Dandy Journalist

Nathaniel "Natty" Adams at The Smith, NYC on Feb 15, 2010

I had lunch today with Nathaniel Adams, who is a journalist working on a book about dandyism.  I was very relieved to hear that his project is not a photographic book!  That would just be too cruel.  So we are compliments.  We compared notes and have met up with a lot of the same folks in our two parallel universes, although no one ever mentioned him (!) and vise versa.  Well now the parallels have met!  He recently received a grant to travel and research his subject - going to such places as London, Paris, and Africa.  I wish you the best of luck, Natty!  

"Notes by Natty"

Fine & Dandy on Doyers Street

Actor Raymond Chu in Chinatown,  NYC, April 2010

Tidbit from the archive...Matt from Fine & Dandy and I went down to meet Ray for a style profile.  I loved his tiny-miny bow tie, and keen sense of drama.  He talked about having vintage clothes re-engineered in a secret location, and being inspired by scruffy James Dean.  It's hard to believe with his clean, understated suit.  But sometimes I am inspired by, say, Ingrid Bergman's Italian sandals or Sophia Loren 1955, and no one could hardly guess.

Drinks afterwards to warm our toes...

At the Campbell Apartment

Christian Chensvold at the Campbell Apartment, NYC, Jan 2011

Mr. Chensvold was one of the founders (along with Michael Mattis and Nick Willard) of dandyism.net, which for about five years, beginning in 2004, created articles and aggregated info about past and present dandies.   In 2008 he founded Ivy Style, a blog dedicated to a nostalgic view of collegiate fashion and lifestyle.

Although it is hard to define what is a dandy, Chensvold would probably agree he has always been very much on the "trad" end of it.  Because of his work with dandyism.net I think he is an important part of the story of dandyism as it has been expressed over the last decade.