Dandy: Fashion, Literature, Lifestyle

The word “dandy” has preserved up to this day the feeling of secret charm and the dandies themselves are perceived as eccentric aesthetes, creators of ingenious whims. But who can we call a modern dandy? How did the blueprint of male elegance arise? Why did the dandies walk turtles? Among the heroes of the books are: the famous British dandy George Brummell, French dandies comte d'Orsay, Barbey d'Aurevilly and Charles Baudelaire; Oscar Wilde and count Robert de Montesquiou of the decadent movement. European dandyism emerges as a cultural tradition which means not only fashionable clothes, but also lifestyle, cultivated behaviour and charming personality.

Moscow: New Literary Observer, 2012