All things Fine and DANDY

Trends are often creatures of cycle. . . With an occasional twist of irony along the way. In the 1800s, the Regency Dandy was in the ascendant. Led by Beau Brummell - a relentless snob whose capricious eyebrow could banish the best dressed from Haut Ton events. Simply for lacking 'the look'. When his regiment was relocated to Manchester, Brummell resigned: "Now you must be aware how disagreeable this would be to me. I could really not go: think, Your Royal Highness, Manchester! " (or so the story goes: Brummell's anyway. His military career was shabby and his motives a matter of speculation)* In recent decades, the revitalised city has hosted the Commonwealth Games and a thriving international arts festival. Now Manchester captures Dandy Style . Where "concepts such as elegance, uniformity and spectacle will be explored from the 18th Century to the present day." The exhibition draws upon Manchester Art Gallery 's own collection of men's clothin