Coco Chanel used to say that fashion changes, but style remains, and this is something that the fashion industry proves every time. The dandy style is more like a classic, which only gets reinvented; it’s a brand in itself that can not be ignored.
Fashion changes every season, but the love for art and beauty remains all the seasons, just colours and clothes shape change and make space every time for an update of style or restate the love for others.
Since the release of 50 Shades of Grey’s trailer, the most talked-about trailer in town and the IT movie to be, I remembered elegance, grace, charm, and passion. That cocktail might bring you back in time if you close your eyes in a decade of elegance in the time of La belle époque, Coco Chanel’s time, The roaring ’20s, The Golden Hollywood.
Grey, the main character of the movie I mentioned, reminds me of another famous Grey, Dorian Grey. Oscar Wilde, an emblematic character with a flamboyant appearance, a dandy to be, brings an elegant look with an outrageous/ decadent behavior.
Dandyism as a style appeared in the 18th century and changed a bit through the 19th century, and became a classic with Hollywood.
An original dandy is a man with a very impeccable taste in elegance and fashion, maybe a way too fashionable, it’s a person who cares a lot about his look, who generally has an aristocratic flavor, who worships the look of a gentleman. As the style was winning more and more popularity, it developed into a doctrine, a lifestyle. Far away from just the appealing look, dandies became in the late 19th century something more about lifestyle, intellectual thinking, and appearance as a style, not just clothes.
Barbey d’Aurevilly, the French novelist, used to say that a jacket doesn’t make you a dandy, its was something more than that, it was in the greatness of spirit, elegance of a person as a behavior, a dandy starts to be more like a smart guy that can speak about any kind of important issues and looks like an old school gentleman. It was after the war when the notion of, classes” faded away, and dandies had a nostalgic appearance of a lost world.
The modern dandy is a hit again, bringing back my movies like The Great Gatsby, Mad Men, 007- James Bond, Bel Ami, The Artist, and others. Commercials for the drinks especially cast an elegant, appealing model or actor, let’s remember George Clooney for Martini or Peronni commercials and their Dolce Vita flavor. More than that, the fashion industry uses the dandy image at most, and his latest and more famous appearance is David Gandy (photo).
Gandy, a British model, the country where dandy as a movement was born, made several campaigns for clothing, watches, cars, and magazine covers using the everlasting style, that fits him so good. Other famous dandies were: Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire, Beau Brummel, Pedro Abraham Valdelomar, Andy Warhol, etc.
To get the dandy look it takes, first of all, a bold personality, an open-minded, an intellectual figure and some fine and elegant clothes. The description matches only with attitudes.
Must have clothes and accessorize for the dandy look: shirt, jacket, vest, tie, bow, elegant trousers, coat, watch, hanky, scarf, fancy shoes, gloves, hat, classic hair cut and a high art and fashion taste.
Hi, I’m Erick Ycaza — a music blogger with a BA in Advertising & Graphic Design. I created this blog to keep you updated with daily music news. Surprisingly, I’ve been writing about music since 2007. If you’re an artist and would like to be featured, feel free to reach out: info@electrowow.net
