Beau Brummell, né George Bryan Brummell
(7 June 1778, London, England – 30 March 1840 (aged 61), Caen, France)
The arbiter of men's fashion in Regency England and a friend of the Prince Regent, the future King George IV.
He established the mode of men wearing understated, but fitted, beautifully cut clothes, adorned with an elaborately-knotted cravat.
Beau Brummell is credited with introducing and establishing as fashion the modern man's suit, worn with a tie.
He claimed five hours to dress, and recommended that boots be polished with champagne.
His style of dress was known as dandyism.
Even as Beau’s fortunes took a drastic turn for the worse, he managed to hide his indebtedness for a number of years. But he could not keep debt at bay forever, particularly not after his relationship with the Prince Regent soured. Eventually he was unable to pay off even the gentleman’s debts he had made. Beau’s final bet at White’s in March, 1815, “that the Bourbons are on the throne of France on May 1st next,†was marked “not paid, 20th January, 1816.
(Donald A. Lowe, The Regency Underworld)
