dandyism

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the cultivated dress, manners, wit, and self-presentation characteristic of a dandy

   His immaculate coat and studied indifference turned dandyism into a daily performance.

2. 2
   noun

   the historical aesthetic and social ideal of making one's appearance and conduct into a disciplined work of style

   Nineteenth-century dandyism could express both aristocratic detachment and rebellion against ordinary taste.

From dandy + -ism. Dandy is of uncertain origin, though it is related to earlier expressions such as Jack-a-dandy. In the nineteenth century dandyism grew beyond fashionable dress into a deliberate aesthetic of self-command, wit, elegance, and resistance to bourgeois convention.

Topics