An assumption as stupid as suspecting that all who wear jeans hanker back to the social order during the Wild West.
For men who take an interest in clothes come in all shapes, sizes and colours, from all walks of life and hold all sorts of political convictions. So while perusing an edition of The Communist Manifesto the other day, Lord Bassington-Bassington was pleased to find these comments on the connection between men's dress and revolution in A.J.P. Taylor's insightful introduction.
"None of them (Marx' early disciples) was a proletarian in the new Maxist sense; none, that is, was a factory worker. Their occupations provide striking examples of the class from whom revolutionaries are often drawn. Most of them were tailors - an occupation which gives a man much time for solitary revolutionary reflection and also perhaps an intimate distaste for the upper classes."
"In old England the village cobbler was always the radical and the Dissenter. After all, the lord of the manor had to have his boots made and mended, whatever the cobbler's political opinions."
So how better to celebrate these astute observations than to publish a picture of Russian Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky? Lord Bassington-Bassington first saw this picture when still a puppy, on the back of an LP of Swedish punk and hardcore, and it's fair to say that it has exerted a certain influence on how His Lordship dresses.
Anarcho-Dandyism is of course not a choice, we're born with good taste and sense.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, dandyism betrays either an involvment with, or an unhealthy fascination with: white, european, traditionalist, aristocratic, reactionary or even downright fascist aesthetics.
ReplyDeleteThe exceptions to this rule are minor and irrelevant in the grander picture.
Yesterdays hard left (Marx & minions) was of course deeply reactionary eurocentric bigots measured by todays standards. Read what they wrote on non-european peoples and cultures: it is nothing but colonial eurocentric racism.
"Nowadays, dandyism betrays either an involvment with, or an unhealthy fascination with: white, european, traditionalist, aristocratic, reactionary or even downright fascist aesthetics."
DeleteYou say that like it's a bad thing :-p
Unless you are a white european with traditionalist, reactionary and fascist sympathies, it is indeed a bad thing.
DeleteYou got me pegged there, skipper! That's me in a nutshell.
DeleteReally.
You have.
Ask anyone who doesn't know anything about me.
Avoid however those who know me. I've fooled them all, you see. Taqqiya and riding the tiger and stuff.
Mr. Escobar, what you're saying is simply nonsense and a huge insult to many dandies. They come in all colours, faiths and political persuasions.
ReplyDeleteThat Marx was a child of his time is a given. As a non-Marxist, I have no need to defend him, but a certain perspective is needed.
How many black, arab or asian "dandies" do you know of?
DeleteChecking out all these dandy blogs, I will guess that 98% of dandies are white europeans. Of these, I will guess 90% are of middle class background, and of these, I will guess half of them are some sort of outright fascists, while the other half could just as well be, as they nontheless propagate the aesthetics of eurocentric hierarchal reactionary fascism.
As for Marx being a child of his time: that is no excuse, as there was plenty of intellecuals that did not accept the mainstream eurocentric racist worldview.
If you, for example, look at books such as I am Dandy: The Return of the Elegant Gentleman and Gentlemen of Bacongo you'll find plenty of non-white dandies. Some of the sharpest dressers on the planet are non-white.
ReplyDeleteYour guesswork says more about yourself than the actual world you live in. The Magazine The Chap, for example, has a pretty solid leftist vibe. Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer is certainly a lefty.
Marx died in 1883. Back then, scientific racism was the norm. But as I said, I have no real need to defend him.
Yes, you may find some token non-european dandies, mimicking their european masters, but these are the minority.
DeleteI dont care if Chap Magazine is seemingly leftist. They nontheless propagate eurocentric imperial aesthetics. For white middle class europeans, it may be "cool" to dress like some colonial racist baron from the heyday of european oppression - but dont cry foul when one is pointing out the obvious, that such a morbid style is only appealing to fascists or those with an unhealty fascination with reactionary aesthetics.
That superb gentlemen such as Dandy Wellington are "mimicking their european masters" is so demeaning and insulting that I'll consider deleting your comments.
DeleteYour analysis is ridiculously shallow. Saying that wearing traditional menswear glorifies colonialism would also mean that wearing jeans glorifies the American genocide on the Native Americans, and that wearing a hoodie glorifies jock culture. A sari, of course, would glorify the Hindu caste system. And so on.
There wouldn't be much left to wear.
Token non-european? Seriously. This is nonsense.
DeleteAs is your equating European with whiteness, fascism and imperialism.
Please provide an argument, there's enough nonsense in the world.
Lord Bassington and Hastur: I understand your need to defend something you obviously have invested a lot of identity in - but it is just as obivious that your perspectives are those of two white middle class europeans blinded by their own privilege.
