All things Fine and DANDY

Something about this couple invokes the dolour of Sebastian Horsley 's day of reckoning:  "The day of the wedding dawned foul. Slowly and silently I got ready. I dressed all in white. I looked like a glass of milk. But inside I was black. Walking through the graveyard towards the chapel I felt about as hopeful as one of the tombstones. "The priest was waiting outside the church, like a ticket tout at the gates of heaven peddling his wares for four times their real worth. I shook his hand. He had a soft pale grip. I walked up the aisle. My soles clipped against stone like the tick of a death-watch beetle.  "Ev was late. I passed the time she made me linger there at the altar listing all her faults. I could have done with another hour... " Okay, you get the picture.  And can always pursue several pages of the sorry charade... in the much-missed Mr Horsley's 'unauthorised autobiography' Dandy in the Underworld (Hodder & Stoughton, 2007).   In time, ...

The dandy archetype is one of the most striking of plays and literature. When 'Lord Goring' and his ilk first amused theatregoers, comics had yet to transcend their Victorian status of Penny Dreadfuls. A century later, graphic storytelling would satisfy readers with distinct glimpses of Wildean wit.  While dandified script writers, like Alan Moore , would echo an element of Mr Wilde's creative yardstick.   In that such authors speak in sentences.  Saving talent for their work and genius for their lives. Alan Moore  in magician mode for his 'Fashion Beast' book signing in 2013 Caped Crusaders and Masked Marvels  It's fairly easy to spot why superheroes should captivate, and dominate so much of our entertainment. Aside from their overblown stature and invincible antics - an obvious aspect of superhero success is their super-slick costume designs.  With or without capes, superheroes comprise a deluge of Dandies: at least at a glance. And the same goes for th...