How to Be a Complete Dandy: A Little Guide for Rakes, Bucks, Swells, Cads and Wits [Hardcover]

Stephen Robins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2001

It's not just about dressing up. From Beau Brummell to Andy Warhol, the dandy is someone who has made his own life, and how he lives it, a work of art. Rebellious in style, cutting wit and decadent antics have always been the dandy's colourful calling cards. Practised by everyone from eccentric lords to street swells, the great dandies rank as some of the most enigmatic, entertaining and quotable personalities in history. This little encyclopedia of quotes and commentaries takes a humorous glance at the whole history of the dandy from ancient Rome and feudal Japan to the Elizabethans with their ruffs, Regency bucks, fin-de-siecle bohemians and the Bright Young Things of the 1920s and 30s. It includes meditations on all the related arts of dandyism and its unique outlook on life including: smoking, drinking, dress and deportment, aspirations, idleness, extravagance, display, decadence, wit, hedonism, narcissism and oh so much more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

It’s not just about dressing up. It’s an entire way of life. From Beau Brummel to Andy Warhol, the dandy is someone who has made a religion of himself and turned his life into a work of art. Rebellious style, razor–sharp wit, and outrageous antics have always been the dandy’s colorful calling cards. They are the eccentric outsiders who live fast, die young (usually), and make life more interesting for the rest of us. This compendium of quotes and commentaries surveys the complete history of the dandy and his excesses: Restoration Fops (Sir Fopling Flutter), Regency Bucks (Poodle Byng and Romeo Coates), 19th–Century Bohemians and Decadents (lobster–walking poets and absinthe–addled artists), the Edwardians, the Bright Young Things of the 20s and 30s, and the dandy’s recent role as the godfather of pop style and attitude.

About the Author

Stephen Robins recently graduated from Oxford. His first book, The Importance of Being Idle - a little book of lazy inspiration, is also available from Prion.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Prion Books (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853754528
• ISBN-13: 978-1853754524
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #803,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be a Dandy...or Just Look Like One!, April 19, 2003

By 

D. Davieau (Anchorage, AK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Be a Complete Dandy: A Little Guide for Rakes, Bucks, Swells, Cads and Wits (Hardcover)

This is a charming little book, the only fault of which is that it leaves one wishing for more. The dashing writing style and the author's light touch are well-suited to the subject, interspersing biographies of dandies, witty (of course!) quotes by famous dandies, examinations of various aspects of dandyism, and little scenes between two fictitious dandies. It is so evocative of the spirit of dandyism that I, who am in many ways the opposite of a dandy, began wishing that I were a little more like the historic and fictional bon vivants that inhabit its pages. My only criticism is that photographs are sometimes a little misplaced in the text, so that you are reading about Thomas Wainewright and looking at Benjamin Disraeli, but this is infrequent, and is a very small flaw in a gem of a book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not scholarship, but good fun., June 12, 2010

By 

D. Madsen (USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Be a Complete Dandy: A Little Guide for Rakes, Bucks, Swells, Cads and Wits (Hardcover)

If it's hard scholarship on the history of the dandy that you seek, this book is not for you.

This little book is a totally tongue-in-cheek look at the phenomenon of dandyism: the great dandies of the nineteenth century and well into the 20th--complete with mini-biographies--and the concepts you must master in order to become one with them, sartorially and spiritually.

The illustrations are grainy and poor, and there is some lack of continuity with images and the text, as has already been noted, and a few small historical bits of trivia that are incorrect (for instance, the age of famous dandy's bride when the consummation of their marriage was stipulated; the book states the age was twenty when it was, in reality, nineteen; the true deed itself happened when the bride was 18) but overall a fun read.