The Dandy: Peacock or Enigma?

This book has one of the most amusing covers I have seen and the contents certainly live up to the cover. It surveys dandies around the world and down the ages. Dandies, it appears, are not just over-dressed fops or camp poseurs but are a very varied group of people that include gamblers & rakes certainly but also poets, writers, film stars, artists, sportsmen and even the odd politician! What they have in common is not just elegance but wit, courtesy and independence. The famous figures are there: Beau Brummell; Byron; Oscar Wilde; Nöel Coward etc. But even more interesting are minor figures, the unknown dandies. Among them are Count d'Orsay who `wowed Paris by riding around in a sleigh shaped like a dragon and covered in tiger skins', and James Jimmy `Beau' James, the `dandy-mayor' of New York in the 1920s who was known as the Night Mayor because he was so often seen in night clubs or at the first nights of Broadway shows.The book starts with the ancient Greeks & Romans; continues with the precursors to the dandy including the Macaronis and it ends with Sebastian Horsley, a top-hatted dandy whose flat in Soho was filled with skulls - suitably, as he died young. Still very much alive are the `Chaps', who call themselves `Anarcho-Dandies' and only wear tweed, and the Sapeurs, amazingly colourful peacocks from the Congo who smoke cigars and wear cream or candy-pink suits. The book is light-hearted and amusing, with witty illustrations but has serious undertones as the author defines a dandy, examines carefully whether the dandy is merely a peacock or something more enigmatic and whether the dandies have any influence on the world other than fashion.

Not much has been written about dandyism, that quaint phenomenon, in the last 50 years or so.The 1960s plunged headlong into its own Romantic movement, but left behind the elegance of tailored suits (think Gary Cooper or Fred Astaire), replete with hats and gloves, giving way to hippie beads, patchouli perfume, the Nehru shirt, denim jeans (made from the cloth of the French workers of Nimes, or "de Nimes"), and the caftan. One was hard pressed to be fashionable in something from Savile Row, which smacked of The Establishment.Historian Nigel Rodgers' latest entry into the enquiry on dandyism expands the definition of what it means to be a dandy. The book is lavishly illustrated with color pictures throughout. Ellen Moers' seminal work from 1960 has been expanded by Mr. Rodgers to include the last 100 years, as the dandy now has many temporal and cultural permutations. The dandy as a Regency, post-Macaroni figure has grown and morphed into other things, beyond the Aesthete of the 19th century Fin-de-Siecle and the Belle Epoque, personified by Oscar Wilde and Count Robert de Montesquiou. We can now find him (or her) in the most unexpected places-even in Africa-very far from Mayfair.Bravo to Nigel Rodgers for picking up where Ellen Moers left off. This book belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in the phenomenon of dandyism.

I have the Kindle edition and I waited until I'd seen the paper version before I reviewedI did wonder if I was missing out on pictures, but not really; the book (even as an e-book) does have some pictures, including a number mentioned in the narrative, but it is primarily a written history, so you don't miss out by reading on your KindleThe concept of following the Dandy through history, is one of those things that is obvious once someone else has thought of it, it gives you quite a different view to looking at individual dandies or coteries of dandies, as is sometimes done by biographers, and ends up giving you the right level of detail on each to retain your interest throughout as you head towards today.A good book for just general interest, and I also found that it shed some light on various dandified characters in literature, adding to my view of them.

The Dandy' is superb, and a necessary corrective to the common belief that a Dandy is a fop interested only in clothes, a view which I confess to having shared. I now know that although the Dandy adopted a high standard of dress, what mattered was perfection and distinction of manner, and garishness was abhorred. Even more important were the civilised demeanour and courtesy that were the marks of a true Dandy. The book is full of interest; I should hate for example not to have become acquainted with The Chaps, who hold The Chaps Olympics yearly in a London square and "maintaining dignity and panache" joust with bicycles and brollies. The book is written with elegance and a pleasing dry humour, and is illustrated lavishly with beautiful prints. All in all it is amazing; wonderfully amusing and yet filled with scholarly facts.Gillian Weir

Having been given a copy of Nigel Rodgers' "The Umbrella Unfurled" for my birthday and found it a most enjoyable read I thought I would look for other titles by this author who was previously unknown to me. I was certainly not disappointed by "The Dandy" - a hugely entertaining and informative romp through two centuries of sartorial elegance and eccentricity. For anyone who thinks that dandyism begins and ends with Beau Brummell this book is a must. As before, Nigel Rodgers has researched his subject thoroughly and writes with enthusiasm and clarity. The illustrations are cleverly chosen and accompany the text perfectly. Keep them coming!