'MORE MORE MORE' by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen | an Exuberant Life-Style guide from the dandy Excess Coach 🌸🌟🦋✨

 

DANDYISM may be minimal or maximal: discrete - or a flamboyant flourish on the horizon!

What distinguishes the Dandy from the mere fashionista, or exhibitionist (among several subtle traits) is a tendency to bestow words of no small wonder...

The brilliant bon mot.

That delightfully inventive portmanteau.

And if we're really lucky; a little Library of wry thoughts on this, that and the other.

Dandies and Men of Letters

Not so many decades ago, a couple of celebrity fops began to amuse and bemuse Britain.

Quentin Crisp succumbed to stardom upon reaching retirement age. And lost no time in ditching London for New York. As the 90s grew dark and decidedly boorish with the brothers Oasis looming large: British TV was suddenly blessed by the elegant airs of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

Nature simply wouldn't exact upon British society the baneful absence of its National Fop - whatever the era.

Both Mr. Crisp and (the curiously, as-yet-un-Sir-ed...) Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen - could have fallen out of the sky for all their flamboyant flair... to the delight of Fopicionados around the globe.

And both have published highly knowledgeable works on matters - nay systems - of Life-Style.

'Crisperanto' was graciously bequeathed to the nations by the former Stylist. While the latter is no less nimble in his delivery of a particular... 'Parlaurence'..? 'Bowcabulary'..? 🤔

Perhaps we should await an official neologism from Brand LLB! And for now delight in such lavish LL-B-isms as 'Beige Rage', 'Abandon Taupe all ye who enter here', 'delusions of blandeur'... or even a 'Jane Austen-tatious' touch to his facon de parler!

All of which serves to banish stuffiness from what could otherwise be a dreaded art gallery tour guide affair.

A Maximalist Manifesto (and Minimalist's ear-bashing 🙉)

MORE MORE MORE is unlike any previous L L-B publication. (Well it's slightly similar to the softly hilarious 'Pinch of Posh' co-written with Mrs. Llewlyn-Bowen. And akin to the lavish ethos of Fantasy Rooms). But on this occasion LL-B develops, or rather fulfills, those brisk scenes of erudite exposition in Changing Rooms episodes.

You know the sort of scenario... between mishaps and misunderstood Design schemes. When a project is revealed within its wider aesthetic or cultural tradition. Intervals when we'd often like to hear... more!

Even when insights into gilded craftsmanship of Classical Antiquity are imparted while mixing pasta pieces into an Artex-encrusted gong 🙃

How it all seems vaguely satirical at times. And of course falls very foul indeed of Live Hashtag shitposting on social media.

'Making Maximalism work in your Home and Life'

Maximalism not only provokes the wrath of British reserve; it has a daunting struggle with our Modernist hangover. 

Yet the author's message is clear: Maximalist Style is actually a neutral concept in itself.

At the heart of MORE MORE MORE is the aim of Announcing your individual style. So if say, boredom be thy thing; there's absolution for making it an abundant spirit of your lifestyle affects.

Taste too, is exposed for being a rogue tyrant whose decrees linger from Victorian times. 

A flimsy set of fusty notions, originally enforced by a magistrate for modest budgets: "with side whiskers like mud flaps who decides what's appropriate and what's not appropriate for you to buy."

So where grudging concepts of Taste end... Style begins!

MORE MORE MORE takes up themes explored in Laurence's School of Flock: a series of videos released during Lockdown 

 

An Objet d'art - as an Emissary of Elegance

The author is clearly as comfortable weaving words, as wangling wallpaper patterns from a great universal void... 

For beyond the Classical Figures of Rhetoric enshrined in the literary landmark Elements of Eloquence - we're sent scurrying in search of antiphrasis... as if to keep academics on their toes amidst all the playful patois-couture. 

And as if to emphasise mastery of the written medium: there are no pictures!

Instead, sumptuous illuminations by co-creator Martin O'Neill surround or swamp every page. Indeed this book is an experience to behold: akin to handling a curious ornament, or lolling through a miniature wallpaper catalogue.

Still, if you're a bit daunted by a 272 page treatise that shuns photography: as if it were an invention of the modernist Bahaus ("Boo-Hiss") movement: there's an audio edition, read by the author.

MORE MORE MORE and MORE Besides!

Now this might not seem like that obvious a perk. The LL-B Presenter's Voice is after all, among the most distinct in modern media. So you're bound to hear a few trademark tones and the rhythm of LL-B narration while reading a copy.

However.

This is where a distinctly Dandiacal consideration arises in making a choice of leisurely learning experience: Euphony!

Whilst Quentin Crisp's voice was dismissed as 'tarnished silver' (much to his express approval) - Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen always animates his subject with lively lilts and the deepest of drawls.

We're talking Orotund Opulence... and with copies of the book available in plenty of places for a humble tenner* - it's rather tempting to compliment the experience with an all-too-idle audio readalong... and perhaps a cigar; a bit of background music, some butterscotch, a glass of sherry, a few... 

*by inflation-adjusted standards 

MORE MORE MORE: Making Maximalism Work in Your Home and Life (Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2022)

John M. Gilheany is a sullen minimalist and superb Copywriter at 'A dash of Tonic!' ✨