Dandy Style: 250 Years of British Men's Fashion

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Rosie Gnatiuk, costume curator at Manchester Art Gallery, said: “The fashion gallery supports our ambitions to bring the costume and dress collection into the heart of the city.” From Oscar Wilde’s penchant for extravagance, to the musicians of today seen through the lens of the best photographers, this show has something for everyone, whatever your style. Some dandy gentlemen are heavily influences by historical dandy fashion, as seen in novels like The Picture of Dorian Grey or The Great Gatsby. However, some dapper gentlemen embrace a modern spin on the style, and you may spy a dandy dresser sporting an impressive (but well-groomed) beard, gauged earrings, or a tasteful and meaningful tattoo. This fusion of rebellion into classic style is yet another way the modern man may choose to stand out from the crowd, style-wise.

In Regency England, Brummel's fashionable simplicity constituted, in fact, a criticism of the exuberant French fashions of the eighteenth century" (Schmid 2002:83) This dynamic exhibition and flexible engagement space supports our ambition to reimagine the costume and dress collection. Bringing this important resource into the heart of the city means that we can show it in the context of the wider collection and as an integral part of the story of art and culture. It may no longer be the preserve of eccentrics, but dandyism will never follow a well-trodden path either. Former member of Andy Warhol’s Factory, Glenn O’Brien, argues in I Am Dandy: “A man who steps out of uniform is a hero, in his own way. You can only be a hero in your own way.” Nicolay, Claire. Origins and Reception of Regency Dandyism: Brummell to Baudelaire. PhD diss., Loyola U of Chicago, 1998.As such , Dandy Style, Covid-delayed and – you might say – fashionably late, commands not only what was once the Clore Interactive Gallery, but a second exhibition space on the floor above. Mixing the historic with the contemporary, the exhibition highlights a range of examples from Manchester’s collections presented in two main sections: Tailored Dandy and Decorated Dandy. In "The Dandiacal Body", a chapter of the novel Sartor Resartus (1831), Thomas Carlyle described the dandy's symbolic social function as a man and as a persona of refined masculinity: Andrew Groves, Director of the Westminster Menswear Archive said: “It’s been fantastic to be able to loan items from the Westminster Menswear Archive to support the curators in bringing their vision alive for the exhibition. Menswear has been overshadowed in fashion collections and exhibitions for decades; however, this exhibition redresses that imbalance, by highlighting the significance of menswear as a compelling force within the fashion industry by showcasing exceptional examples of its craftsmanship, skill, and design.” Kani Kamil’s work identifies core questions around the identity, value and use of historic objects such as the embroidered fragment.

Regarding the existence and the political and cultural functions of the dandy in a society, in the essay L'Homme révolté (1951) Albert Camus said that:

Prioritise Tailoring 

The counterpart to the dandy is the quaintrelle, a woman whose life is dedicated to the passionate expression of personal charm and style, to enjoying leisurely pastimes, and the dedicated cultivation of the pleasures of life.

The gallery mentions the ‘accidental’ and natural placement of the paint, as a result of Horsley’s artistic endeavours. However, it appears that the splodges of paint were predetermined meticulously and performatively to mimic an artist’s work outfit. Photo: Amelia Cole @ The Mancunion Red corded silk coat (1770-80) Not only part of the name of our store, Dandy is a term used to describe a man who pays great attention to how he dresses and who often dresses flamboyantly.France is the fashion capital of the world and has a whole history when it comes to style and fashion. Dandyism entered the European state after the French Revolution. The style was initiated as a political statement of dressing in an aristocratic style to distinguish its members from the sans-culottes. Brummel was the one who was imitated mostly in France hence resulting in adapting the Dandy Style. The birth of many dandies influenced the Symbolist Movement in French Literature.