AS DANDY DOES 1

What's the dandy's doing nowadays? 2 centuries in the picture, how, why?

The dandy, he's always just back, on the wane, history or has always been there. The dandy, edgy masculinity and viewed by his audience with some skepticism [all in the game] but always finding his audience somewhere. 
Anyone can show dandy-like traits, not everyone can be dandy. The dandy is the leader of "the club" and a club has rules. The rules are set by the members to distinguish them against the "others", the "not dandies".

Those rules can be boring and rigid ...  
Rule number one of 'The Manifesto of The Chap' says: THOU SHALT ALWAYS WEAR TWEED. No other fabric says so defiantly: I am a man of panache, savoir-faire and devil-may-care, and I will not be served Continental lager beer under any circumstances.

In short tickling materials and no Heineken.


What makes dandyism so interesting is the believe to live according to an idea, a concept. As in the above example, the material [Tweed] is the message.

Men with their "lifestyle" convey messages of all time, singers like David Bowie, Boy George, David Sylvian. The multi-talented Dickon Edwards and dandy diarist Sebastian Horsley.

All fed by great nineteenth century examples, Beau Brummell, Oscar Wilde? 
Or closer by in time, Louis Couperus, Gabrielle d'Annunzio, Rudolph Valentino and Cecil Beaton?

Also, but not necessarily, there's the deep desire for secession by wanting, 'to hide in the spotlight, coûte que coûte!

The dandy is a person, not a group. Like somewhere in 2002 the metrosexual was invented, with figurehead David Beckham.  
Unfortunately without style, nor quirks, well ...

Listen to genius Wilde: "The dandy is the future".

The dandy is not only well dressed but also a leader in modern society. In itself a work of art: impassive, unapproachable and, if nessesary, inedible. Like Oscar Wilde's dandyism showed at the end of the 19th century in his plays and novels.

According to Alice Ciolini's book, "The New English Dandy", the dandy "again" has a future. It is a search for the successor of the metrosexual and the subsequent übersexual [George Clooney, sic.].
Looking for that new dandy, she distinguishes; the Neo-Modernist, the Terrace Casual, the Celebrity Tailor, the East End Flaneur, the Gentleman and the New Briton. An interesting survey...


Added july 18. 2012 [title links]

Introduction: The Literary Dandy (A Special Issue)

Posted on 11 July 2012

When was man first freed from the drudgery of earning his income? And who was the first to dedicate himself to the art of living well? At what point in history did an entire leisure class of hedonistic egoists first appear? And what is dandyism after all? It is merely an excessive delight in clothes and fashionable living?

There is a long and colorful history of dandyism. Such men have always appeared, it seems, during eras of luxury and excess, whether during the Days of the Caesars, or the Age of the Virgin Queen. They have gone by many names. During the Restoration of King Charles the Second, they were “bucks” or “beaus” or “exquisites” or, more meanly, “fops.” During the Regency, they were “rakes” and “blades.” Throughout La Belle Epoque, they were “aesthetes” and “dandies.” This last name has become their common name—and a term used as both description and reproach.

The dandy has always inspired mixed feelings among his fellow citizens. According to Baudelaire, the dandy has a “burning need to create for himself a personal originality.” Such characters incite envy or contempt among their fellow man: it is a “burning desire” which strikes others as too ambitious or arrogant. The dandy has always been unmoved by such resentment; the pursuit of “idle perfection” is not done for applause. As Robert de Montesquiou once said (and his indifference to criticism could be called archetypal):  “It is better to be hated than to be unknown.”

We will not concern ourselves with dandies who wrote little of consequence –great though they were in their manner of life – such as Alcibiades or Beau Brummell. It is too much off the point to entertain the anecdotes that surround such figures, not to mention their peers such as the Duke of Buckingham, or Ludwig the Second (the Swan King of Bavaria), or the Counts Boni de Castellane or d’Orsay. Examples are too abundant. As one author reminds us:

THORSTEN BRINKMANN

Once again German artist Thorsten Brinkmann  

German born artist Thorsten Brinkmann moves between painting, photography, sculpture, readymades, collage and performance.

Thorsten Brinkmann (Herne, 1971) is an active collector. In his hometown of Hamburg, he has a large shed completely filled with found objects. Everything you can find at the flea market, you also collect Thorsten Brinkmann at: discarded wardrobes, lamp shades, tables, rugs and more. From this series he draws freely in installations, sculptures, videos and photos.

