This is not a dollop of fluff, or a fop's manifesto - it is an alchemical text, a tale of transformation. Barbey starts with the curious Regency personality, George "Beau" Brummel, to articulate a philosophy of dandyism, whose central tenet can be described thusly: in a world which is no longer shot through with moral/transcedental authority - those strong fictions which once upon a time served as the genetic code of the "soul" - one must undertake the careful fabrication of character.

Who can observe the occult workings of chance, which Jules Barbey identified as the purview of the devil? Our souls are crafted par hasard: culture, family, faith, genetics, chemical disposition, weather. Dandyism is taking what chance has provided us (whether clothing or language, etc.) and arranging it to our taste, creating a unique being out of the void of moral commonalty. It has nothing to do with color-coordination or knowing your designers. It is an alchemical project.

All must seek the grail, make the hadj, travel the via dolorosa. The dandy makes his own way, by his own light: to live as an instance of art, of perfect egotism; to actualize the possibility of self or soul as objet d'art, existential accessory: a boutonniere in the fabric of his nothingness. To Rilke's "You must change your life", Barbey might append: "start with that shirt!" ( )