Dressy men as a type of celebrity have played a distinctive part in the cultural - and even in the political - life of Britain over several centuries. But unlike the twenty-first-century hipster, the dandies of the British past provoked intense degrees of fascination and horror in their homeland and played an important role in British society from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.
This book - illustrated with contemporary prints, portraits and caricatures - explores that social and cultural history through a focus on the macaroni, the dandy and the aesthete. The first was noted for his flamboyance, the second for his austere perfectionism and the third for his sexual perversity. All were highly controversial in their time, pioneering new ways of displaying and performing gender, as demonstrated by the impact of key figures such as Lord Hervey, George 'Beau' Brummell and Oscar Wilde.
This groundbreaking study tells the scandalous story of fashionable men and their clothes as a reflection of changing attitudes not only to style but also to gender and sexuality.
'In Janes' fascinating book he takes us on a journey through the evolution of male peacockery in all its guises. Full of exquisitely researched detail it illustrates with great charm the inextricable links between clothing, personality and status, and reveals a world of public obsession with celebrity and image that long predates the modern age of the influencer.' - Patrick Grant
By:
Dominic Janes
Imprint: Bodleian Library
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781851245598
ISBN 10: 1851245596
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 01 July 2022
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Contents List of Illustrations Chapter One, British Dandies Chapter Two, Dressing the Sexes in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Chapter Three, A Georgian Taste for Macaroni Chapter Four, Fine and Dandy in the Regency Chapter Five, Victorians and the Aesthetic Pose Chapter Six, Fashion and Scandal in the Twentieth Century Notes Bibliography Picture Credits Index
Dominic Janes is Professor of Modern History at Keele University.
Reviews for British Dandies: Engendering Scandal and Fashioning a Nation
In Janes' fascinating book he takes us on a journey through the evolution of male peacockery in all its guises. Full of exquisitely researched detail, it illustrates with great charm the inextricable links between clothing, personality, and status, and reveals a world of public obsession with celebrity and image that long predates the modern age of the influencer. -- Patrick Grant
