Treatise On Elegant Living

Every era has its particular expression of elegance. But while that expression is forever in flux, the principles that govern it are fixed and eternal. […]

The Joker’s Riled

“La chair est triste, helas, et j’ai lu tous les livres.” When I was younger, those lines of Mallarmé used to haunt me. This was back […]

Something Superior To The Visible World

A 19th-century woman wrote herself into the annals of history by saying that the feeling of being perfectly well dressed brings a supernatural calm that […]

Aristocratic By Nature

From “New Notes On Edgar Poe,” 1857 By Charles Baudelaire Decadent literature! Empty words which we often hear fall, with thes onority of a deep […]

I Lock The Door Upon Myself

In 1900 Fernand Khnopff had a house built according to his plans — a house with false windows. Silence and solitude were central themes in the […]

The Prophet Of Dandyism

If it weren’t for Barbey d’Aurevilly, you probably wouldn’t be reading this. What do we mean? That if he hadn’t been born this week in […]

Dandyism & Decadence

From “The Idea of Decadence in French Literature” By AE Carter, 1958 Dandy and decadent are fused in Baudelaire’s work and life. He affected an […]

Spleen On Me

Since 1863, a certain type of young man — talented perhaps, but not creative; spiritual and philosophic, yet with expensive tastes; dismissive of commercial success, […]

Dandy Of The Apocalypse

  The Dandy Of The Apocalypse By Christian Chensvold   I am the dandy of the zombie apocalypse  Riding the underground tunnel amid blips, Lights […]

New Regency: 20 Years Of Dandyism.net

When Christian Chensvold, Dandyism.net’s founder and guiding light for the past two decades, asked me to write a post commemorating the site’s twentieth anniversary, I […]