Dandyism

Dandyism is the act of presenting oneself as a member of high society, especially through one's attire. In an 1863 essay, Charles Baudelaire identified the passion that drove the dandy to perfection with the “burning need to create for oneself a personal originality, bounded only by the limits of the proprieties.” The “eyes of a dandy” are “in love with distinction” (499). Classical dandies had an exceptionally developed sense for distinctions, which they eagerly displayed in public, in regular meeting places for the urban high society such as the afternoon promenades on the city boulevards and parks, the literary saloons, the clubs and balls, the opera and theater, and so on. The dandy was the ultimate trendsetter in all matters of taste and etiquette, above ...