It’s interesting that you define the modern dandy to be one that “knows the rules to break them” and studies to subvert convention at the time. From your average person looking into this circle, “we” are certainly breaking modern rules and conventions from their perspective - but it doesn’t seem that is what you are talking about here. No, it seems you are talking about a meta level up - the dandies’ dandy that tries to break the conventions’ broken conventions.
IMO the dynamic you are describe where you start dressing to show off how well you are in the know is fragile, not because there are only so many ways to subvert expectations, but simply because you stop dressing for yourself. That is where I see your point about costumey-ness. There is almost a bell curve on innovating on your style. In between buying “aesthetically marketed” clothing to get validation from others and hyper-curated fits designed to maximize validation from others its the joy of dressing up for yourself.
I think there’s definitely a lot of truth there, but I think there’s a balance to strike between dressing for yourself and being aware of the context you sit in. A friend of mine once described being well dressed as a form of politeness to those around you, and that’s stuck with me.
I agree in so far as I’ll forever make the executive decisions on my outfits, and I often disregard input from people if I disagree with it, but allowing others opinions to inform my looks has also really helped me along the way, I’ve got an article in the works which discusses this.
Fun read.
It’s interesting that you define the modern dandy to be one that “knows the rules to break them” and studies to subvert convention at the time. From your average person looking into this circle, “we” are certainly breaking modern rules and conventions from their perspective - but it doesn’t seem that is what you are talking about here. No, it seems you are talking about a meta level up - the dandies’ dandy that tries to break the conventions’ broken conventions.
IMO the dynamic you are describe where you start dressing to show off how well you are in the know is fragile, not because there are only so many ways to subvert expectations, but simply because you stop dressing for yourself. That is where I see your point about costumey-ness. There is almost a bell curve on innovating on your style. In between buying “aesthetically marketed” clothing to get validation from others and hyper-curated fits designed to maximize validation from others its the joy of dressing up for yourself.
I think there’s definitely a lot of truth there, but I think there’s a balance to strike between dressing for yourself and being aware of the context you sit in. A friend of mine once described being well dressed as a form of politeness to those around you, and that’s stuck with me.
I agree in so far as I’ll forever make the executive decisions on my outfits, and I often disregard input from people if I disagree with it, but allowing others opinions to inform my looks has also really helped me along the way, I’ve got an article in the works which discusses this.