All things Fine and DANDY

  Take a deep breath, dear reader. This rant simmered under four monarchs prior to print in 1866 : "How unspeakably odious - with a few brilliant exceptions, such as Alvanley and others - were the  dandies of forty years ago. They were a motley crew, with nothing remarkable about them but their insolence. They were generally not high-born, nor rich, nor very good-looking, nor clever, nor agreeable; and why they arrogated to themselves the right of setting up their own fancied superiority on a self-raised pedestal, and despising their betters, Heaven only knows. They were generally middle-aged, some even elderly men, had large appetites and weak digestions, gambled freely - and had no luck. They hated everybody, and abused everybody, and would sit together in White's bay window, or the  pit  boxes at the Opera, weaving tremendous crammers. (1) They swore a good deal, never laughed, had their own particular slang, looked hazy after dinner, and had most of them been pat...

  Is the Dandy a rebel?  Absolutely!  Beau Brummell may have been a model of moderation.  But his influence on mens' fashion was a revolution in itself. Within a decade of Brummell's departure to France in 1816 -   his unruly successors were all but competing for the ridicule of caricaturists. (1) Count Alfred d'Orsay became the leading London dandy by the 1820s. And flamboyance - or fashion rebellion - kept him at the hub of celebrity status for decades. As did his elan, amidst far more exuberant spectacles.  By 1850, d'Orsay had returned to his native France. In the debt-ridden manner of Brummell before him. And Victorians slammed the door on the last few Regency rascals in their midst.     Which is where we return to the scene: as retro-Dandyism meets modern celebrity tailoring. (via a raid on Vivienne Westwood's 1970s punk-era zips, studs and leathers) Dandy Rebels takes up themes explored in the recent Joshua Kane collections, Ceremon...