There have always been and always will be dandies – men who follow fashion and take an active interest in how they present themselves to the world. However, the Regency produced one of the most influential and famous dandies of all time, George Bryan “Beau” Brummell.
Though he was accepted and imitated at the highest levels of London society, Brummell was no aristocrat; he was the son of a government clerk. However, he had exquisite taste in clothing, as well as the sense to make friends with the Prince Regent after obtaining a commission in the prince’s regiment, the Tenth Light Dragoons.
Brummell’s influence on men’s fashion, both during the Regency and afterwards, was immense. His ideas were novel for the time in which he lived. He insisted on wearing clothes that were well tailored but otherwise simple, in solid, sober colors and without gaudy trimmings.
He also advocated good personal hygiene. He was fastidious about keeping himself and his clothing immaculate and urged his followers to adopt similar habits, including daily bathing and wearing clean undergarments.
Cleanliness was not taken for granted during the 18th and early 19th centuries, even among the aristocracy. In The Prince of Pleasure and His Regency, 1811-1820, J.B. Priestley describes the grooming habits of the “downright dirty” Duke of Norfolk – his servants were able to bathe him only occasionally, when the old Duke was too drunk to fight against their efforts.
During his reign as the undisputed arbitrator of men’s clothing style in London society, Brummell accomplished a lot of fashion firsts.
He brought long pants or pantaloons into fashion (instead of the knee-length breeches worn previously) and insisted that men’s cravats (the precursor of the necktie men wear today) were starched, spotless and knotted just so. He remodeled men’s dress coats, too, so that they fit more snugly.
Brummell was also the first to wear black evening clothes; a radical change from the elaborate and colorful costumes men wore in the 18th century.
In fact, Brummell urged men to forego all types of frills, perfumes, and excessive ornamentation, including lace trims, gold embroidery and jewels. The result was an understated elegance in men’s fashion.
The man’s suit pictured below is an example of the type of flashy dressing Brummell deplored. This suit, made in 1790 but altered in 1805, includes a coat and breeches made of purple shot silk trimmed with sequins and metallic embroidery. The gold waistcoat also features sequin and metallic embroidery trim.
Brummell was a minimalist when it came to dressing. His vision of a well-dressed man had three elements: slim, fitted pants; a white linen shirt, starched; and a trim waistcoat. Every article should be well-tailored.
According to one Brummell’s biographers, Ian Kelly, Brummell’s general precepts regarding men’s wear has dominated men’s “power dressing” ever since.
According to Priestley, someone once breathlessly told Brummell about a man who was so well-dressed at an event that everyone who was present turned to stare at him. “Then he was not well dressed,” said Brummell, no doubt with a sniff of disdain.
In a similar vein, he also said: “If John Bull [i.e., Everyman] turns around to look at you, you are not well-dressed; but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable.”
Brummell’s personal popularity rose and then fell during the Regency, especially after a well-publicized tiff he had with the Prince Regent in 1813. I wrote about this encounter in a previous post, so I won’t go into the details here. Suffice to say it’s never a good idea to refer to the reigning monarch as somebody’s “fat friend,” even if you were snubbed by said monarch.
The Beau was also a heavy gambler, and he ended up having to flee Britain for good in 1816 to escape being imprisoned for his gambling debts. His story does not have a happy ending; he died in poverty and insane from the effects of syphilis in France near Caen in 1840.
But whatever his personal tragedies, Brummell’s influence on men’s fashion has been enduring. The black suit, which he pioneered, is still a staple in many men’s closets, 200 years after he made it fashionable. And, due in part to Brummell’s legacy, a well-dressed man is also a clean one, too!
Sources for this post include:
Tim Gunn’s Fashion Bible, by Tim Gunn with Ada Calhoun, Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc, New York, NY, 2012.
Beau Brummell, by Hubert Cole, first published in the US by Mason/Charter Publishers, Inc., printed in Great Britain, 1977
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay