Undressing Mr Darcy: Beau Brummell and the Birth of Tailoring
Sunday 26 August 10.30 am to 12.30pm, Soundings Theatre, Te Papa
Join award-winning author Ian Kelly for a witty and revealing look at the life and times of Regency London’s ultimate dandy: Beau Brummell.
Brummell cut a dramatic swathe through late Georgian society. A favourite of the Prince of Wales, he became the Age of Elegance’s arbiter of taste – setting in motion a fashion revolution that defines the way men and women dress across the world to this day.
In this lecture, Ian Kelly presents new images from his lavishly-illustrated biography to reveal the man behind the ‘Beau’ image, and unlock the scandalous world half-hidden by the decorous façade of the world’s first metropolis.
This is a story of the modern age as much as it is Brummell’s own – one in which men’s fashions and masculinity were redefined. But as Kelly demonstrates, the clothes and the fame were only part of this intriguing, complex man.