Green’s Dictionary of Slang

of people and things, showy, pretentious.

1937		Tolman & Page Cuntry Dance Bk 28: First learn your fundamentals, and then you can try your ‘fancy Dan’ steps.
1953		S. Noel Few Die Well 5: [A] Levantine type [...] who proposed that I should pay him a large sum of money to ransom one of our fancy-Dan atom boys.
1961		(con. early 1950s) J. Peacock Valhalla 255: That’s one a them eastern Fancy Dan colleges like Van Prick went to.
1966		J. Susann Valley of the Dolls 295: I know this is one of those fancy-Dan rooms that don’t serve booze while the act is on.
1970		E. Thompson Garden of Sand (1981) 148: Snooty bastards! [...] I don’t like these fancy damn hotels. They all treat you like you smell bad.
1971		I. Faust Willy Remembers 57: The fancy-Dan newspapermen were living on Easy Street at the Tampa Bay.
1976		Z. Hollander Encyc. Sports Talk n.p.: A leading hot dog is Reggie Jackson, and going back a few years there was nothing like Vic Power, a fancy-dan first baseman who had the habit of catching every ball with one hand [R].
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 140: I think it would be a pity to waste all your fancy-dan trappings on people with one foot in the grave.
1997		Mad mag. Oct. 45: Hey, where’d you get them Fancy Dan sneakers?
2000		Guardian Weekend 25 Mar. 50: Forget all those fancy-dan pastries and souffles.
2005		Guardian 8 Feb. 🌐 I’m roaring abuse at the fancy-dan Patriots when they dare to mock the Eagles’ victory wing-flap.