GC Magazine - Galleria Cavour

Neo Dandy is the men’s trend 2024

6 November - 2024

Neo Dandy

Ph: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions,
via Wikimedia Commons

Is it time to dig out our grandfathers’ photo archives or to be inspired by English clothes from the turn of the century? Fashion, as always, tells us and speaks to us, and in this season’s men’s wardrobe the watchword seems to be “Neo Dandy“.

An aesthetic of dannunzian memory, also dear to Oscar Wilde or to old Hollywood stars such as Paul Newman, which evokes a retro look and which seems to have conquered stylists and high fashion shops. The recent fashion shows have in fact decreed it with certainty: the contemporary man’s wardrobe cannot be without a three-piece suit, even better if accompanied by a brooch, two-tone derby and, why not, enriched with a moustache and perfectly combed hair.

The spokesman of this new era appears to be Damiano David who, in order to launch his solo career, in parallel with that as frontman of Maneskin, chooses an aesthetic reminiscent of the Italians who found fortune in New York at the turn of the century. Even a trendsetter like Timothée Chalamet is determined to ride the wave and is about to embody one of the greatest exponents of 1950s dandyism on film: the champion Marty Supreme.

The Neo Dandy style responds to precise canons and is therefore able to tell a clear image that is at the same time a cultural and social statement: that of a man capable of frequenting refined environments, a lover of beauty, worldly and sensitive to the pleasures of life. The return to the past, as always, is however represented differently by the various brands. Without denying the link recently forged between Louis Vuitton and street style, Pharrell Williams, in collaboration with Tyler The Creator, proposes a preppy aesthetic in his latest advertising campaigns, inspired by the look of American college students in the 1950s.

Etro, which among other things dressed Damiano David at the last MTV VMAs 2024, instead plays on the typical canons of Italian 1970s imagery: it proposes suits that focus on craftsmanship, as is well demonstrated by blazers with jacquard motifs or waistcoats that emphasise and enhance the figure of the wearer. Moving in a balance between masculinity and fluidity is the dandy proposed by Dolce & Gabbana which, with its own haute couture line, revisits the classic look of the early 1900s, proposing sculptural suits in wool, lace and gold alongside corsets and transparent shirts. For Bottega Veneta, on the other hand, the contemporary aesthete is a formal, minimalist intellectual: elegant but free from the social structures as well as from the overly rigid ones of structured jackets and suits.

With the Icon line, even Versace returns to a more classic masculine aesthetic, without however renouncing the distinctive and provocative element that always makes the brand sensual and recognisable: as is well demonstrated by the leather blazers or the five-button jackets masterfully interpreted by the actor Cillian Murphy, testimonial of this collection and, not by chance, made famous thanks to the role of the elegant gangster in the series Peaky Blinders. Since detail is what makes a true dandy worthy of the name, we cannot but dwell on the precious accessories.

The Neo Dandy is a lover of luxury watches such as the Reverso Tribute Monoface by Jaeger-LeCoultre whose case dimensions faithfully reflect the iconic 1931 Reverso model, thus managing to combine historical elegance with modern versatility. Another object of desire for the contemporary aesthete is undoubtedly the brooch, a true exercise in style. Of all of them, two must be mentioned: Bird on a Rock by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany or the poppy brooch, also by the same jewellery house, which appeared on the red carpets on the chests of Jeremy Allen White and Pedro Pascal: two sex symbols of this new dandy era. So many different shades to tell of an aesthetic that is revolutionary in its own way, capable of narrating a man in search of beauty and able to appreciate the codes of the past to project them into today’s world.

Ph: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons