Abstract: Barbey affirms: “A dandy who leaves his mark on everything [. . .] must necessarily despise uniform.” However, the Vicomte de Brassard, an archetype of the dandy, considers his officer’s costume to be a real “masterpiece.” Is this a self-contradiction? In reality, military life and the love of war have some similarities to dandyism, which is not limited to clothing but is also defined by “a whole manner of being” that the soldier embodies through his heroism.
