【Fop】 , 【dandy】 , 【beau】 , 【coxcomb】 , 【exquisite】 , 【dude】 , 【buck】 are comparable when denoting a man who is conspicuously fashionable or elegant in dress or manners.
【Fop】 is applied to a man who is preposterously concerned with fashionableness, elegance, and refinement not only in respect to dress and manners but in respect to such matters as literary or artistic taste.
【Dandy】 carries a weaker implication of affectation and overrefinement than 【fop】 and a stronger suggestion of concern for stylish or striking apparel and a spruce or dapper appearance.
【Beau】 suggests as much attention to details of personal appearance as does 【fop】 .
【Coxcomb】 , like 【fop】 , is applicable to a 【beau】 as a term of contempt; it often stresses fatuousness and pretentiousness as much as or more than foppishness.
【Exquisite】 is a somewhat old-fashioned designation of a 【dandy】 who manifests the extreme delicacy and refinement of taste characteristic of a 【fop】 .
【Dude】 applies chiefly to a man who makes himself conspicuously different in dress or manners from the ordinary man; it is therefore the rough man′s term for the carefully dressed and groomed man, the quiet gentleman′s term for the obvious 【dandy】 , or a Western American′s term for an Easterner or a city-bred man.
【Buck】 applies usually to a dashing fellow, a 【dandy】 in dress, but not conspicuously, or necessarily, a gentleman in manners.