Tight pantaloons

Loretta reports:
Since I’m only a thrill-seeker, I never thought about saggy breeches. So I turned to Ian Kelly’s Beau Brummell, the Ultimate Man of Style.

Here’s what Kelly says:
“Brummell wore sheer black silk jersey, made up as breeches for Carlton House or the theater, and as pantaloons for the clubs.” Further on we learn, “They were not always stocking woven, however. Brummell and Jonathan Meyer the tailor pioneered an alternative style that attempted to replicate in fabric or leather the three-dimensional form-fitting style of stockings or silk jersey stockinette.” I can only assume that this was a way to reduce the sag factor. Impossible to imagine Brummell wearing saggy anything. He was all about the perfect fit, and the fit was form-fitting and extremely revealing. According to Kelly, “society hostesses were later said to regret the passing of the fashion because ‘one could always tell what a young man was thinking.’”

This is a fine book for Regency era history nerds because it’s loaded with all kinds of fascinating trivia. It was made into a movie, which is delightful if you want to look at period clothes and scenery and James Purefoy (and I am one who does and did). But don’t expect a screenplay bearing much relation to the book--or history, for that matter.