This conversation has gotten interesting.
Wearing a bone coloured raw silk jacket and bone chinos woth green and white BB shirt pants to a military exhibition and conference was regarded by some there as being a dandy. I didn't wear the 'uniform' of dark blue, black, dark grey suit. Hello I left the military..
The big message from this part of the thread is that, with hope, plainly dressed men will live up to the expectation that they are dull and boring and prefer their club to a brothel, and that men in coats of many colours should never be suspected of being unable to express themselves clearly by their bosses. However, the terms of 'bounder, cad, dandy, blackguard, roué, rake, spiv etc.' are about as dated as spats, bowlers, pince-nez, monocles, watch-chains, plus-fours and sock-suspenders. Nowadays, there are alpha males and then everybody else. What guys of the moment like to hear is that their bright clothes are seen as truly reflective of the alpha within: a big-hitter at work (platonically) loved by the top alpha male of the moment; who has lined him up for a leap-frog promotion at the unheard age of 23; and hit-on big-time by the most beautiful babes in the trendy bar after work, who all want to bang him into the fourth dimension and, if it's the only way that all of them can get a slice of his action, they will do it, if necessary, in a group of a (high) five.
Trivia: Kingy mentioned a Jewish 'Spiv'... This we call a 'Shoniker'.
Dandies are now seen as self-obsessed and sexually ambivalent clothes-horses. Bounders and cads generally lack their own funds, whereas rakes and roués are normally self-funding. Spivs are just beyond the pale.
Camel coats can be great; think:
Leslie Howard -
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=leslie+howard+in+camel+coat&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=zPFjUp6jE6-54APmiYDIBg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=586&dpr=1#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=PcmE2R0mAvGnxM%3A%3BQUsAkZJ5yG4azM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.gstatic.com%252Fhostedimg%252F0f09209d19b262d8_landing%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fimages.google.com%252Fhosted%252Flife%252F0f09209d19b262d8.html%3B600%3B433
Noel Coward -
http://www.noelcoward.net/cowardphotographs/page_61.html
'Joe Goodfella' (William Holden) -
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/william-holden-returns-to-find-that-gloria-swanson-has-news-photo/3228674
Supra - Top-hole!
You know FNB I always think of a man who doesn't think about what he wears as hapless and lazy but of course I would never say that to someone. I work a six day week as standard and I take a weeks vacation off every two years (which I don't like to take) I have two kids and I still dress well. I don't think much at all about how I dress in the scheme of things because I'm fairly intelligent so dressing up is actually a pretty simple exercise for me.
One thing about Dandies though, if work is his enemy then boredom is his nemesis. A dandy or a good dresser can be very disciplined and focused I believe.