For fun, I’m reading Ian Kelly’s Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Man of Style (Free Press, 2006) and have discovered a couple of interesting facts. Or at least things I did not know.

According to Kelly, tailors during Brummell’s heyday tended to specialize. Gronow had said Brummell favored Weston as his tailor, but Mr. Kelly’s research found that Brummell frequented several tailors. The primary ones were Schweitzer and Davidson on Cork Street, Johnathan Meyer on Conduit Street, and Weston, the only one British born. He favored different tailors for different items of clothing: Weston primarily for waistcoats; Schweitzer and Davidson for his coats and greatcoats; Johnathan Meyer for the forerunner of our modern trousers that Brummell pioneered.

Kelly states that Brummell “wore slim-cut trousers or ‘pantaloons’ that flattered his famously long-legged frame. For daywear these were made of leather, mercerized cotton, or nankeen and plain cotton in summer. Evening wear necessitated black, according to the new asthetic, and Brumell wore sheer black silk jersey, made up as breeches for Carlton House or the theatre, and as pantaloons for the clubs.”

I guess that answers my question of a couple of weeks ago about what color my hero’s breeches should be.

Brummell, like so many other gentlemen, purchased his hats from Lock & Co. The shop still exists today and in it you can actually see Wellington’s and Nelson’s famous hats.

Here is an image attributed to Brummell, but I am not at all certain it is the Beau. What do you think?

I much prefer this image.

James Purefoy as Brummell!
The BBC says: “The Taunton-born actor is heading a star cast in BBC FOUR’s Beau Brummell, a new drama at the centre of the channel’s The Century That Made Us season focussing on the 18th century, to be screened on Monday 19 June, 2006.”

Oh, don’t you wish they would air all the shows in the US???
What do you think about James Purefoy as Brummell? He certainly wears the clothes well!

One more important fact about Brummell.
Kelly could find no evidence that Brummell wore underwear.

Cheers!
Diane

I have lost my mind. I totally forgot to blog yesterday, my Risky Regency day.
Here are my excuses:
1. I’m slogging my way throught the revisions to Desire in His Eyes, Blake’s story, to be released by Warner in 2007.
2. I have to write a new Mills & Boon / Harlequin Historical by the end of October.
3. My daughter moved back in after living in NYC.
4. She brought her cat with her.
5. That makes four cats in our house.
I’ve hardly even looked at a picture of Gerard Butler, either. Honest. I promise to find my mind by next Monday and have something better than this for you to read.

When one writes in the Regency era one must pay attention to fashion. In fact, the fashions of the Regency are one of the things I love about the time period. Usually, though, when I think of fashion, I think of the beautiful empire gowns for my ladies. When my editor’s revisions for my next Warner book, Desire in His Eyes (aka Blake’s story), included a comment, “describe how he looks” I realized I had to think about my Regency hero’s clothes. The question – would the breeches of his formal wear be white or black?

I have an aversion to thinking of my hunky heroes in white or buff-colored breeches and white stockings. I prefer them in boots up to the knee and form-fitting pantaloons, but no Regency gentleman would wear boots to a formal affair. Goodness, he’d be turned away from Almack’s in an eyeblink.

So I went on the web, to see what I could find. I used Yahoo and put in “Mr. Darcy Pride & Prejudice” and selected “Images”. As I hoped I got a lot of Colin Firth and Matthew MacFadyen, but none showing their legs. Not in formal attire anyway.

But I did find these, from a site called www.paperdollparade.com that is no longer in existence.

Which do you like better?

The boots?

Or the breeches?

Then I found these really charming illustrations from the 1895 C. E. Brock editon of Pride and Prejudice. Notice Mr. Collins is wearing black breeches and stocking. We know he isn’t stylish.

But the issue is the same. Boots?

Or Breeches?

Well, I described Blake, my hero in Desire in His Eyes, wearing buff breeches and white stockings.

But I got him back into boots as soon as I could.

Mariella, the heroine, got him out of them, though.