The one man who is given credit for inventing the suit is Beau Brummell.
While he didn’t actually invent anything, he’s considered to be the first fashion influencer, and helped popularize wearing trousers among the elite in England.
And his fashion influence ended up changing how men dress for hundreds of years after.
But what I find interesting about Beau’s story is not just his fashion influence, but how his rise to the upper crust tells the story of England’s social hierarchy, the importance of relationships, and the tragedy of pride.
This is the story of Beau Brummell and his great rise and fall among the British upper class.
The Social Climber
Beau wasn’t born into the upper class, but his family was eager to rise into its ranks.
Brummell was born in 1778 and was considered “middle-class” even though his father was Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of England.
Though Brummell’s family had wealth and worked among the highest ranking individuals in England, they lacked the aristocratic lineage required to mingle with the upper crust.
At the time, social status was deeply tied to your family lineage. The upper class was defined by titles, land ownership and generational wealth.
Even if you were wealthy, you would still be considered middle-class if you didn’t have a title (like Duke or Earl) or owned vast swaths of land.
This explains a lot of Beau Brummell’s drive; he had access to privilege but was firmly on the outside of the upper crust.
This is what Beau and his family wanted to change, and they did it through strategy.
Beau’s father, William, enrolled Beau at one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the world, still to this day; Eton College.
It was at Eton that Brummell started to be noticed by the way that he dressed and he began to curry favor with the upper class’ children.
Although Beau was a pre-teen, he would get his school uniform perfectly tailored and spend a great amount of time perfecting the knot in his white tie, as well as adding a gold buckle, which attracted a lot of attention.
It was this penchant for style where he was first noticed by the heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales, George Augustus Frederick.
Over time, Brummell and the Prince of Wales became friends and after Beau attended one year of school at Oreil College at Oxford, Brummell joined the prince in his military division.
The Style Influencer
It was the military that propelled Brummell into the upper crust because it was there he was able to refine his friendship with the future king.
The Royal Hussars, a military division specifically created for the Prince of Wales, was a horse-riding division.
And because the Hussars previously had fought in the West Indies, they had a habit of wearing trousers with their uniforms.
This, in part, is where the trend began.
Brummell and the Prince began to change men’s fashion together.
Previously, men’s fashion consisted of powdered wigs, embroidered waistcoats and breeches.
But with Brummell’s help, darker and muted colors became popular, along with cutaway coats, high collared shirts, perfectly tied cravats, and of course, trousers.
Beau’s intentional approach to style became a statement emphasizing restraint and quality that the upper classes started to gravitate too.
Because of this, his reputation as a trendsetter earned him admiration and envy in equal measure, solidifying his place in London’s elite social scene.
“I can stand,” Brummell boasted, “in the pit at the opera, and beckon to Lovain (Duke of Argyll) on one side, and to Villiers (Lord Jersey) on the other, and see them come to me.”
Brummell began exclusively associating with the aristocracy, partying and gambling alongside them, living a life of pleasure.
However, his buddies could afford this life, while Brummell was partying on borrowed time…and money.
Brummell’s Fall
Despite his success, Brummell’s position in society was inherently risky.
He had no inherited wealth or estate to fall back on, and his lavish lifestyle—funded by gambling and the generosity of wealthy friends—was unsustainable.
Beau borrowed money from friends, didn’t pay them back, and then ghosted them, which slowly started to shrink his social circle.
Then one day, in 1811, Brummell scorn his most important friend; the Prince of Wales.
The pair’s relationship began to deteriorate but came to a close when at a party together.
The Prince, hearing of Brummell’s gambling debts and shrinking social circle, decided to ignore Beau for the entire night.
Instead of taking it on the chin, as most would have when dealing with the royals, Beau turned to his friend Lord Alvanley and said “Alvanley, who’s your fat friend?”
The fat friend, of course, was referring to the Prince, who weighed approximately 250 lbs, and was ridiculed in the papers constantly about it.
This completely humiliated the Prince, and because of the quip, Brummell found himself completely cut off from high society.
Without royal support and with mounting debts, Brummell’s social and financial standing collapsed over the following years.
By 1816, he fled to France to escape his creditors, living the rest of his life in poverty, and later dying in an insane asylum.
The Last Word
It’s fascinating to think about how Brummell managed to influence the upper class—a group he technically didn’t even belong to.
With his sharp wit and a knack for style, he managed to rise from “middle-class” to rub shoulders with the elite.
But without the money to back it up, that rise didn’t last.
But still, his impact was huge.
To this day, the style he perfected is the norm for well-dressed men; dark jacket, white shirt, perfect tie, and light colored trousers.
And although his story ended in tragedy, his influence is forever remembered.
