Elizabeth Fitt: Relaxing over shisha, at a cafe in the English Quarter of Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, the three founding members of Mr Erbil are all smiles and a reassuring grasp of the English language rare in these parts. Ahmed Nauzad, sports a rather fine navy vest (bottom button undone) with matching polka dot pocket handkerchief (Presidential…
Sara Harris: On April 5th 1899, a woman took the stand as star witness for the prosecution in Regina v Sprague at the Kingston Quarter Sessions. The previous October the woman had been on a cycling trip in Surrey. Arriving for lunch at The Hautboy Hotel in the village of Ockham she had been refused entry…
Darcy Sullivan: Poised like a tiny sparrow on Mr. Joshua Kane’s upper lip is a miracle of moustachery. Immaculately chiselled, it recalls the rapier-like moustache Alain Delon wore as Proust’s Baron Charlus in Swann in Love. It is surprising to learn that this Mephistophelean marvel is shaped not by some perfumer’s concoction but by Clubman,…
Steve Pittard: As a boy, John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley received coaching from former Essex pro Walter Meade, who was “only at his best when intoxicated, which happened to be most of the time.” At Grenham House prep school during one innings, John was perched at the non-striker’s end when a sitter came his way.…
Nathaniel Adams: On April 23, 1916, five thousand spectators witnessed a bizarre match-up in Barcelona’s Monumental Bullring: the Anglo-French poet Arthur Cravan, nephew of Oscar Wilde, squared off against former World Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson. They were two eccentrics, dandies of different stripes, prepared to pummel each other. Cravan had set up and advertised the…
Sebastian Horsley: Dandyism is a form of self-worship which dispenses with the need to find happiness from others – especially women. It is a condition rather than a profession. It is a defence against suffering and a celebration of life. It is not fashion; it is not wealth; it is not learning; it is not…
Sunday Swift: In some ways, silent film star Louise Brooks has much in common with Jackie Kennedy Onassis (the subject of my previous Dandizette profile): each were highly intelligent and strong-willed women who became trapped in a world they longed to escape. Louise once said, “There is no other occupation in the world that…
The most beautiful word in the English language is “Sebastian”. Sebastian Flyte, Sebastian Dangerfield, Sebastian Venable; the title is divine – all gleaming with crimson. A name should unbalance one. Indeed, some names haunt us and suggest ways of being and even aspects of behaviour. When I was crucified and was asked repeatedly why I…
Steve Pittard: English actors were de riguer in American movies during the 1930s. The ‘Hollywood Raj’ formed their own cricket team, which boasted the likes of Leslie Howard, David Niven and Cary Grant. Starlets in the wings provided further glamour. Olivia De Haviland served cake and cucumber sandwiches while Elizabeth Taylor sold scorecards. Hollywood Cricket…
Tom Cutler: I think it was Samuel Goldwyn who said that a bachelor’s life is no life for a single man. This might be true; I wouldn’t know, not being a bachelor any more, but surely it has its good points, even for the unattached gentleman. You can get home when you like, you can…
Liam Jefferies: As with the Breton Jumper in the previous issue, this article aims to provide a paradigm for the gent looking to source a pair of brogues suited to his taste, budget, and traditionalist loyalty. Let us begin, as ever, with a look on the attributes of the shoe. The brogue is a low-heeled…
Nathaniel Adams: Oscar Wilde, writer, raconteur, gay icon, large of girth, lust and ego, bottom wobbling provocatively as he climbs the social ladder from the gutter to the stars, then falls back into the muck with a splash, is arguably the most famous dandy ever. In Oscar Wilde, dandyism found its apotheosis, and after his…