The photographic self-portraits dresses and masks Thorsten Brinkmann is always another way. One time he pulls secondhand clothes over his head. Other times he hides his face in a flowerpot or lampshade. Using the items from his collection molds Brinkmann each his own body into a new representation of himself.

[Some Dutch tekst hier]

MINDMAPPING [2] JAN ROTHUIZEN [1]

Jan Rothuizen is an Amsterdam based artist. I came across "his" room of Cohen, which was a part of the 'Soft Atlas of Amsterdam' in a magazine stand on his site and discovered the project "Somewhere over the Rainbow". Here he makes a self-portrait without self, which consists of photographs collected from men. All pictures have been chosen because it is in some way recognizable. Not only in the present but also in elements of the past and even images which he himself recognized as possible future looks. "
In an exhibition the photographs were exhibited in chronological order, so they start forming an imaginary life. It begins with a baby and ends with an old man.
A good assignment for starting art students, I reckon...

LOOK: http://janrothuizen.nl/

MOT 1 [MAN OF TALENT] ANDY MACGREGOR

Andy Macgregor, handsome model and wicked stylist in one... Always a delight to look at his website. So delectable. What I like about his work is the craftiness of it. No wonder we [the old fashioned teachers of beauty] still want students to draw, cut and paste... 

Here's Andy 

And here's a querschnitt of his work... but please go to his site and browse....

I.W.I.W. MAN OF TALENT ANDY MACGREGOR

Some people inmediately give you the feeling... I wish I was him or her. Andy Macgregor does!

First you come across a picture on Style Bubble

Then there is a link to Fred Butler Style where you see some pictures of Andy.

And finally you arrive at his own site. By then completely smitten!

Look for instance at these paper construction animals, commissioned by Elemental for Chopard watches [please visit his site for more, much more...

Bravo for the man!
Great works, I wish I was Andy Macgregor!

ABOUT DANCE [3] 1234

This film has been able to cheer up so many people, I showed it too. The clever clip, combining a well build up scenography, non chalance, happiness, colour styling, dramatic development, ending into a 'deus ex machina' like disappearance, keeps you watching till the end...

ALL ABOUT FOOD [3] PROEF AMSTERDAM

Studio MV = Marije Vogelenzang

After graduating from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2000, Marije Vogelzang developt a new direction in the design profession. After founding PROEF in Rotterdam in 2004 and expanding to Amsterdam in 2006, she broadens her experiments and develops her vision one food.
After 10 years of experience, she is considered a pioneer and the 'grand dame' of course eating design
(De Volkskrant).

She travels the world for inspiring lectures about her work and vision, in which she researches the potential of her new approach to eating (or is it a new approach to design?).
Marije Vogelzang's lectures are well received in the Netherlands and among others, Cape Town, Beirut, Bangkok, Dubai, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Norway, Romania, Berlin, etc.
In addition, Marion is also part of brainstorming sessions and works as a consultant for the food industry.

Studio Marije Vogelzang is a small personal company with big ideas. they work both on restaurant concepts and do hospitals and medical projects. They do community projects such as workshops to inspire, but they also work for the food industry. They create art installations and new rituals concerning food.

Take a llok at the works at: Proef Amsterdam of Proef Rotterdam

 

ALL ABOUT FOOD [2] EAT / LOVE

Marije Vogelenzang wrote, "Eat Love A about food, giving an overview of her work from the moment she graduated from the Design Academy in 2000.

Eat Love - Love Eat

Eating is a daily experience that needs special attention. Yes, like love demands. That's the way Marije Vogelzang sees it. Love for the product, love the story behind it, love the people with whom you share it and love for the environment in which you eat. Eating design, in Marije's case means not just look of food. But the WHOLE, all there is in it: the psychological, cultural, sensitive, natural, action-packed, scientific, technical and social aspects of eating should be studied and transformed into food design.

The psychology of eating

In the first chapter Marije Vogelzang shows, what she understands as the psychology of eating. And she gives impressive examples. During the opening of the exhibition Black Confetti in the Rotterdam Schielandshuis about the Second World War and the impressions of the kids by then (the axis of the bombing came as black confetti falling from the sky) Marije Vogelzang served war snacks, with only the ingredients used during the war. And the beauty was that not only the bad memories of the guests emerged. Despite the poor food of these difficult times, there were still plenty of memories of good times, the food enticed the right conversation piece. Eating together was one of the small pleasures that time and the guests there had pleasant memories.

