Hi everyone and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope.

欢迎回来【闲话英伦】.

Hi 安澜.

Hi, lulu. Hi everyone.

Okay, we've talked so much about the word dandy itself and also Beau Brummell, but still I think our listeners probably just can't really imagine in their mind’s eye how a dandy would dress, is it more like you have feather there and really like flamboyant, really out there, all the colors?

No.

OKAY.

In the past, men would wear very bright colors, dandies would focus more on the material, design, and the overall fit of the clothes. They would actually wear dark colors.

Oh yes, because before the aristocratic the upper class in Britain or in England would draw influence from the French court where everything's like puffy and bright color and really kind of out there. But...so dandyism actually made it a little bit more sophisticated.

Oh yeah. People used to take the time because if you think about it in the past, people didn't really care about their personal hygiene. They didn't wash, because all they had to do was put on a wig, put on something bright, cover themselves in perfume and they're done.

Whereas dandies would focus for hours on their hair. They would actually try to make themselves clean and they would focus on just getting the clothes looking just right.

So it's... dandies are not trying to look effeminate. They're not trying to look feminine. They try to look like a very sophisticated men.

Yeah, and it's the dandies who have had the biggest influence over how men dress nowadays.

You know what it reminds me of, I don't know if our listeners have heard of the idea of 绅装.

安澜, have you heard of the Chinese words, 绅士的绅, 服装的装, if you check on Chinese social media or just any of the online store, you check 绅装, you will see lots of the stores, lots of the actual clothes. I think that is very much linked with dandyism.

It's just fitted clothes and sort of bespoke, there’s actually a bespoke有一个定制西装的品牌就叫做MR Dandy actually in China.

Yeah, I've heard about it.

So is that the case.

It is, and as I was saying before, the clothes that they wore are the clothes that we wear nowadays. So for example, they made trousers popular for men.

OKAY. So what did they use to wear, skirts?

They used to wear breeches.

Breeches are shorts?

Like shorts, with tights.

Oh. So those pictures that you see was the French court.

Yeah. SO they would have breeches that go down the knees and then they wear tights.

就是那种短裤. 大家看到原来法式宫廷那种puffy breeches, 底下那种紧身裤袜.

Sometimes puffy breeches. But most of the time just very well fitted breeches.

Oh Yes.of course .of course. So then they started abandoning those, and they started wearing trousers as we see today.

Yes. And we talked about cravat became ties and they would wear dark coats which later became blazers.

You know All of these stereotypes about British gentlemen how would they dress, it sounds like it started from this whole dandyism.

I would say that's where a lot of the modern suit comes from, the whole idea of this is how a man should dress.

What about the perfume? Did they change that, I... before it was just to cover the smell.

But now they focus on their own personal hygiene more, so they probably use a bit of perfume but not too much.

Sounds like a nice way to sort of like to change into, to be honest.

Well. I don't have the time, but I do like the idea of men really focusing on how they dress, kind of get in their outfits right making sure that they're wearing kind of clean presentable clothes. I'm not dandy by any stretch of imagination.

I would say you're more dandy compared to the average men.

I do think a lot about how I dress, yes I do.

I probably wouldn't call you metrosexual, 安澜, but you are getting there.

Well I don't care about my hair sufficient enough to be metrosexual

Exactly Exactly, but what about wigs, you said obviously before because of the French court influence there were... men were wearing really extravagant wigs.

They got rid of them. Men started to wear their hair shorter and a lot of the hair styles that dandy wore back then still remain popular nowadays, except that maybe they like their hair a little bit curlier than ours.

Oh I see, so they use their original hair.

They use their original hair.

I'm quite curious what happened to Brummell because he had influential friends, he was rubbing elbows with the Prince of Wales. You know he dressed well, he was an influencer, he must have amazing life.

He has an amazing life until it all went wrong.

Okay. What happened?

He insulted the Prince of Wales.

How?

The Prince of Wales and him had a fight. And the Prince of Wales we talked about in an earlier episode about George IV, the Prince Regent, and Brummell made a joke about him being fat.

Oh wow. This is such social media drama.

Exactly. As with many influencers, they say one wrong thing, that's it, they are dead.

He was banished and he left for France. And that's where he died, penniless, it's true.

That's so sad, just because you called the Prince fat.

Well, it's a lesson to any influencer, always watch what you're about to say.

Yeah. As an influencer of myself or ourselves, we should know. This very interesting, this whole dandy, I think Oscar Wilde was called a dandy as well. But obviously if you going to 王尔德 Oscar Wilde, if you look at some of the pictures or portraits or just read some of the biographies, he was a lot more flamboyant, he was a lot more just like a peacock.

Exactly.

And that's where the modern idea of a dandy comes from. But originally a dandy wasn't that flamboyant. They would make a big show of how they dress, but they weren't trying to kind of put on lots of bright colors.

If you think about it, Oscar Wilde was reacting against the people who were influenced by the original dandies. Yeah, the people wearing top hats and long coats dressed in the Victorian style of clothes. Oscar Wilde was essentially a dandy who was rebelling against dandyism dandyism from the 18th century which influence how people dressed in the 19th century.

I have to say this talk that we had today or we're having today really sort of changed my stereotype of dandy and dandyism because I was one of those when I used to think about dandy I think of people like Oscar Wilde I think the flamboyance, yeah I think of bright colors like really large and alive attitude, but it sounds like dandies were originally just sophisticatedly dressed metrosexual men who were just trying to be better groomed.

Exactly, and I would say as a man, that's something that we can all learn from.

Actually before we wrap up, I would like to get your personal opinion. How would you define masculinity like nowadays obviously the whole idea of dandyism, metrosexual, there will always be controversy around it, there will always be people like yeah metrosexual is good, you need to be better groomed, you need to be 精致男, you need to take care of yourselves, your personal hygiene and how you dress; but there will also be people like no, men should be men. Men shouldn't focus so much on these. What about you就是那种纯爷们还是要 evolved.

I think you know what how I feel. I'm pretty sure our listeners also can tell, I would say it comes down to being considerate.

For example, if I go out for a meal with a friend, if I go out for a drink, even if there are man or woman, I make the effort because I think that's a way of showing respect. I care about my hygiene because I don't want to put other people at disadvantage by having to smell me.

Ah. So your understanding of being well groomed, being well dressed is a sign...

of respect.

Of respect. And you would probably expect the same from other people.

Exactly. It's respect for yourself. And It's also respect for other people. That's why I don't really like the whole, oh Yeah, man has to have the macho, man has to be a man, because to me that's just being inconsiderate.

To be honest, I think this is just my personal opinion, I think masculinity is not about smelling like awful.

No.

It doesn't show... not taking care of yourself properly does not show that you are more of a man than other men. I actually think... I agree with what you said being well presented, being considerate.

but I do have a problem with people who pay too much attention to their grooming or especially when they can't stop talking about it. That's when I have a problem.

Don't worry about that. I don't really care that much.

All right. And we will wrap up here. Leave us a comment in the comment section and tell us what you think of dandies and also metrosexual men, and what is your idea of masculinity? It doesn't matter if you're a man or woman. But in your mind what makes a man man, and what is masculinity, we'll see you next time.

Bye.