
intellect of the Dandy without effort, like an instinct of genius; he is inspired with Cloth, a
Poet of Cloth.‖41

Ironically, although this occurrence was supposed to introduce a criticism of the

phenomenon, it seems to be quite close to Baudelaire‘s idea that dressing should be

considered a work of art. This closeness has been later stressed by Max Beerbohm, a dandy

and leading figure of the Decadent Movement, who assumes in his essay Dandies & Dandies,

dated 1896, that Dandyism is not merely a matter of social life and mere superficiality:

―[Dandyism‘s] contact with social life is, indeed, but one of the accidents of an art. Its
influence, like the scent of a flower, is diffused unconsciously. It has his own aims and
laws, and knows none other. And the only person who ever fully acknowledged this truth
in aesthetics is, of all persons most unlikely, the author of Sartor Resartus.‖42

And of Carlyle‘s quotation above, Beerbohm writes: ―Those are true words. They are,

perhaps, the only true words in Sartor Resartus.‖43

Such a view on the use of clothes and their place in social relationships seems to be

quite characteristic of the end of the century, in the context of a shifting social hierarchy.

Indeed, there are some complex interactions between the historical and social shifts taking

place at the time. The rise of a new individuality in search of a new identity can be seen in

close alignment with the reaction against the supposedly banal progress brought about by

the Industrial Revolution to the expense of beauty and Art. The costume is taken here as a

cardinal element since it is used as a means of expression of the self. Fashion as a means of

expression can be seen as a pre-modernist idea, emphasized by Baudelaire in these terms:

―[Le Peintre des Temps Modernes] cherche quelque chose qu‘on nous permettra d‘appeler

41 Ibidem, p. 430.
42 Max Beerbohm, op. cit.
43Ibidem.

37


la modernité; car il ne se présente pas de meilleur mot pour exprimer l‘idée en question. Il

s‘agit, pour lui, de dégager de la mode ce qu‘elle peut contenir de poétique dans l‘historique,

de tirer l‘éternel du transitoire.‖[PMV10] This quest can be assimilated to that of the

decadent dandy who seeks recognition, but also beauty through the eyes of whom can see.

As Carlyle writes – ironically but truly again:

―[…] what is it that the Dandy asks in return? Solely, we may say, that you would
recognize his existence; would admit him to be a living object; or even failing this, a
visual object, or thing that will reflect rays of light. Your silver or your gold (beyond
what the niggardly Law has already secured him) he solicits not; simply the glance of
your eyes.‖44

This instance and especially the phrase ―visual object‖ encourage us to analyse what look the

dandy adopts regarding himself. If the costume has a capital role here, it is not only because

it is employed as the best means of social distinction in a modern society, but also because

the dress is granted a strong visual and aesthetic power.

44 Thomas Carlyle, op. cit., p. 433.
38


II – AESTHETICISM AND DANDYISM OF THE SENSES: THE SELF-AS-ART.

―The artist is the creator of beautiful things
[…] Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things
are the cultivated. For these there is hope.
[…] All art is at once surface and symbol.
[…] We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as
long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a
useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
All Art is quite useless.‖
Oscar Wilde, Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray.

In his essay Dandies & Dandies, Max Beerbohm ―establishes the dandy as the role-

model par excellence for fin-de-siècle sensibility‖.45 In the wake of the Decadent and Aesthetic

Movements, he does not interpret dandyism as Barbey d‘Aurevilly did – that is, a social

phenomenon – but rather presents it as a form of Art, hence writing: ―In certain congruities

of dark cloth, in the rigid perfection of his linen, in the symmetry of his glove with his hand,

lay the secret of Mr Brummell‘s miracles […] Mr Brummell was, indeed in the utmost

sense of the word, an artist.‖46 But to what extent could dandyism be associated with Art?

According to Baudelaire, dandies bore the quintessential beauty of Art in their elegance. By

calling for the original Dandy Beau Brummell and interpreting his way of dressing as an Art,

Beerbohm sheds a modern light on the bonds between Art and dandyism. It no longer deals

with some social process: it proceeds from an aesthetic cult of the self of which dandyism is

the consecrated expression. As we shall see through the study and analysis of Oscar Wilde‘s

Picture of Dorian Gray, the Aesthetic Movement has given birth to an entirely new concept of

dandyism that raises it above all forms of banality. Influenced by a kind of new hedonism

such as described in Walter Pater‘s conclusion for his Studies in the History of the Renaissance,

45 Stephen Calloway, op. cit., p. 45.
39


which book Wilde claimed to have ―such a strange influence over [his] life‖47, the Aesthetes

interpreted dandyism as a form of superiority in taste. Thereby, the ―Dandy-aesthetes‖, as

we can call them, initiated a ―Dandyism of the Senses – a self-consciously precious and

highly fastidious discrimination brought to bear on both art and life‖ 48 . This sensibility

consisted in cultivating an aesthetic response that began beyond ordinary notions of taste,

and praised aesthetics beyond all considerations of mere fashion or morality.

