Diary of a Victorian Dandy by Yinka Shonibare

Yinka Shonibare’s five-part image narration Diary of a Victorian Dandy exhibited in the London Underground invites public transit users to partake in the daily lifestyle of a black Victorian dandy. The irony inherent in the presence of a black dandy as the work’s centerpiece dismisses the functionality of British restrictions set in the Victorian Era by delving into the notions of race and social class. Specifically, by emphasizing the black dandy’s superiority over his white counterparts and introducing a harmonic interplay between lower and upper-tier social classes, Shonibare makes evident to public viewers that Victorian norms favouring upper-class society were not static and could have been transcended in both a racial and social context.

Shonibare’s ironic inclusion of a black dandy in his work dismisses popular Victorian racial norms. Within a colonial society, black people were commonly mistreated which led to the creation of many racial norms as a means of favouring the interests of white people. For instance, Shonibare tackles the assumed inferiority of the black race in “11:00 hours” where four white maids and a white butler attend to the dandy’s needs in bed. This scene is reflective of dandyism, as Beau Brummell has his own personal butler in Beau Brummell: This Charming Man who loyally serves him. Looking at Beau Brummell presents the dandy as one who obtains the devoted servitude of others. “11:00 hours” captures this trait perfectly, as the maids and butler wear worrisome expressions on their faces while meticulously attending to the black dandy. Their body language suggests that they willingly cast their loyalty to the black man’s needs, characterizing the presence of dandyism within this fram...

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...ing class in Victorian Britain.

Works Cited

1. Shonibare, Yinka. Diary of a Victorian Dandy. 1998. Photograph. Collections of Peter Norton and Eileen Harris Norton, Santa Monica, California, London.

2. Beau Brummell: This Charming Man. Dir. Philippa Lowthorpe. Flashback Television Limited, 2006. DVD.

3. "Black Victorians." Black Victorians. McKenzie Heritage Archive, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.

4. Kent, Christopher. "Race and Racism." Race and Racism. Ed. Terry R. C. Oxford University Press, 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.

5. Captain Jesse. The Life of George Brummell, esq., Commonly Called Beau Brummell. Vol 1. London: J.C. Nimmo, 1886. 2-15; 56-57; 62-69; 94-119. Print.

6. Godfrey, Sima. “The Dandy as Ironic Figure.” Sub-Stance 36 (1982): 21-33. Print.

7. Hazlitt, William. “The Dandy School.” The Examiner. 18 November 1827. Dandysim.net. 11 January 2012. Web.