The Crossroads of the Aether
Fop, Dandy or just like dressing up ?
Are you so devoted to dress and the presentation of self as to exclude all other factors - are you a Dandy fit to rank with " Beau ' Brummel ? Tell us more . Or perhaps a Fop - prepared to startle the masses with your flamboyant and trumpery style ? Are you devoted to the memory of Benjamin Disraeli - who gave up being a Dandy for the less demanding world of politics . Tell us . . Or do you just like dressing up ?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Baldur Makepeace Bear on -
Baldur is a bit of a dandy, and always has been.
What is marvelous about having a personal style is that one's wardrobe is not fickle and dependent on the whims of fashion trends. A good example would be my spectator shoes.
I one were to follow the ever shifting styles that the magazines espouse you would know that these particular shoes have been in an out of style several times since they were purchased. Indeed they were bought when they were quite out of style.
That did not stop me from wearing them. Perhaps Mr Bear has personally brought them back.
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Permalink Reply by Baldur Makepeace Bear on
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My apologies Sebastion, Baldur has gone and killed another discussion.
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Permalink Reply by freeda on -
I think those terms are generally used for men, but by those definitions I'm a recovering fop, aspiring to dandy status.
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Permalink Reply by michael helsem on -
i would say a fop (over-) dresses to impress, while a dandy does it for the subjective feeling of invincibility.
costume, however, declares that the child's sense of reality being malleable & a point of departure only, remains supreme; surely this is the least of vices, if not actually a force for good in the world.
m.
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Permalink Reply by Sgt. Foust, US Airship Marines on -
The only thing worse than being a Dandy is not being a Dandy.
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Permalink Reply by Noah Meernaum on -
I am as Lord Whimsey (penner of The Affected Provincial Almanac) a self proscribed failed dandy. While there is a willful effort on my part to piece together unique clothing from the discarded wares of others (or second hand shops) my woeful dole keps me from achieving true dandy status. Still it is fun to rummage through the smattering of casts offs to put together what ensembles that differ from the sloucheness that one can easily fall into. Summer always presents a particular dilemma in mainting a unique sense of style when one is sweltering in the southern climes that linger in Cincinnati. Still one presses on.For myself sartorial sense is something that one develops as they age, limited funds prevent me from full dandydom, yet there is creativity in the bohemian bins and back alley shops that present delight to my own poor frame.
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Permalink Reply by Prof. Sebastian Fate on -
The bohemian dandies of 1890s Paris used to search out the clothing of their 1840s aristocratic counterparts - Noah Meernaum joins a long tradition . This Forum was prompted by the discussion " A Steampunk Dictionary ' as started by G.A. ( Jack ) Hammerquist . Lady Bijou defined a dandy as " a gentleman who takes great care of his appearance " and went on to suggest that he was " similar to a ' metrosexual ' in common language " . The Professor then defined a dandy as " a person who adopts an extreme intellectual approach to dress and the presentation of self to the exclusion of all other factors " , before going on to define a fop as " someone who dresses in a flamboyant and trumpery style " . ' Metrosexual ' seemed to the Professor to imply an individual lacking in the intellectual rigour and self regard required to reach the the status of Dandy - while exhibiting many of the characteristics of the Fop .It also ignored the idea of Self as a construct and possibly the alternative possibilities as offered by play and as noted by Michael Heslem . Maybe only ' Beau ' Brummel meets all the requirements - the rest of us can only include elements of the dandiacal in our aspirations .
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Permalink Reply by Prof. Sebastian Fate on
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The Professor also feels that one could - theoreticaly - be an intellectual dandy without the emphasis on presentation of self through clothing . Not as much fun ? A favourite story - told about a number of C19th dandies - has one of them complaining that he has caught a cold - ' How ? ' he is asked - ' I rather think ' , he replies , ' that it happened when I left one of the tassels off my cane ' . The reply might mark an intellectual dandy - possesion of such a cane might mark a fop.
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Permalink Reply by Prof. Sebastian Fate on
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...and Mr. Bear , what are " spectator " shoes ? The term eludes an Antipodean .
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Permalink Reply by Baldur Makepeace Bear on
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Permalink Reply by Prof. Sebastian Fate on
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Known in the Antipodeas as ' co-respondent ' shoes - the Professor suspects that this term might mean something else in North America and England. Thanks for the link .
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