The position adopted by Wilde in the preface to his 1891 novel reveals the influence

of the Aesthetic movement, which, under Paterian influence, obeyed the motto ―Art for Art‘s

sake‖. This phrase uncovered the will to construct a new form of Art that would be ignorant

of social conventions or moral standards and whose sole aim would be ―aesthetic experience

or the single-minded pursuit of beauty‖49. The Aesthetes sought to develop a heightened

artistic sensibility that would allow them to transform themselves by seeing their lives

through the prism of Art. Unsurprisingly, they were deeply attracted to the Regency period,

which they perceived as ―self-consciously chic, elegant and even, at times, flashy […],

[which observed] with delight its constant obsession with manners, style and ton, […]

[valued] the creation of effect [and regarded highly] verbal brilliance.‖ 50 This period

seemed to mirror what they wanted to express through their own attitude and what they

displayed to the other‘s eyes. The fascination the Dandy of the Regency was said to exert on

his society became of principal interest. In some way the process bordered on theatricality.

Indeed Beau Brummell in his time was above all a public figure who could exist only

through his own eyes and the eyes of his public. In her anthology on dandyism, Henriette

Levillain writes: ―le premier dandysme a fait de la société élégante sa scène théâtrale [et] a

47 Oscar Wilde, quoted in Stephen Calloway, op. cit., p. 36.
48 Stephen Calloway, op. cit., p. 34.
49 Ibidem, p. 37.
50 Ibid., p. 36.

40


été médiatisé par le regard fasciné d‘une classe montante.‖ 51 London society in the 19th

century was at the same time admirer and judge of Brummell‘s apparitions. In a similar

spirit, as if echoing Henry Pelham who wanted to ―set up a character‖ when entering Paris,

the Aesthete interpreted dandyism as the working out of an aesthetic personage. From this

perspective, it is quite easy to understand which role the costume occupied. Just like an

actor‘s costume on the stage, the Dandy-aesthete‘s usual outfit had to reflect his inner state

of mind – ―Art is at once surface and symbol‖, Wilde says. Similarly, in his ―Maxims‖

concerning the art of dressing, Henry Pelham says that ―[…] nature is not to be copied, but

to be exalted by art‖[P162]. Perfectly fitting the Aesthetes‘ mood, this can be seen as

foreshadowing the interest they will take in dandyism.

The Dandy-aesthetes‘ main purpose was to make Art a lifestyle. Not only did they

stage their lives as plays, but they also wanted to be the unique jewel in the center of the

canvas, the most accomplished work of art in the midst of beautiful things. Therefore they

made a work of art of their own lives, strongly insisting upon the importance of the ―pose‖.

This view on life establishes the strong relationship between dandyism and fashion from its

very outset. At first a mere ornament of the body – the body which becomes the canvas for

painting one‘s life -, clothes could become the strongest way of expressing one‘s taste for

aesthetics. The choice in clothes allowed ephemeral and time-bound physical beauty to

become ―for a moment universal‖. A good example of this occurs within this passage:

―[…]certainly, to [Dorian Gray] Life itself was the first, the greatest, of the arts, and for
it all the other arts seemed to be but a preparation. Fashion, by which what is really
fantastic becomes for a moment universal, and Dandyism, which, in its own way, is an
attempt to assert the absolute modernity of beauty, had, of course, their fascination for
him.‖[PDG125]

51 Henriette Levillain, op. cit., p. 8.
41


The latter instance is of central significance since it stresses the fact that elegance is not

only a smart way of dressing, it is above all the result of an artistic process that must

culminate in universal beauty. As this passage implies, clothes were fundamental for the

dandy to assert his social superiority, and were the screen between him and society.

