Attributes of a Dandy

Attributes of a Dandy

Eugene Onegin: "Reading Fashion"

Onegin's attention to the finer details of appearance, including nails and hands, characterized a dandy.

Elizabeth LaFave

Text: Alexander Pushkin; Eugene Onegin
Image: Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear

Text: Oxford's World Classics
Image: Los Angeles County Museum of Art

«Янтарь на трубках Цареграда,

 Фарфор и бронза на столе,

И, чувств изнеженных отрада,

Духи в гранёном хрустале;

Гребенки, пилочки стальные,

Прямые ножницы, кривые,

И щетки тридцати родов

И для ногтей и для зубов»(1, XXIV, 15). 


“Imported pipes of Turkish amber,

Fine china, bronzes—all displayed;

And purely to delight and pamper,

Perfumes in crystal jars arrayed;

Steel files and combs in many guises,

Straight scissors, curved ones, thirty sizes

Of brushes for the modern male—

For hair and teeth and fingernail” (Chapter 1, Stanza 24, Page 15). 

«Хранили многие страницы

Отметку резкую ногтей» (7, XXIII, 167). 


“Some pages still preserved the traces

Where fingernails had sharply pressed” (Chapter 7, Stanza 23, Page 167).