Press Eat Love to see the book and more of Marijes work.

MOSCHINO'S DALI SALUTE

The New york shop of Moschino showed a Dali inspired windowdisplay this year. Soft furnishing as a salute to the man and his surrealistic art. 

It reminded me of a great story I once read;

It was summer, 1939, when Dali was asked to design a window display for New York 5th Avenue, department store, Bonwit Teller. They may have gotten more than they bargained for, but management might have anticipated the interest the window would create. Salvador Dali was at that time, one of the most famous and notorious painters of his day. 

The theme of the display was Night and Day. But here no ordinary depiction. A four-poster-bed covered with black sheets, scarred with burn marks, symbolized night. The canopy over the bed was a buffalo; in its mouth was a pigeon dripping blood. The feet of the bed were the four feet of the buffalo. Across the bed, covered in cobwebs and dust, lay a wax mannequin, its head propped up on artificial burning coals.

The depiction of day was even more extraordinary. A bathtub lined with ermine and filled with water

occupied most of the window. A mannequin in a voluminous ball gown was stepping into the tub, her features reflected in a mirror held in front of her by two wax arms that reached up from the floor. Flowers sprouted from every available surface of the display.

Once the display was set up, Dali left the store for the night. But when he returned the next morning, he could not believe his eyes. His precious work had been tampered with by an overzealous employee concerned that the window display did not focus on the ballgown. The bed had been removed, the decor altered, and the wax mannequin stepping into the tub had been repositioned so that her gown could be seen to better effect from the street. Dali felt that the whole display had been ruined. 

So enraged was Dali that, without waiting for an explanation, he stormed through the store and forced his way past the store assistants into the window display. In protest he tried to overturn the tub of water, but his foot slipped. In the ensuing melee, Dali and the bathtub crashed through the plate glass window out onto the sidewalk, showering the watching crowd with cold water and splinters of glass. The police were summoned and Dali was arrested on charges of wilful destruction.

Brought into court, Dali was given a suspended sentence. 

CREATURE COUTURE

I simply love Nick Cave's pictures called Creature Couture here on Man Made Creation [recommendable site BTW]

DON'T BE TIED UP ABOUT IT?

Free man of ties!

Or free tie of men?

Sign the manifesto!

THE CURIOSITY KITCHEN

Now a new material made of wood, hard [and said to be cold] as stone makes it possible to cut your bread on the kitchen table.

FABRICE FOUILLET

 Holidays on the way... take a look at the totally inspirational work of Photographer [I'ld say also stylist] Fabrice Fouillet. The pictures come from his agent, Florence Moll. For closer looks at his work, see his own website Fabrice Fouillet - Photography.

POSSIBLE STYLE DEVELOPMENTS

Let's have a look...
A year ago Conceptschool posted these themes as a possible development for 2010. The year being almost over and done with, what came to us and what did not?

1- Kiddults
2- Health Style
3- Silver Sex
4- Media Habitat
5- Hyper Reality
6- Network Economics
7- Status Fear
8- Recession Chique
9- Green Karma
10- Indentity Management

[photo: typical kiddult behaviour]

[Photo; recession chique]

This was earlier posted on CONCEPTSCHOOL in dutch as:

1- Kid-Dults - versta de kunst niet te rijpen
2- Health-Style – het eigen lichaam wordt de betekenisdrager
3- Silver-Sex – geen midlifecrisis, maar een tweede puberteit
4- Personal Media – mobiel internet als ‘tweede huis’
5- Hyper-Reality – paralel leven in een reële en een virtuele realiteit
6- Network-Economics – het internet bepaalt, het internet schept de waarde
7- Status-Fear – er zijn meer mensen op weg naar beneden dan naar boven
8- Recession-Chique – de meest lustvolle enscenering van minder is meer
9- Green-Karma – klimaat blijft onvermijdelijk belangrijker dan recessie
10- Indentity-Management – bewuste en flexibele vormgeving van het ik

29/1/2009 / trein Berlijn - Den Haag
N.a.v. een artikel in een Duits blad over 'Neue Markt Tendenzen'.