Charles Pierre Baudelaire (1821-1867)
(figure available in print form)
Born in Paris, Baudelaire traveled abroad, visiting different countries, among them India, which gave him an aura of originality. Very fashionable from the time he entered society, he wore his hair long and wavy, with a full mustache and a dark, curling beard. His dressing code was characterized by the use of black: he liked it as a color and as a negation of all color. His clothes were cut according to his own instructions, a little different from the fashion of that time: trousers slim and buttoned under his shoes, coat unusually long and straight. He would use a dash of color to set off the blackness of his clothes: a red cravat (sang de boeuf) and pale rose gloves or a white cravat and neutral gloves. Later he became more grave and dressed wholly black because he felt that the century he was living in was a century in mourning, moving towards decline rather than progress. He shaved his beard and clipped his hair close to his head, thereby showing that “la perfection de la toilette consiste-t-elle dans la simplicite absolue, qui est, en effet, la meilleure maniere de se distinguer”. His originality was not a fashionable facade: his costume was his feeling, his private view of the events of the century. He died in Paris after having abused his body physically and mentally. Here is one of his original writings: