Why Do Men Wear Suits<br><br>Anyone with any interest at all in either fashion or history cannot have failed to notice the abrupt change in men's clothing from the eighteenth century (embroidered coats, buckled shoes with red heels, fancy waistcoats, bright colours, rich fabrics, powdered wigs, beauty spots, three cornered hats, swords) to the nineteenth century (form fitting leggings, shiny black boots, tight fitting coats in sombre colours, short haircuts).<br><br>Who or what brought about this radical change, which still influences both colour and the concept of style in men's clothing?<br><br>According to Max Beerbohm, the English essayist and wit, it was George Bryan ("Beau") Brummell. In his essay Dandies and Dandies, he attributes the origins of the suit to "that bright morning when Mr. Brummell, at his mirror, conceived the notion of trousers and simple coats." Brummell made fashionable a style of fastidious minimalism which still informs fashion trends today.<br><br>Although to most people, adjectives such as "dandy" and "beau" suggest flamboyance and an obsessive interest in extravagant personal appearance, in fact, Beau Brummell's style was the total opposite of this.<br><br>Beau Brummell: Arbiter of Style<br><br>George Bryan Brummell (1778 1840) became a leader of London fashion in the Regency period and his name has become synonymous with the concept of high fashion since that time,Cheap Monster Beats,Cheap Beats By Dre,Monster Beats By Dre.<br><br>Yet this gentleman was not of particularly high birth, although he was educated at Eton and was quite wealthy enough in his own right to own a house in London and move in the first circles of society. Beau Brummell was renowned,Cheap Beats By Dre, in his own time, for his classical good looks and superb figure. His style of fashion, far from favouring the flamboyant, was one of understated chic and aesceticism more monochrome than bling, in fact.<br><br>Brummell became one of the arbiters of admission to the famous Almacks Assembly Rooms, which were the zenith of high fashion venues at the time. In order to be accepted into society, vouchers for admission to Almacks were essential. Gentlemen's dress acceptable for Almacks was specified as being "silk stockings, thin shoes and white neck cloths" whilst wide trousers or any addition of colour were unacceptable. The required look of a dark blue or black tail coat, white cravat and waistcoat and dark pantaloons or knee breeches evolved, by the end of the nineteenth century to the white tie and tails still familiar to us today.<br><br>Underwear and Accessories for Nineteenth Century Men<br><br>One of Beau Brummell's characteristic style notes was an obsession with cleanliness. It was seen to be an eccentricity to bath all over in hot water every day (as Brummell did) and to shun the musk and perfumes which fashionable people of that time used to use liberally to disguise unpleasant natural odours caused by poor personal hygiene.<br><br>Another of his foibles (shared by most fashionable men of his generation) was to eschew underwear. The clean cut of the early nineteenth century trouser was far too important to be disturbed by visible panty lines. A study of the accounts of fashionable young men of the time reveals a complete lack of reference to expenditure on underwear of any kind. Some very rare examples of male underwear of the period survive, but they belong to the older generation,Cheap dr dre beats, such as Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Coutts the banker.<br><br>The fashionable young man of the early nineteenth century loved to flaunt his wealth both by changing his clothes frequently (clean white linen was very much the hallmark of the wealthy gentlemen) and also by clever accessorising. Walking sticks, fob watches and snuff boxes were the must have fashion accessories of the day.<br><br>Beau Brummell, the Prince Regent and the End of an Era<br><br>At the height of his popularity and influence, Brummell was a close friend of the Prince Regent (later George lV). The Prince Regent (or 'Prinny' as he was known to his circle) was notoriously fickle with regard to both friends and lovers.<br><br>Inevitably, the friendship waned and with it, Brummell's protection from his creditors. The high fashion lifestyle of the early nineteenth century was an expensive one and Brummell was also addicted to gambling to a selfdestructive extent. Brummell had soon spent all his fortune and began to be hounded by his creditors<br><br>In 1816, Brummell left London for France and never set foot in England again. He left behind him thousands of pounds worth of debts and a legacy of minimalist style which remains a cornerstone of men's fashion to this day. The monochrome palette of men's business dress, the necktie, the importance of the tailored line and the gravitas of formal men's wear all owe a debt to the extraordinary Beau Brummell.
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