Il dandysmo della Reggenza: esclusione e diversità

The essay analyses the mechanisms of social exclusion within British high society during the Regency period, focusing on the role of dandyism as a disruptive and transformative force. While diversity has always been a visible social factor, inclusion often carried negative connotations, particularly in societies concerned with preserving social stability. According to Ellen Moers’s analysis, the Regency was a society obsessed with exclusion, developing an elaborate system of implicit rules that regulated access to elite spaces. A significant fracture in this exclusivist system is identified in the figure of George Bryan “Beau” Brummell. Despite his non-aristocratic origins, Brummell not only gained access to elite society but came to dominate it by redefining ton through personal authority, elegance, and conduct. His relationship with the Prince Regent exemplifies a shift in power dynamics, in which rank yielded to style and social mastery. It is suggested that Brummell’s dandyism represents an early challenge to inherited privilege, anticipating a broader transformation of social values that would culminate in the Victorian era, where status increasingly detached from birth and aligned instead with merit, behavior and class.