Mr. Darcy and That Wet Shirt




I can’t do a post on Regency male fashion such as the one I published earlier this week without mentioning Mr. Darcy and his wet shirt incident.

You’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen Episode 4 of the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries. Viewers gasped with delight when Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy emerged from the lake on his Pemberley estate with his wet shirt clinging to his chest.

That scene was described as "one of the most unforgettable moments in British TV history" in The Guardian and it fanned the flames of a Jane Austen frenzy that continues to this day.
 
Here's a fun fact: screenwriter Andrew Davies originally wanted Firth to jump in the lake stark naked, which would have been more historically accurate. However, Firth insisted on keeping his clothes on - hence the wet shirt scene.

The only problem with this famous scene is that Jane Austen never wrote it. And if you think you can remember reading this scene in the book, you may be experiencing the Mandela Effect – a false, even though widely shared, memory.

The Mandela Effect got its name from many people “remembering” that Nelson Mandela died in a South African prison during the 1980s, when in fact he actually died in his Johannesburg home in 2013.

Other examples of the Mandela Effect include the false memories people have of hearing Darth Vader say “Luke, I am your father” in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back or the Evil Witch in Disney’s Snow White intone “Mirror, mirror on the wall.”

Darcy’s wet shirt aside, if you're the least bit curious about what Regency men actually wore, you'll want to meet Zack Pinsent. He is a confident young man from Brighton who has established a business crafting custom-made, period-perfect clothes, ranging in time from the 1660s through
the 1920s.

But Pinsent's favorite historical era is the Regency. In fact, he's gotten to the point where he himself only dresses in Regency fashions.
 
Why does he love Regency style so much? Here’s his explanation:



“Clothes are social history,” says Pinsent in the video. And I couldn’t agree more!

 
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Sources for this post include:

"Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy was 'meant to be naked'," Media Monkey BBC, Oct. 9, 2013


Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom, by Deborah Yaffe, Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston & New York, 2013


Images in this post courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Best-Dressed Imperialist, 18th Century Edition






“To dress up as a man means wearing a suit,” declares fashion consultant Tim Gunn in his Fashion Bible.

That was true seven years ago when Gunn’s book was published in 2012 and it was also true centuries ago when Charles II of England decided that the men who came to his royal court had to follow a particular dress code.

The outfit that the king decreed acceptable in 1666 was the precursor to today’s three-piece suit. He said that a man's apparel had to include a long coat (the ancestor of today's suit jacket) with a waistcoat (today it's called a vest), a cravat (necktie), and of course, knee breeches (pants).

A man's doublet in 1620
That sounds like a no-brainer these days, but earlier in the 17th century before Charles' reign, male fashion included pleated ruffs worn like a ring around the neck and doublets that today look like a woman's blouse. 

But the style of today's suits really started to take shape during the Regency, thanks to the influence of George Bryan Brummell, better known as "Beau" Brummell.   

Brummell was what we'd call a minimalist. He believed that men should avoid bright colors and excessive frills and accessories and instead embrace a pared-down, understated style. 
Beau Brummell

All a man needed to look elegant, according to the Beau, was a pair of trousers, a trim waistcoat topped by a dark jacket and starched white linen shirt and cravat. He was also a proponent of frequent baths and scrupulously clean clothes - something we should all be grateful for.

This style differed markedly from the bright colors and lavish embroidery that was evident in men's clothing before Brummell's influence on the fashion scene. And though it's undergone some modification, the basic style Brummell set in the early 1800s has remained the standard for men's suits ever since. 

But what I also find interesting about clothes is not just their style but also what they reveal about their wearers.

For example, I found a fascinating video produced by the National Museums of Liverpool illustrating how an upper-crust British man got dressed – or rather, was dressed - in the 18th century.



This video shows viewers more than just a man being outfitted in a period costume. Thanks to the skill of the actors, it also vividly portrays how an 18th-century man being dressed by a servant might feel about himself and his privileged place in the world.

As for the hard-working valet, you have to wonder how the servant really felt about his arrogant master. After all, in the time period shown in this video the French Revolution is just around the corner. And we all know how that turned out for the upper classes in France!

1767 portrait of an Englishman
wearing a banyan and cap
What I also find interesting about this clip is that the expensive clothes the man dons signify not only his wealth and social status but also how British imperialism and trade interests seeped into the fashions of the time. 

The garment he lounges in at the beginning of the video is identified both as a “wrapper,”  a Japanese-inspired style, and a “banyan,” an article of clothing based on a gown worn in India.

Today, most men may not have valets to make them feel important, but some men can still afford to use their clothing – say, a $3,000 Italian  Armani suit or a $10,000 Swiss-made Rolex watch - to broadcast a “master of the world” vibe if they wish.

In any event, men's three-piece suits have been with us for some time and will probably to continue to dominate men's fashions. 

As Mark Twain, who was another natty dresser, liked to say, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."





Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Sources for this post include:

It's a Blog Revival

The Regency Looking Glass is back! I have some good news - I'm happy to announce that The Regency Looking Glass (which I started in 2013...