The Sophistocrat

by Michael Mattis

(LOS ANGELES) With a slim figure, bow tie, colorful pocket square and fitted blue blazer, Jack Dandy certainly lives up to the traditional dandy image — save for the fact that he's a woman.

Gender-bending has been associated with dandyism since Theophile Gautier published "Mlle. Maupin" in 1834. And just as dandyism and aestheticism became intertwined in the 19th century, so has dandyism in the 21st become associated with gender, identity politics and queer theory. In the world of contemporary academia, dandyism has almost become synonymous with gender-challenging sexuality, as shown in treatises like Rhonda Garelick’s "Rising Star: Dandyism, Gender and Performance in the Fin de Siecle," and in books of essays such as "Dandies: Fashion and Finesse in art and Culture," edited by Susan Fillin-Yeh.

Jack Dandy [...] is a 52-year-old painter, blogger and self-proclaimed dandy from Palm Springs, California. Reading Jack’s blog, one occasionally comes across the sort of terminology associated with queer theory and gender politics — "queerfemme," "hys," "butch" — but in general the writing is easygoing and conversational, a statement of beliefs shown by example through some fine personal storytelling, not the sort of drivel we’ve grown used to from academics.

Curious, I decided to discover more about Jack, gender, modern aestheticism and her vision of the dandy.

MM: Your blog covers a wide range of material in the arts, culture and ideas. Is there a single message about dandies and dandyism you are trying to get across?

JD: The thrust of my blog is right there in the subtitle: "Dandies, drag, des arts: A working-class dandy considers ‘hys’ world." There is no single message I'm trying to get across. I'm an explorer, not a salesman. The blog is a kind of flirting, really. At its best, flirting is a charged engagement, alive and moving. Blogs are just a little dangerous, because you have limited control and you're very exposed.  It's an excellent medium for a dandy. 

MM: You’re an artist whose work reminds one of a sort of softer Richard Diebenkorn. Your piece "Chickmagnetite" seems to have been inspired by a pocket watch.

JD: When I tried the watch on in a shop, my girlfriend said, "Oh, total chick-magnet!" and she was so right. This painting is special partly because it manifests a female dandy sensibility.

MM: You said the words "female dandy." Could you give us your definition of dandyism?

JACK: Ah-choo!... I beg your pardon, but I seem to have developed an allergy to "isms" of late.

MM: Touché. Let’s put it this way: When or how did you first come across the concept of dandyism?

JD: The term gets used to cover a lot of manifestations, doesn't it? The dandy archetype seems to reinvent itself, culture to culture, era to era, but there’s no denying there is some powerful subconscious stuff at work. The incarnation of the dandy archetype that I think is probably least familiar to your readers is what is sometimes called the "dandy butch," the person born female and sexually oriented toward females but with a refined masculine expression. This is the phenomenon you allowed to be dismissed in your article on Casati as "drag," which was, in my opinion, an uninformed response. 

MM: I see.

JD: Look at Romaine Brooks’ infamous self-portrait and her paintings "Peter, a Young English Girl" and "Renata Borgatti au Piano." If you dismiss these as mere "women in drag," you’re not seeing what is before you. I assure you there are women who recognize something else entirely in those works. This archetype of the dandy butch or female dandy is a powerful and persistent one and immediately recognized in certain communities. For me, it asserts itself in dreams and my artwork.

MM: So you would definitely call your self a dandy?

JD: I don’t have to, the ladies do it for me.

MM: What are the main qualities one should have in order to be considered a dandy?

JD: Utter aplomb, a concern for presentation, a sense of proportion, self-discipline, and an attraction to mischief.

MM: But is there a relationship between dandyism and one's biological sex?

JD: This question leads us directly to the limitations of our cultural concepts. We keep trying to address this question by fussing over the definition of the dandy.  But I see the problem located less in our definition of the dandy and more in our concepts of gender and the penury of our vocabulary.  Within the confines of our culture, which dictate an "either-or" option in the gender department, the dandy often insists on a twilight position, refusing to be fixed on either side of the horizon. That, I believe, is part of the dandy’s power. 

MM: What do you see as the relationship between dandyism and sexuality?

JD: Any conclusion I might draw in the sexual preference department would merely reveal my own prejudices. I say let sleeping dogs lie wherever they like. But it would be disingenuous to pretend there is not a great deal of sexualness surrounding the dandy — whatever flavor he or she likes it in. Sensuality and aestheticism are only with difficulty separated from sexuality, unless you're whoppingly unlucky. If a dandy's not sexy, he or she ain't a dandy!

MM: The more conservative members of our clique deny that a woman can be a dandy. What do you have to say to them?

JD: A dandy recognizes no authority except her tailor.

MM: On your site there’s a photo of you in a number of suits and evening ensembles. Do you usually wear masculine clothing, or is it only for special occasions?

JD: I wear masculine clothing essentially exclusively.  I'm not a fascist about it, but I don't like to wear women's clothing. For me, wearing women's clothes was always theater — drag, if you will. Let's just say I lack womanly conviction. I love women's clothes on women, not on me. 

MM: Which historical dandies do you most admire?

JD: Well, it all works differently if you're female and you're a dandy. But some of the earliest sources of inspiration were not members of the dandy canon but my Irish-American great-uncles. They were bums, but they were dapper. Some of it was the era they were from, when men's garments had a roomy drape but still had shape, comfortable but complete. And my friend, Felipe, who reflected the influences of Mexican, Chicano and "old Jewish guy" that came together on Brooklyn Avenue in East LA. Romaine Brooks, Claude Cahun, Carnaby Street, Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Patti Smith. Some incredible androgynous gentleman I found myself shopping beside in San Francisco once. And Brummell — now there was a creative and fearless soul. And of all the dandies in the traditional canon, it's him I find most worthy — he and Wilde. The rest don’t interest me.

MM: Do you consider dandyism a personal expression of elegance and style, or do you see it as a more comprehensive philosophy?

JD: Dandyism as intellectual philosophy is nonsense. Dandyism as orthodoxy is an attempt to turn a quality into a commodity, into capital. But a dandy makes a poor capitalist. Dandy is not what I do, it's what I am. It's not a secret fraternity, it's not a museum, it's not something you play at, it's not a way to exclude people, it's not for followers, and it's not for the upper-classes or the bourgeois. It’s not even what you wear. You don't play at it, you are it — or you're not.