Typophile

Fanciest font ever

truth14ful

What's the fanciest & most elegant serif font you know of? I know this is kind of a subjective question, I'd just like your opinion. I'd also like it as an idea for one of my own fonts.
Right now I use Minion, Calluna, or Fontin for writing papers, but I wouldn't call them the fanciest fonts I know of. So far I think the fanciest one I've seen is Espinosa Nova.

Thanks,
truth14ful

Interesting, as fancy could mean in a way "done in an elaborate way", or as well "having a flair of luxury".
For the first category the typeface would need to be rich in details, for the second it needs to have a certain feel to it. So of the sake of discussion I think you need to clarify your definition of fancy.

While for example Jenson does have a lot of details, for some of a general public Bodoni in bold and all caps might read "fancy", as we know it from the Vogue cover.

To answer with my personal feel, I consider Cycles, by Sumner Stone, as fancy. Following that are Andron, Arno, Williams Caslon, Dante and Sabon. Interesting enough, they are old old style fonts, but I guess that is my thing. However I am not in a type/graphic profession.

What use(s) would this typeface have to be practical for?

It's kind of hard without knowing what you would use it for, but I'd add Centaur, Brioso, and Yana. Arno and Adobe Jenson would also have been high on my list.

Fancy for long body text, like the ones you quoted? Or fancy for display?

The new Caturrita is nice.

The typeface of Francesco Griffo for cardinal Bembo’s de Aetna, around 1495.

I wouldn't use the term 'fancy' to characterize Centaur. 'Fancy' connotes, at least for me, ornament or excess. There's great attention to form in Centaur - which happens to be old-style form -, as there is also in Optima, Frutiger, Futura, Gill Sans, Hans Eduard Meier's faces, etc., etc. The design of Centaur is in its way, spare - it has a sufficiency, not a superfluity.

You might call Brioso fancy, though, or at least busy (in comparison, Centaur is stately). Ditto for Arno.

IMAO, not much can beat a well-drawn garalde on elegance. Both at the same time... reckon I'll nominate a Kanzley Fraktur. There's one (at least) in the Dieter Steffmann collection on the typOasis.

I've got a certain preference in the fanciness stakes for Bannikova.

Rongel, or, if it is not urgently, Mario Felicano’s new Merlo (with optical styles). Mario had announced it on his website a few months ago. Or Trinité or Clifford. But Espinosa Nova is indeed elegant.

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