Defined as “coffee table books,” with the approach of the holidays, impressively large compilations of lushly beautiful photographs, enhanced by adroit and well-chosen prose, come to seem omnipresent. This year, “They Are Dandy: Portraits of the Modern Gentleperson” is among such offerings.
Those it depicts and examines look so supremely self-possessed, are so assuredly in command of their surroundings, without reservation (even if perhaps only involuntarily), that they inspire our immediate admiration.
Close contemporaries, both of its collaborating creators are themselves rather stylish. Nathaniel Adams, known as “Natty,” is a writer and historian focusing on dandyism and the subculture of male fashion. He provided engaging profiles about the book’s 50 subjects. The illustrations are the work of photographer Rose Callahan. Highly accomplished and widely extolled, her skill made certain that their portrayals are arrestingly unforgettable.
The book’s subjects are highly diverse characters drawn from everyday and all walks of life, for a display of artful showmanship. The youngest, Gilbert Wing, a tailor-in-training with dreams of Saville Row, is but 13; the oldest, Bill Web, is 83. Descended from Thomas Jefferson, Webb is Black, while the younger man is white.
As for the cut-off figure who adorns the book’s cover rather cryptically, she is headless, suggesting that a few found herein are women. This inclusiveness bears out Callahan’s and Adams’s contention that “Dandyism, now, is no longer exclusively the province of the patriarchy.”
An important sub-definition of modern dandyism, they say, includes all fashion enthusiasts celebrating the sprezzatura of male attire. The word they use is the exact cultural and linguistic term that bridges the gap between elegance and nonchalance.
Khephra Burns shows substance of stylish messaging. (Michael Henry Adams photo) 
5.Actor New Yorker Alexis Kiyodhi-Tustin Barboza, 32. (Image courtesy of Rose Callahan) 
Writer celebrates being included in “They are Dandy” by having photographer Rose Callahan and historian “Natty” Adams to lunch in Harlem. Are we related? Natty’s father is also named Henry Michael Adams. (Michael Henry Adams photo) 
With Bill Webb at first book launch. (Michael Henry Adams photo) 
Legendary cult filmmaker John Waters with friend at Michael Neal’s National Arts Club cocktail bash. (Image courtesy of Rose Callahan) 
“They are Dandy” subject Cheon-Shik Yang at Michael Neal’s party. (Image courtesy of Rose Callahan) 
At first glance, writer mistook UK resident Jama Elmi for Harlem’s Dapper Dan, whose influence evidently circles globe. (Image courtesy of Rose Callahan) 
Fond of color and conspicuous rings, Elmi, a dandy from youth, recalls how happy he was when he first wore pink trousers to school. “By the time the bell rang at the end of the day, there was a crowd of 60 or 70 new friends hovering around.” (Image courtesy of Rose Callahan) 
Devout triplets Jean-Jacques Menyè, Jean-David Menyè, and Jean-Dieudonnè Menyè are models. They live in Paris, of course. (Image courtesy of Rose Callahan) 
Writer at home in Harlem depicted in “They are Dandy.” (Image courtesy of Rose Callahan) 
Quentin Thrash photographed by Rose Callahan on Nov 14, 2025 at his home in Los Angeles, Ca. 
Harlem’s history is filled with super dandies like pioneering aviator Col. Hubert Fauntleroy Julian. (Photo from the writer’s collection) 
AmNews star photographers Morgan and Marvin Smith were twin “threats.” (Photo from the writer’s collection) 
“The essence of dandyism is that you’re trying to create beauty in the world around you according to your own vision. People have different expressions of how to do that,” says Callahan, emphasizing what amounts to a manifesto.
Initiated some 15 years ago, their work began with independent dandy-projects. Although interviewing many of the same people, at first, none thought to tell them about the other, notwithstanding their common esoteric interests. “They are Dandy” is only the latest installment in the team’s resultant dandy-focused portrait series. It follows “I Am Dandy” (2013) and “We Are Dandy” (late 2016).
Not surprisingly, their shared understanding of what they first thought of as settled definitions and dicta has evolved. They have decided that what they were celebrating was the transformative power of style — the liberation and empowerment of self-realization.
Launched by a half-dozen festive and fashionable events held September through November, in Paris, London, and the US, “They are Dandy” premiered with a bang. It was introduced in New York with a book-signing cocktail party, hosted by the American outpost of Cad & The Dandy, the elite London haberdashery and tailor on West 57th Street. Providing both bespoke tailoring and a comprehensive ready to wear line, their merchandise even includes the detachable collars I so esteem.
Two days later, Callahan and Adams participated in a discussion about why and how they started these books. It drew an audience of a few hundred heavily made up dandy-book alums, past and present.
The talk concluded rather epically. There was a private drinks party for about half those present, hosted by notable portrait painter Michael Shane Neal, who’s included in the book. The party was held around a fire in his apartment’s double-height studio at the top of the National Arts Club, where the earlier talk had taken place.
For me, and I think for many others as well, the high point of this marvelous evening was the opportunity to meet, and to talk casually with, legendary film director John Waters, who, although he’s declined being included in these dandy books three times now, most assuredly is a dandy!
“They are fortunate enough to be able to recognize a fabulous sense of style when we see it,” commented Harlem artist Larry Bently, who was amongst we revelers. “Be it a sharp dresser, or an architecturally significant building, ordinary people can figure this out as well. But the gatekeepers, they’ve oftentimes got an invested interest in failing to recognize what their own eyes see.”
When “I Am Dandy” first appeared and then its successor, I wondered, “Why was I not included?” Now I have made it at last, thanks in good part to visibility gained from wunderkind photographer Tyler Mitchell including me in his sensational catalog for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2025 exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.”
In the introduction to “They Are Dandy,” Natty Adams retraces the trajectory of how he and Rose Callahan came to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion. He explains how it started organically, in their book “I am Dandy.” “Our aim was as simple as it was confounding: to understand what — or who — a dandy is. After interviewing and photographing dozens of men … we settled on our working definition. A dandy, we decided, was a man obsessed with personal elegance. Three years later, ‘We Are Dandy’ expanded that search … to show that dandyism is a genuinely global phenomenon. Our books arrived at a moment when tailored clothing, personal style, and menswear culture were enjoying a remarkable resurgence. What had once been a niche interest had become a global conversation.
“But much has changed since then. In the years that followed, the world became more uncertain, more polarized, and increasingly mediated by technology. Which raises a different question entirely: not what is a dandy, but why a dandy?”
My ultimate “They Are Dandy” celebration? Two days after the Arts Club event, I had its authors and a couple friends over for lunch. A delightful time ensued.
A perennial problem associated with illustrated books is that, with a picture being “worth a thousand words,” sometimes one neglects reading altogether. Don’t. If “They Are Dandy” truly is a visual feast, the stories its subjects relate are as rewardingly memorable — they are an inspiration.
