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1775:

Yankee doodle went to town, riding on a pony.

Stuck a feather in his hat and called it Macaroni.

Yankee doodle keep it up.

Yankee doodle DANDY.

Mind the music and the steps and

let the girls be handy.

DANDY predates 1790 by at least 15 years. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.235.44.73 (talk • contribs).

I have removed the phrases "rejects bourgeois values" and "counter-cultural" from the definition, as I don't believe they reflect the more nuanced attitude of the dandy towards society. —Ashley Y 04:47, 2005 May 29 (UTC)

If you think that a dandy accepts bourgeois values, you must have a highly personal interpretation of "bourgeois". Please explain your changes here. --Wetman 06:39, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

I have no idea where you got the impression that I think a dandy accepts bourgeois values. And I just did explain my changes here. —Ashley Y 06:06, 2005 May 30 (UTC)

(Silly Wetman: he thought "I have removed the phrases "rejects bourgeois values"" meant that this person thought that a dandy doesn't reject bourgeois values. He should have realized that the phrase simply wasn't liked.) --Wetman 03:03, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Contents 1 Female Dandy 2 Recent editing 3 Metrosexual 4 Flâneur 5 Needs rewrite 6 Gay Dandies 7 Dandy and Class 8 protestestations?

[edit] Female Dandy

Though I appreciate the identification of the courtesan as the female dandy, I would argue that the Vamp in the Theda Bara style might be more appropriate. This image captures the inner pride of the dandy whilst using her beauty and sexuality to make an impact. DLS

All definitions of "dandy" do apply to Theda Bara. Go for it, keeping strictly to an application of the definitions (skirting Original Research). Another female dandy: The flamboyant marchesa Luisa Casati, hostess to the Ballets Russes in the Palazzo "Non Finita" (now the Peggy Guggenheim Museum), Venice, and the subject of numerous portraits by Boldini, Troubetzkoy, Man Ray and Augustus John. She walked a pair of ocelots on leashes, and the Venetians at any rate were thoroughly epatés...--Wetman 20:19, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Recent editing

A clueless hash-up of this article has been made today by someone who thinks "18th century' means the 1800s, thinks that dandyism is passé and can't spell Britain. --Wetman 09:13, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

Ok, I messed up the centuries and spelled someting wrong. So instead of complaining why didn't you correct it yourself? Much easier. Also, the article said dandyism was mostly a thing of the past before I edited it, which I did by the way because it had no sections and was pretty incoherent. But if this is your baby and you want to revert it, I won't fight you. Mjk2357 19:22, 19 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Metrosexual

I was thinking a discussion of dandies in relation to metrosexuality would be a good addition.

Excellent. Give it a header :Main article: Metrosexual and don't be shy to adapt any material you find there that relates to "dandy". (Don't cannibalize Metrosexual, though.) And why not log in!--Wetman 10:38, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Flâneur

This article definitely should mention the flâneur. I'm pretty sure that flânerie is the older of the two trends, and that dandyism is supposed to have emerged from it in some obscure way, possibly under commercial pressures. Speaking of which, dandyism probably deserves some consideration as an early example of the subculture under modern mass society. --WadeMcR 08:25, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Needs rewrite

I think this article, or at least the first paragraph, needs rescuing from its "Baudelairean" POV. There are others, after all.

A dandy is a man who cares to dress well. Let's start with something like that. Then all the nonsense about "elevates aesthetics to a living religion", "rejects bourgeois values" and so forth can be attributed to the various points of view of various authors. —Ashley Y 08:05, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Find other points of view and report on them, using some illuminating direct quotes. Baudelaire's published views on the subject are incontrovertibly mainstream, whether or not one likes them. --Wetman 22:17, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Baudelaire's views are mainstream? You should probably provide evidence for that in the article if you're going to give him such prominence. I would say that his views are in the mainstream but certainly do not represent more than part of it.

Also "incontrovertibly" is as bad as "considered by many". —Ashley Y 00:51, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

'Yes, Miss, Baudelaire's views are incontrovertibly mainstream. His essay on dandyism is among the external links. It has been translated into English, so your lack of French won't be an excuse.. Reading it might make a beginning.--Wetman 04:57, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

The question, of course, is whether reading it also makes an end. And might I suggest there's a certain circularity in pointing to an author's own work in trying to demonstrate its significance? I can hardly deny the enormous influence he had on himself. But what does it mean for the rest of us?

Beerbohm, for instance, provides a slightly different view, as does the less sympathetic Carlyle. One might argue that it's all of a piece, and I won't deny that these viewpoints and others listed have much more in common than they differ. But it's together that they make the mainstream. Religious social conservativism is regarded by many as mainstream in American politics, for instance, but to begin an article on the latter with the remark that "America is a sinful nation" or somesuch would be as out of place there as some of the more, shall we say, "French" ideas of Baudelaire are at the beginning of this article. —Ashley Y 07:25, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gay Dandies

I could swear I'd seen references to gay dandies. Obviously, there's Wilde. Would it be acceptable to include a section on gay male dandies? samwaltz 09:30, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dandy and Class

From article para 1: "thus a dandy could be considered a kind of snob, or, alternatively, either a warrior in the class struggle or a class traitor."

If we are mainly talking about dandies in their heyday, early 19th century, then the reference to class is quite anachronistic - Marxism hadn't even been formulated, and I doubt any dandy would have thought in terms of class struggle even if it had. I note that someone has put a citation-need tag against that assertion - because it does stand as a bold assertion at the beginning of the article, with no development of this theme, or even supporting references for the assertion, within the article.

I have deleted the the references to class. If someone can point to previously published analysis, then include it back into the article. However, because of the anachronism involved, I wouldn't think Marxist class terminology would be appropriate for the introductory first paragraph. --Iacobus 01:44, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] protestestations?

Given these connotations, dandyism can be seen as apolitical protestestations against the rise of egalitarian principles — often including nostalgic.... Is that a word? I'm no native speaker of English Lio 19:32, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

It's a word I've seen used before, but I don't think it's a particularly good word, since the simpler protest/protests will do fine. --Iacobus 05:56, 11 January 2007 (UTC)