The Chap

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This article is about the magazine. For the London based band, see The Chap (band).

The Chap is a British quarterly magazine and related books edited by Gustav Temple, proposing a return to a dandified way of life, involving tweed, pipe smoking, opium, brogues and finely pressed trousers. The magazine has featured such noted Chaps and Chapettes as John Cooper Clarke, Leslie Phillips, Mark Gatiss and Miss Martindale, with moustache grooming instruction from Michael "Atters" Attree and sartorial advice from David Saxby.

The "Chappists" propose a revolution based not on violence or bomb-throwing, but on dressing and behaving very nicely indeed. They combine decadence with activism and have organised protests against modern art installations and vulgar corporations such as Gap, Starbucks and Nike. It could be argued that while Chappism is certainly sincere in its appreciation of British culture and its love of tradition it is none the less firmly rooted in the Situationist strand of anarchism with more than the occasional nod to Dada.

Though occasionally mistaken for a pamphlet reflecting the right-wing views of old Etonians, The Chap is very definitely a satirical operation, whose affection for some of the more absurd eccentricities of Britain's fading aristocracy can sometimes confuse its detractors. Indeed, absurdism seems to be its principal guiding force, as can be seen in its choice of 1950s knitting patterns as covers, combined with the subverted graphics of Freemasonry and Soviet propaganda. The Chap was originally launched in 1999 as an antidote to Lads' Mags, but today its position is just as stark among the enormous rash of trashy weekly magazines. But The Chap's message seems to be getting through - not since the 1960s have so many members of pop groups been wearing braces, ties and trilbies.

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