It is thus, bearing this relationship in mind, that we should approach the details of

the dandy's dressing in The Picture of Dorian Gray. One of the most striking moments occurs

when Dorian Gray is seen attaching particular minuteness to his outfit after he has

murdered Basil Hallward: ―[he] dressed himself with even more than his usual care, giving a

good deal of attention to the choice of his necktie and scarf-pin, and changing his rings more

than once.‖[PDG156] This passage accentuates the role of screen played by the outfit at

least as much as the sense of detail that mattered so much to the Dandy. As Brummell had

established, the importance does not lie in the originality of the whole outfit – or else it

becomes bad taste – but in precise items. Though barely visible, they convey such subtle

impressions as the person's mood, and can be a signal for his most inner secrets. In a similar

situation, after Dorian Gray has stabbed his portrait hence provoking his own death, the

dead body is recognizable thanks to the rings only: ―Lying on the floor was a dead man, in

evening dress with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage.

It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was.‖[PDG213] The

recognition of the body made possible through accessories seems to serve as a way to remind

us that Dorian Gray had put all his personality through his appearance, to the point that the

items carried his identity. Max Beerbohm has taken this theme to its ultimate completion in

his essay, in which he describes clothes which have become part of their wearer, to the point

that they bear the traces of his mood and identity:

42


―For some years I had felt convinced that in a perfect dandy this affinity [i.e. with
his clothes] must reach a point, when the costume itself, planned with the finest sensibility,
would change with the emotional changes of its wearer, automatically. […] when we
entered it, the cloak-room displayed long rows of unburdened pegs—save where one hat
shone. None but that illustrious dandy, Lord X., wears quite so broad a brim as this hat had.
[…] I saw with wonder Lord X.'s linen actually flush for a moment and then turn deadly
pale. I looked again and saw that his boots had lost their lustre. Drawing nearer, I found that
grey hairs had begun to show themselves in his raven coat. […] In the cloak-room, when I
went for my own hat and cane, there was the hat with the broad brim, and (lo!) over its iron-
blue surface little furrows had been ploughed by Despair.‖52

The significance of clothes as a way to express individuality emerges even more sharply. It

can be said that with the Dandy-Aesthete, fashion became a much valuable and higher

process than what it used to be. By transforming the individual into a potential work of art,

the Aesthete endowed clothes with the power to ultimately convey the creative spirit of their

wearer, but also his own identity in a dull age in which people tended to lose personal

bearings.

43


PART IV

THE DANDY,

FASHION AND DISTINCTION

44


As we have seen, the figure of the dandy has much evolved as the 19th century went

on. However, one characteristic feature has persisted throughout time: the tight relationship

between the dandy and his clothes. No matter which ideology or theory of art dandyism was

associated to, it has remained a concept closely linked to the dress, until it consecrated it as a

means of artistic expression. Indeed dandyism has triggered a questioning about the

structures at the basis of dressing, and can also be considered as the first real discourse on

this phenomenon. From Brummell to Barbey or Wilde, all these dandies have contributed to

establish an interpretative discourse on fashion. 53 They inspired a style, theorized an entire

new way of dressing, and thereby revealed the aesthetic and social potentialities that dwelt

in the costume. The black suit, considered as original when worn by Beau Brummell for the

first time, became the prerogative of the mass in less than one century. Adopted by the

bourgeois, the then democratized dandiacal black dress evolved in parallel with a blurring of

the social borders. Paradoxically, whereas it was supposed to symbolize an aristocratic

superiority in mind in the first place, the black costume was appropriated by the very people

who contested that order they considered as obsolete. This question shall be tackled further.

It is clear that if today the Elegant Man is always dressed with an utterly sober suit,

with very few colours and patterns, he plainly owes it to the Dandy‘s sobriety. Nevertheless,

a characteristic of our modern society regarding fashion is that we crave for originality, and

this is also relevant since it is probably from the 19th century that we have developed this

obsession for uniqueness, without necessarily overriding the conventions of the time. So I

shall try and examine here to what extent the dandy‘s view of elegance has influenced not

only the masculine costume, but also the whole concept of Fashion in our modern societies.

53 Frédéric Monneyron, op. cit, p. 15.
45


I – THE TRIUMPH OF SOBRIETY: A HISTORY OF ELEGANCE

―He invented the content of the word ‗Elegance‘.‖54
Captain Jesse, First biographer of Brummell.

It has been observed that until the very end of the 18th century, the masculine

costume was marked by lavishness and sometimes gaudiness under the influence of the court

of Versailles. Philippe Perrot writes in his history of the costume in the 19 th century : ―Si on

avait dit aux beaux messieurs du dix-huitième siècle qu‘un jour leurs descendants

échangeraient leurs brillantes toilettes contre ce morceau de drap noir sans ornament, ils

auraient protesté contre cette erreur de la mode, contre ce dédain de la couleur, contre cette

immolation du pittoresque.‖55 It is true that with Brummell and the Dandies, the transition

from extravagancy to sobriety was quite unexpected and abrupt. But it was successful.

