Author Interview
DOMINIC JANES The Chap’s new literary editor Ed Needham meets the author of British Dandies: Engendering a Scandal and Fashioning a Nation www.strong-words.co.uk
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he Chap is delighted to welcome to its ranks our new literary editor, after Alexander Larman bowed out due to far too many other literary commitments. Ed Needham is the editor of Strong Words, a magazine launched in 2018 all about new books, full of loquacious reviews, author interviews and stories behind the great novels of history. Ed’s first interview for The Chap is with Dominic Janes, the author of British Dandies: Engendering a Scandal and Fashioning a Nation (Bodleian Library, £30), a social and cultural history of the phenomenon of dandyism, from 18th century macaronis to the aesthetes of the late 19th century.
“Fashion is about being up to date with the latest trends that a lot of other people are up to date with. With individuals who proclaim themselves to be dandies, they are not just following the next fashion trend, but have said, “I have a personal style, and sometimes that is going in a different direction to where fashion in general might be, but that’s fine because it is very much about me”
CHAP: What first drew you to investigate the dandy? JANES: When I was at school, people had this thing about ties. You couldn’t experiment because everyone wore school uniform, but if you wanted to be fashionable you wore your tie really short, rather than the really long, Donald Trump thing.
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