Read Online Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jennifer Kloester
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describe any man who paid particular attention to his clothes and appearance. The Regency was the great age of the dandy and they were the leaders of fashion during this period. Until 1816 Brummell was their king; it was he who ordained that a well-dressed man concentrated on clean linen, exquisite tailoring, a perfectly tied neckcloth, a dark, well-cut coat and a general air of understatement. The elite circle of men who gambled, drank and played together set the fashion for a host of eager imitators, many of whom aspired to join their ranks. Mere clothes could not make a man a dandy, however, nor grant him admission to the inner ranks of the dandy set. A true dandy, such as Gervase Frant, seventh Earl of St Erth, esteemed not just the cut of his coat, but also wit, learning, artistic appreciation, a reserve of manner that seemed like arrogance to lesser mortals, and a demeanour so calm that nothing could impair it. A dandy was generally uninterested in sporting ventures, although he might be proficient in some or all of them.
The Nonesuch or Nonpareil: He was the incomparable man, one who excelled in all the manly pursuits but was also an arbiter of fashion and a leader in all things aesthetic. He was a man of taste, a person people deferred to, watched and often slavishly copied. He was a setter of fashion, not merely a follower, and, as Sir Waldo Hawkridge explained to Miss Trent in The Nonesuch , his appellation was applied by those who admired his handling of the ribbons, his manners, dress and his athletic ability.
Pinks and tulips: These names of beautiful flowers were used by the Regency sporting journalist Pierce Egan to denote exceptionally well-turned-out gentlemen. A pink was a man at the height of fashion and a tulip was a fine fellow who dressed well.
The fop: Like the dandy, the fop took an absorbing interest in his clothes. Unlike the dandy, however, the fop dressed for show, adorning his person with clothes of bold or unusual design or hue and embellishing them with ostentatious jewels, frills and furbelows. The fop craved attention and did everything in his power to draw the eye of the passer-by. He was frequently a chatterer and usually deemed a vain fool by his peers. Sir Nugent Fotherby in Sylvester was the epitome of a fop with his rings, diamond pin, fobs and seals, his extravagant neckcloth, exotic waistcoats and specially designed boots. Many fops aspired to set a trend or create a new fashion and some took their clothes to extraordinary extremes—such as wearing their shirt collars so high that they could not turn their heads or wearing voluminous trousers or coats with overlong tails.
A fop such as Sir Nugent Fotherby in Sylvester drew every eye with his extravagant dress and accessories.
A fribble: An effeminate fop, derived from a character in David Garrick’s eighteenth-century farce Miss in her Teens .
A Bartholomew baby: A person dressed in tawdry or gaudy clothes like the dolls on sale at Bartholomew Fair.
A coxcomb: A particularly foolish and conceited fop.
4
The Gentle Sex
The Regency Woman
To be born an upper-class woman during the Regency meant being raised to a particular expectation of what that role entailed. As ‘the gentle sex’, women were meant to be both ignorant and devoid of the various vices of the more ‘natural’ man and were generally not expected to have opinions or ideas of a political nature. In Black Sheep, Abigail Wendover’s brother was appalled to learn that she not only knew all about the hero’s rakish past, but had been informed of it by the hero himself. For the most part, a woman’s life was a domestic one and, whether or not she was married and regardless of class, it was accepted that her primary talents were all associated with running a household, bearing children, and being ‘ornamental’. Innocence was also held to be a virtue in the female—both in knowledge and experience—and the fact that many women were extremely knowledgeable
The Nonesuch or Nonpareil: He was the incomparable man, one who excelled in all the manly pursuits but was also an arbiter of fashion and a leader in all things aesthetic. He was a man of taste, a person people deferred to, watched and often slavishly copied. He was a setter of fashion, not merely a follower, and, as Sir Waldo Hawkridge explained to Miss Trent in The Nonesuch , his appellation was applied by those who admired his handling of the ribbons, his manners, dress and his athletic ability.
Pinks and tulips: These names of beautiful flowers were used by the Regency sporting journalist Pierce Egan to denote exceptionally well-turned-out gentlemen. A pink was a man at the height of fashion and a tulip was a fine fellow who dressed well.
The fop: Like the dandy, the fop took an absorbing interest in his clothes. Unlike the dandy, however, the fop dressed for show, adorning his person with clothes of bold or unusual design or hue and embellishing them with ostentatious jewels, frills and furbelows. The fop craved attention and did everything in his power to draw the eye of the passer-by. He was frequently a chatterer and usually deemed a vain fool by his peers. Sir Nugent Fotherby in Sylvester was the epitome of a fop with his rings, diamond pin, fobs and seals, his extravagant neckcloth, exotic waistcoats and specially designed boots. Many fops aspired to set a trend or create a new fashion and some took their clothes to extraordinary extremes—such as wearing their shirt collars so high that they could not turn their heads or wearing voluminous trousers or coats with overlong tails.
A fop such as Sir Nugent Fotherby in Sylvester drew every eye with his extravagant dress and accessories.
A fribble: An effeminate fop, derived from a character in David Garrick’s eighteenth-century farce Miss in her Teens .
A Bartholomew baby: A person dressed in tawdry or gaudy clothes like the dolls on sale at Bartholomew Fair.
A coxcomb: A particularly foolish and conceited fop.
4
The Gentle Sex
The Regency Woman
To be born an upper-class woman during the Regency meant being raised to a particular expectation of what that role entailed. As ‘the gentle sex’, women were meant to be both ignorant and devoid of the various vices of the more ‘natural’ man and were generally not expected to have opinions or ideas of a political nature. In Black Sheep, Abigail Wendover’s brother was appalled to learn that she not only knew all about the hero’s rakish past, but had been informed of it by the hero himself. For the most part, a woman’s life was a domestic one and, whether or not she was married and regardless of class, it was accepted that her primary talents were all associated with running a household, bearing children, and being ‘ornamental’. Innocence was also held to be a virtue in the female—both in knowledge and experience—and the fact that many women were extremely knowledgeable
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