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Posts Tagged ‘Prinny’

The Regency Dandy

Posted in Dandy, jane austen, Regency Life, Regency style, tagged , , on December 29, 2006| 4 Comments »

One of my favorite descriptions of the Regency dandy, and one that I contributed to Wikipedia, is the following in which author Venetia Murray quotes an excerpt from An Exquisite’s Dairy, from The Hermit in London, 1819:

Took four hours to dress; and then it rained; ordered the tilbury and my umbrella, and drove to the fives’ court; next to my tailors; put him off after two years tick; no bad fellow that Weston…broke three stay-laces and a buckle, tore the quarter of a pair of shoes, made so thin by O’Shaughnessy, in St. James’s Street, that they were light as brown paper; what a pity they were lined with pink satin, and were quite the go; put on a pair of Hoby’s; over-did it in perfuming my handkerchief, and had to recommence de novo; could not please myself in tying my cravat; lost three quarters of an hour by that, tore two pairs of kid gloves in putting them hastily on; was obliged to go gently to work with the third; lost another quarter of an hour by this; drove off furiously in my chariot but had to return for my splendid snuff-box, as I knew that I should eclipse the circle by it.

Beau Brummell, image from the British Library

Beau Brummell was the quintessential dandy of the era. Dandies are described in Prinny’s Set on the Georgian Index.

Find a short history of Brummell’s most famous sartorial contribution on the The White Satin Cravat.

Here is another quote about Brummell: “George Bryan “Beau” Brummell, then, must qualify as the most committed dandy of them all. Not only was he an enthusiastic, lifelong slave to his mirrors, he also polished them with champagne. His outrageously flamboyant, nascent rock’n’roll lifestyle, decadent splurging, shameless narcissism and meticulous attention to vanity and wardrobe has set the gold standard for dandies ever since.” (From All Mouths and Trousers)

Click on the following links to learn more about Mr. Brummell:

Beau Brummell: The Dandy

George Brian Brummell: Biography

The Sartorial Dandy

Lesson Two: The Gentleman’s Wardrobe

Upon My Word! Regency Fact and Figures

The Emergence of the Dandy

Dandyism: Andrew Solomon


Also on this blog: Male Bastions: The Clubs of St. James’s

Dandy Clubs for Research

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The Prince Regent

Posted in jane austen, tagged , , , , on September 1, 2006|

Without Prinny, the Regency Era (1811-1820) would have had a decidedly different character. He was a libertine and gifted wastrel who set the tone and style for the age.

George IV, The Prince of Wales lived life extravantly and was enormously unpopular for it in some circles. This Prince of Pleasure’s once tall slim frame grew heavy and corpulent from overindulgence, as you can see in the illustration above by James Gilray, who satirized the Prince in a number of unflattering cartoons.

But before the Prince Regent took over, the country was already in shambles. Louis Simond, An American in Regency England, observed in his travel journal in 1809: “One thing that surprises me more and more every day; it is the great number of people in opposition; that is, those who disapprove, not only the present measures of ministers,which have not been of late either very wise or very successful, but the form and constitution of the government itself. It is stigmatized as vicious, corrupt, and in decay,without hope or remedy but in a general reform, and in fact a revolution. “

The links below define Prinny and his era even further:
1. George IV and the United Kingdom
2. The Prince Regent and His Circle: In Their Own Words
3. Prince Regent
4. Coronation of George IV
5. Prinny’s Many Mistresses
6. Prince George’s Culture Clubs: A Trail Through Regency Brighton

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