George Bryan “Beau” Brummel was an iconic figure in Regency England, & a friend of the Prince Regent (the future King George IV). He was the 1775 founder of the “Dandies”, who established the mode of dress for men that rejected overly ornate fashions to one of perfectly fitted & tailored “bespoke” garments.
The look was based on dark coats, full length trousers instead of the knee breeches & stockings that dominated the day’s fashions, above all, an immaculate shirt linen with an elaborately knotted cravat (tie), which took 5 hours a day to get dressed in.
Beau is attributed with the introduction of the modern men’s suit worn with a necktie.
(feature: Beau Brummel in 1778 wearing his “cravat”; painting below: Jean Lerome, a later 1790 Muscadin, or Dandy, took fashion to a different level in introducing the long jacket & top hat. Combined with Brummel’s suit & tie, this concept would become the standard somber formal non-military “dress uniform” of men for decades to come)
