la storia un uomo che segnò la moda – Lord Brummell

George Bryan Brummel, better known as Beau Brummell (1778 –1840), became famous for his elegance and good manners (= buone maniere) in Regency England, under the reign of King George IV.

He was not of aristocratic birth (= nascita), but his life style was upper class. He was the son of Lord North’s private secretary (1770-82). Lord North was George III’s prime minister whose role (= il cui ruolo) was fundamental in the American Revolution. Brummel was educated first at Eton then in Oxford. He distinguished (= si distinse) for his wit (= sagacia). He joined the army (= si arruolò) (1794), became captain of the Tenth Hussar and soon a close friend (= amico intimo) to the Prince Regent ( the future George IV). This relationship and his way of clothing made him very famous and admired, a sort of authority as to dress and etiquette. He left the army when the Napoleonic Wars were beginning (1798) and inherited (= ereditò) from his father a small fortune. In London he got fame (= conquistò fama) as an exceptional story teller (= raccontatore di storie) and conversationalist. Unfortunately his money ran out very quickly (= dissipò il denaro molto velocemente)because of his life style and he soon lost his high-placed (= altolocati) friends. Brummel was forced (= costretto) to leave England for France (1816) to escape prison for debts (= debiti). But he struggled (= combatté) with debts in France as well (= pure) and was arrested. Out of prison he had lost his interest in clothes. He died in an the Asylum (= manicomio) du Bon Sauveur, a mendicant hospital for the insane (= pazzi) in Caen in 1840.

The fashion he established was very simple and sober (= sobria) : dark suits (= vestiti scuri), full-length trousers ( = pantaloni lunghi) – opposed to knee breeches (= calzone attillati fino al ginocchio) – and an elaborately knotted cravat (= sciarpetta annodata eleganntemente intorno al collo). He believed in less bright colours ( = colori poco brillanti).

His figure owns fame ( = deve la sua fa ma)also to two verydirezione@salonelibro.it popular film both entitled Beau Brummell and both based on the play Beau Brummell by Clyde Fitch: a silent film, shot in 1924 directed by Harry Beaumont starring John Barrymore as Brummel; and its remake in 1954, directed by Curtis Bernhardt, starring stars Stewart Granger as Beau Brummell, Elizabeth Taylor, and Peter Ustinov as the Prince of Wales. The music score (= il sottofondo musicale) was by Richard Addinsell with Miklós Rózsa.