The English gentleman becomes established as the best dressed, best mannered in Europe, the lead being set by such dandies as Mayfair bachelor Beau Brummell, deemed the leader of fashion at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

His friend George, Prince of Wales (regent from 1811 and later King George IV), copies his clothes.

Brummell is so concerned with fit that he has his coat made by one tailor, his waistcoat by another, and his breeches by a third.

The neckcloth is so elaborate and voluminous that Brummell's valet sometimes spends a whole morning getting it to sit properly.

As the recognized arbiter of fashion and a frequenter of all society's gatherings, Brummell's influence is unchallenged, but eventually gambling and extravagance exhaust his inherited fortune, while his tongue proves too sharp for his royal patron.

They quarrel in 1812, and, although the thirty-four-year-old Brummell does not immediately lose his place in society, his debts increase.