DeleteFrom an outside perspective, all this glorifying of traditionalist, reactionary, colonial and fascist aesthetics betrays at best an unhealty fascination with a past that inflicted countless sufferings and death upon the non-europan world, a past that should stir shame and repentence instead of tasteless fetishization. At worst, it betrays outright fascism - and browsing through all these dandy blogs I have found quite many examples of lines that blur between glorifying reactionary aesthetics and supporting reacionary politics.
"Token noneuropeans" - you may find it offensive, but the truth is that apart from some marginal exceptions, the truth is that the grand majority of these dandy blogs are written by white europeans. That you threaten to delete me for speaking the truth is unnerving.
An outside perspective... yeah, from so far away that everything just become one muddled dot. "I think I see something white in a suit, it must be a fascist."
DeleteYour analysis is weak. Really weak. If you were one of my students... well, I'm happy you're not.
Here's a hint, when discussing with people you don't know anything about, don't throw white privelege in their face.
They won't be interested in replying politely.
I dont say that you necessarily are fascists, or that every white man in a suit is a fascist. I say that you glorify reactionary, colonial and fascist aesthetics, and in doing so, you invite deserved criticism.
DeleteI merely observe the reality: the vast majority of these blogs that glorify colonial and fascist aesthetics are written by white middle class europeans that are obviously disconnected from the reality and experience of non-europeans.
I postulate that this disconnectedness stems from your white privilege, where white, western and european is the given ingrained norm, and where the experiences of non-europeans are dismissed or ignored. Here on this very blog, I have been threatended with deletion because I stated the fact of white european majority domination.
I live in a society where the elite, the financial power and the resoruces are owned, managed and controlled by white europeans, and where non-european heritage increases as you move down the hierarchal societal ladder. It is a system built 100% upon white privilege.
"Here on this very blog, I have been threatended with deletion because I stated the fact of white european majority domination."
DeleteNonsense. I said I'd consider deleting the comment where you insulted non-white dandies. Who, incidentally, have long tradition of subverting established dress codes. But you wouldn't know about such matters, because to you a suit is just a suit and therefore fascist.
I understand what you're trying to say, it just isn't that simple. The world isn't black and white, and cultural phenomenons like dandyism can't be easily pigeonholed according.
DeleteI'd suggest trying to read up on the subject, there are some fascinating stories. If you apologize to the dog of the manner he might even give you some reading tips.
Personally I find it offensive that you judge me by the way I dress. But I forgive easily.
I'm still hoping for Mr. Escobar to tell me how to dress. This weekend, I wore Adidas trainers (German!), jeans (American Cultural imperialism!) and a hoodie (glorification of macho sports culture). I sorely need dressing tips.
DeleteI have not threatened to delete you for "speaking the truth", as there is very little insight in your slogan-heavy ramblings. I have threatened to delete you for insulting people of colour. This is a blog about stuff I love, and I'm not a huge fan of racism. So I don't want it here.
ReplyDeleteWhy I do see why you, Milo, feel the need to be indignant when history doesn't accommodate to your obviously progressive world view I can not understand why you have the need to disparage people of any colour or descent for wearing what they want. And I do think one ought to keep in mind that aesthetic leaning does not a fascist make.
ReplyDeleteI'm an anglophile. As such, I idealize one of the European country where Fascism had the least success. Partly, it would seem, precisely for aesthetic reasons: Brits didn't care much for the strict uniforms and discipline and humourlessness of Fascism. Even Mussolini understood this when he appealed to Oswald Mosley to skip the black shirts in favour of more appropriate attire.
ReplyDeleteWhat you idealize, is far worse than Mussolini. You idealize a european country that was a truly disgusting empire built on colonialism, white supremacim, racism, hierarchal class privilege and total disregard for non-european peoples. This empire massacred and subjugated by force far more non-europeans than Mussonli ever managed to do, robbing their resources and erasing their cultures and ways of life all across the globe.
DeletePersonally, I must admit that nazis had very striking and stylish uniforms. But I would never dream of fetishizing nazi aesthetics, just as I would never dream of glorifying the reactionary colonial racist fashions and mannerisms of the British Emprie.
What? This is getting silly. This is the kind of stuff that makes it hard to be a left-winger.
DeleteThis is just self-righteous gibberish.
This is like talking to those "white genocide" folks who claim that not being a racist makes you complicit in the eradication of the white race.
DeleteHaha, yes.
DeleteThe concept of whiteness is interesting. It's a wholly American invention, imported into European racism, and now anti-racism.
I should draft a paper on this.
(I still find it hilarious that this Escobar fellow has made no effort at all to find out what our actual opinions on the matter is. We're just here as representatives of his constructed right wing enemy. There's another paper there, I'm sure.)
I'm still waiting for him to give me advice on how to dress. Today I'm wearing a tweed suit and bow tie, I am a whole system of oppression on my own.
DeleteOK. Now that you've done another round of leftist self-parody, could I perhaps ask you to suggest a different mode of dress for me?
ReplyDelete