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THE MAGIC OF reproaches the responsible citizen of the middle and as personae providing sources of gossip and
DANDYISM RESIDES class. Dandyism is a form of Romanticism. Con- scandal. The magic of dandyism resides in the in-
IN THE INTERPLAY trary to what many thoughtless people seem to terplay between the dandy’s temperament and
BETWEEN believe, dandyism is not even an excessive delight his appearance. Yet it is not a question of simple
THE DANDY’S in clothes and material elegance. For the perfect harmony, for one dandy may combine severe
TEMPERAMENT AND dandy, these things are no more than the symbol dress with a jocular demeanor, while another me-
HIS APPEARANCE.
of the aristocratic superiority of mind. The linkage shes cold aloofness with colorful and audacious
of clothing with political protest had become a dress. Nevertheless, what follows is an attempt to
particularly English characteristic during the 18th describe the indescribable, to unravel the formu-
century. Given these connotations, dandyism can la of dandyism’s certain something. To do so we
be seen as a political protest against the levelling must bear in mind that dandyism is sometimes
of egalitarian principles, often including nostalgic referred to as an affectation. In Regency England,
adherence to feudal or pre-industrial values, such dandyism became a fashionable pose when men
as the ideals of “the perfect gentleman” or “the au- wished to imitate Brummell without having either
tonomous aristocrat”. Paradoxically, the dandy re- his sartorial originality or his particular tempera-
quired an audience, as Susann Schmid observed ment. And though Brummell surely exploited his
in examining the “successfully marketed lives” of temperament for effect in fashionable society, it
Oscar Wilde and Lord Byron, who exemplify the was already present when he was a lad at Eton
dandy’s roles in the public sphere, both as writers and distinguished himself by “the most bold and

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