ABSTRACT
Dandyism is almost as difficult a thing to describe as it is to define', proclaimed Jules-Amedee Barbey D'Aurevilly at the end of the nineteenth century. The dandy is a bewildering construction: a creature of alluring elegance, vanity and irony, who plays around with conventions to his own end. This chapter suggests that British pop dandies are the new arrivals and products of a post-industrialized society, following closely in the footsteps of Beau Brummell, Count D'Orsay, Lord Byron, Edward VIII, Noel Coward, Oscar Wilde, Max Beerbohm, Cecil Beaton, and many others. The musical event is a blend of cultural and social signifiers that rouse intended responses. In this sense, the peculiarity of human behaviour exhibited through the popular song directs one's attention to a range of subject positions. Black involvement in the dandified process, is of crucial importance when understanding dandyism's role in popular culture during the early nineteenth century.