Although a poor writer, Beau Brummell left a unique work in which he had reported his

ideas on dressing and elegance. Written down in 1822, entitled Principles of Costume applied

to the improved dress of the present day, it deals on two volumes with the relation the costume

may have with architecture, thus drawing a link between fashion and construction. He

insists on the right proportions between the top and the bottom, and subsequently on the

shape of the suit and trousers – the silhouette having to follow the shape of a reverse

pyramid to be light and refined. From whence we can detect the still valid theory according

to which the handsome man should have a broad chest and be built like an athlete. He also

writes about colours, which must be in harmony and never crude. Dark colours must be

tempered by light ones such as beige or off white. In contrast with the fop or the macaroni,

54 Captain William Jesse, The Life of Brummell [1844], quoted in Henriette Levillain, op. cit., p. 119.
55 Gustave Claudin, quoted in Philippe Perrot, op. cit., p. 58.
46


Brummell had suppressed colours. An echo of this is to be found in the 20 th century through

Coco Chanel‘s obsession with the elegance conveyed in a dark dress, offset by white linings.

Brummell is now considered as having revolutionized masculine fashion, which is

mainly why the suit, the cravat and modern trousers spring to mind at the mention of his

name.56 According to Balzac, gentlemen owed to Brummell the demonstration of how much

elegant life was tied to the perfection of all human society. In his Traité de la Vie Elegante, the

French writer borrows two essential statements from the Dandy: the necessary simplicity of

the black suit on a white shirt, and the importance of not being conspicuous. Indeed, one of

Brummell‘s remembered phrases had been: ―If people turn to look at you in the street, you

are not well dressed, but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable.‖57 The same idea is

evoked in Baudelaire‘s chapter on the dandy: ―[…] à ses yeux [i.e. le dandy], épris avant

tout de distinction, la perfection de la toilette consiste-t-elle dans la simplicité absolue, qui est

en effet la meilleure manière de se distinguer.‖[PMV20] So Brummell revolutionized the

dress, and established the concept of Elegance, which could be achieved only through

simplicity.

Dandy dress, common dress 58 – At this point I would like to go through the

influence of original Dandyism on the masculine costume in the western world, by dwelling

upon the history of masculine style from the beginning of the century until today. Under the

influence of Brummell‘s sobriety and praise of the tailor-made outfit, the gentlemen of the

Regency adopted what would remain the perfect masculine silhouette for the following

centuries: large shoulders, a tight waist and straight legs. Indeed this configuration tends to

enhance the virile aspect of the wearer and his haughty attitude. Brummell also introduced

56 See Appendix A, p. 61.
57 George Bryan Brummell, quoted by Ian Kelly, op. cit., front flap.
58 For illustrations and extra information on this subject, please refer to Appendix B, p.62.

47


the waistcoat, which remained a duly part of the masculine three-piece suit until the mid-20th

century, and is still used today on formal occasions. The dark colours of the costume have

also been kept and considered a mark of elegance until they were only recently reintroduced

as a sign of strong personality. On the whole, the 19th and the 20th century have been

governed by the image of the elegant English gentleman. Although he has been supplanted

by the Italian and the functional elegance of the American man at the end of the last century,

the dandy remains a founding figure in masculine fashion. From a general point of view, men

unlike women, seem to be wary of change in outfit. Therefore the tailcoat, directly inherited

from Brummell‘s riding-coat, has become a classical reference and has been worn by business

men until the First World War. At the beginning of the 20th century, the masculine costume

was subjected to minor changes. At the very end of the 19th century, the obsession with the

tailored costume had led to a somewhat stuffy appearance. In 1900, the ―Ivy League‖ style

imposed to men of high education a refined yet casual outfit: the three piece suite could now

be worn in separate pieces, which still inspired elegance but made a break from the too

formal costume. However, in the shape of the silhouette could still be seen the aesthetic of

the dandy. From the military uniform to the Ivy League style, the striped costume of the

Italian man, to the tuxedo that was enthusiastically adopted by the New York high society

in the 1920‘s, until today‘s ―habit de prestige‖ – the business man‘s suit – the elegant outfit is

still dominated by dark colours, the cut straight and the silhouette faithful to that advocated

by the Beau. So on the whole, it can be said that today‘s masculine elegance is largely

inspired from Brummell‘s conceptions.

48

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