“This project is the first to comprehensively explore contemporary dandyism in black communities throughout the world, examining how men of African descent ‘defy stereotypes and monolithic understandings of masculinity’ through clothing and style."
— New York Times, 2016
The Dandy Lion Project
The Dandy Lion Project
About the Dandy Lion Project
Founded in 2010 by scholar, filmmaker and curator Shantrelle P. Lewis, what began as an exhibition in a pop-up gallery space in Harlem at Ngozi Odita’s SOCIETY H.A.E., has become the largest documentation of the global contemporary Black Dandyism movement in the world. A traveling exhibition and book, published by Aperture in 2017, The Dandy Lion Project has re(de)fined Black Masculinity, style and class for generations to come.
“While scholars have traced the roots of the black dandy to the West — specifically, Britain — Ms. Lewis noted that he originated in Africa. Throughout the continent, highly refined sartorial aesthetics and tailoring were the hallmark of African men’s fashion for centuries. Dandyism has remained an important part of African society, advanced by such movements as la Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes (the Society of Ambience Makers and People of Elegance), which originated in the French speaking Congo, as well as the Swenkas, the debonair working-class Zulu men of South Africa...”
— Maurice Berger, New York Times, 2016
Dandy Lion presents and celebrates individual dandy personalities, designers and tailors, movements and events that define contemporary dandyism. Lewis’s carefully curated selection of contemporary photographs surveys the movement across the globe in spectacular form, with all the vibrant patterns, electrifying colors, and fanciful poses of this brilliant style subculture. Gift yourself or gift your friend an autographed copy of this groundbreaking book!
