The beau monde : Fashionable society in Georgian London / Hannah Greig.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : 'The brililant vortex' -- Leading the fashion : 'A most brilliant shew' -- Life in the town : 'All together and all distinct' -- The court and fashionable display : 'Most tastefully spangled' -- Politics and fashionable life : 'All the chatter chitter I heard' -- Beauties : 'So pow'rful in her charms' -- Exile and fraud : a changeable world -- Conclusion : London's little coterie -- Appendix : uses and meanings of 'beau monde' : a supplementary essay -- Endnotes -- Select bibliography -- Index.

"Caricatured for extravagance, vanity, glamorous celebrity and, all too often, embroiled in scandal and gossip, 18th-century London's fashionable society had a well-deserved reputation for frivolity. But to be fashionable in 1700s London meant more than simply being well dressed. Fashion denoted membership of a new type of society - the beau monde, a world where status was no longer determined by coronets and countryseats alone but by the more nebulous qualification of metropolitan 'fashion'. Conspicuous consumption and display were crucial; the right address, the right dinner guests, the right possessions, the right jewels, the right seat at the opera. The Beau Monde leads us on a tour of this exciting new world, from court and parliament to London's parks, pleasure grounds, and private homes." -- Publisher website.