Beau Brummell’s Enduring Influence on Men’s Fashion

19th century portrait miniature of Beau Brummell.
I'll bet this was painted near the height of his
fame; he looks awfully pleased with himself!



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. But 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.


Portrait of the 11th Duke of Norfolk, Charles Howard,
by James Lonsdale,1816.



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.


Portrait of a Boy, painted circa 1770-1775 by 
William Williams. This is a good example of 18th century
men's fashion pre-Brummell. Note the skirt-like coat,
 breeches,  lace cuffs and loose waistcoat.




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.

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.

1805 caricature of Brummell
by Richard Dighton


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 won’t go into the details here, but 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 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!


Modern man in a black suit - an outfit that echoes
Brummell's pioneering style. The Beau likely
wouldn't have approved of the red socks, though.



Next week: S
ee how far some Regency dandies would go to achieve a fashionable silhouette


**
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Regency Rules of Mourning

The long-anticipated fourth season of the hit BBC series Downton Abbey premiered last week in the U.S., and the first episode revolved around Lady Mary’s grief at losing her husband Matthew (who inconveniently crashed his car on the same day his son was born at the end of Season 3).



We were told at the outset of the episode that six months had passed since Matthew’s death, and it was hard not to notice the unrelenting black of the clothes Mary wore. She was dressed according to the dictates of mourning etiquette, a practice which extended back to the Regency period and even further.

During the Regency era a woman whose husband had died would wear black for at least a year. Her gowns would typically be made of black bombazine, a heavy material, or a lighter black silk crepe. If you were an aristocrat like Lady Mary, your mourning clothes would be made by a fashionable modiste, based on the latest French fashion plates. 

Women who could not afford to have mourning gowns specially made for them would get creative and make a mourning wardrobe from the clothes they already had, adding black trim to a gown or a black lining to a piece of outer wear like a pelisse or cloak.

They would sometimes even dye an old dress black. I'm sure Lady Mary did not have to make such economies!


1810 Fashion Plate showing a woman wearing
a black mourning dress, for evening wear.



Jewelry during mourning was similarly restrained. Suitable jewelry included pieces made of jet, dark amber or black glass or enamel. Frills such as buckles and bows were definitely out. During mourning a woman would limit her social engagements or skip them altogether.   


A piece of 19th century mourning jewelry made
 of jet. The shiny blackness of jet, which is
 actually  a form of fossilized  wood,  made
 it a popular choice for mourning.


There were specific degrees of mourning depending on the closeness of the relation being mourned. Full black mourning would be worn for a husband or wife for a period of a year and a day. Six months was enough time for a parent or parent-in-law. Required periods of mourning decreased from there, such as three months for a brother or sister, uncle or aunt, down to a week for a first or second cousin. 

After the initial period of mourning a woman could go into half-mourning, wearing black lightened by white details or accessories. Other appropriate colors for half-mourning included subdued shades of gray and purple, along with lilac and lavender. These lighter colors were supposed to help a woman transition back to bright colors and full participation in society and life.



A woman in half-mourning, wearing a
walking dress with a black and white dotted
skirt, white trim and white bonnet and muff.




As Season 4 continues we see Mary transition from black to lilac and lavender, colors that anyone during the Regency would have recognized as a sign that Mary was beginning to emerge from her deep mourning and obsession with Matthew’s death to rejoin the world of the living.


***
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons


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