Iké Udé will tell you that he is not a dandy, and that he wonders why Americans are so keen to categorize people. “I don’t think I should elect to call myself anything,” he said.

A dandy is, simply, someone with an all-encompassing devotion to fashion, style and tidiness. Society has called these people fussy, or in more recent times, metrosexual.

His dandy rep bloomed while he was a teenager in Montgomery, and his curiosity about style and Black culture took him to New York City’s Harlem, “which elevated my taste.” ...

“Dandy” is a word that’s being thrown around a great deal at the moment. It crops up to describe various male celebrities and clothes horses for fashion houses — Colman Domingo, Donald ...

The Met Gala is over, but dandyism isn’t. Here’s how to dress like a dandy in everyday life “The ingeniousness and ingenuity and creativity of Black people, so far as fashion was concerned ...

The club, named after R&B singer LaVern Baker’s 1956 hit “Jim Dandy to the Rescue,” was founded in 1958 by Frank Blount, William Morgan and Reginald Wilson. It began with just over 20 members.

A statement two-piece suit is a must-have to truly emulate the dandy look. You can take notes from British designer Grace Wales Bonner and sport a matching set or mix and match complementary pieces.

As the menswear-focused exhibit — the Costume Institute’s first to exclusively display Black designers — opens to the public, here are tips from dandies on embracing the style in everyday life.

Wood says creativity is essential to becoming a dandy — not a high income. “That’s a cheat code,” said Wood. “It is being creative … most of us don’t have a lot of money.