The return of the beard NYT's article

[Lena]

Long but interesting article on the obvious swing in male esthetics, credited to the New York Times and reposted at International Herald Tribune

Last December John Martin sat in on a focus group for a trend-forecasting company at which young professionals were asked about their grooming habits. Martin found he had nothing useful to contribute. His shaving regimen involves the use of a razor about as frequently as the seasons change.

"Everyone else was chiming in about the products they use," said Martin, advertising director for Vice, a men's magazine based in Brooklyn. "I was totally mystified. I blanked."
Martin's idea of a style symbol is Ulysses S. Grant, whose beard he came to admire after watching the 2003 Civil War-era drama "Cold Mountain." Two years ago, when he began experimenting with different beard styles, which he described as ranging from neat to burly to unkempt, his facial hair was an expression of individuality in a tide of metrosexual conformity. Now 10 of his 15 co-workers at Vice wear full, bushy beards. In that, they vie with the pro-facial-hair contingent of an editorial rival, Spin, where a rash of new beards has broken out.
"It's a sign of the times," Martin said. "People are into beards right now."
At hipster hangouts and within fashion circles, the bearded revolution that began with raffishly trimmed whiskers a year or more ago has evolved into full-fledged Benjamin Harrisons. At New York Fashion Week last month at least a half-dozen designers turned up with furry faces.
"This is some sort of reaction to men who look scrubbed, shaved, plucked and waxed," said the designer Bryan Bradley, who stepped onto the runway after his presentation for Tuleh looking like a renegade from the John Bartlett show, at which more than half the models wore beards - untidy ones that scaled a spectrum from wiry to ratty to shabby to fully bushy.
"It's less 'little boy,'" Bradley said. "For a while men have looked too much like Boy Scouts going off to day camp."
On city streets, too, trends in scruff have reached new levels of unruliness, a backlash, some beard enthusiasts say, against the heightened grooming expectations that were unleashed with the rise of metrosexuality as a cultural trend. Men both straight and gay, it appears, want to feel rough and manly.
"It's a nice masculine aesthetic," said Robert Tagliapietra, who with his similarly bearded partner, Jeffrey Costello, designs a collection of pretty silk jersey dresses under the Costello Tagliapietra label. "We both like that aesthetic of New England cabins with antlers on the wall, plaid shirts and a beard."
Beyond the fashion world, any number of celebrities are exhibiting luxuriant facial hair, including George Clooney with a Saddam-like beard in "Syriana"; Heath Ledger in GQ; and Mel Gibson on a good day. At the New York premiere of "V for Vendetta" last week, Hugo Weaving appeared in the beard of the moment, grown for the stage production of "Hedda Gabler."
John Allan, who owns several clublike grooming salons in New York, reports seeing newly bearded customers, but not enough to warrant concerns for the health of his shaving business.
"It will be interesting to see over the next six to eight months what mainland America is going to do with it,"
'It's less "little boy." For a while men have looked too much like Boy Scouts going off to day camp.'
Allan said. "For the past several years we've been stripping guys of their body hair. Maybe now it's time for the pendulum to swing the other way."
Whenever a countercultural trend becomes a mainstream one, there is a natural tendency to look for deeper meaning. Do beards that call to mind Charles Manson suggest dissatisfaction with "the system"? Are broody beards, like the dark and somber mood of the fall fashion collections, physical manifestations of a melancholia in the air? Are they a reflection of the stylistic impact on mainstream fashion of the subculture of gay men known as bears, who embrace natural body hair?
But such theories seem to have less relevance - and beards less shock value - than they once did.
"Style has separated itself from viewpoint," said Tim Harrington, the lead singer of the rock band Les Savy Fav, who is known for his full beard and balding head. "This is not like when beards were worn by hippies. Now you pick a style for aesthetic reasons as opposed to a viewpoint. I wonder if beards can have the oomph they once had when it feels like someone will ask you: 'Where did you get that beard? Is that beard from Dolce & Gabbana?'"
No survey ever conducted about women's attitudes toward beards, even those not underwritten by the Gillette Company, has indicated that more than 2 or 3 percent of women would describe a full beard as sexy. ("I hang out with those girls who are in that 2 or 3 percent," Martin, of Vice, said.)
Yet the return of the wild beard carries a certain erotic charge that has been missing from beards since the Furry Freak look of the 1970s, or at least those who grow them hope they do.
Andrew Deutsch, a designer of interactive Web videos, swears that having a beard has changed his life, giving him an air of confidence.
"I met my current girlfriend a week after I started growing my beard in November," Deutsch said. Now he finds himself constantly touching and stroking the beard, as if it were a talisman. "It's like a security blanket on my face," he said.
That a full beard can suddenly look right - or, perhaps, not so awful - illustrates how quickly ideals of masculinity can change.
"You know, it's funny," said Lola Phonpadith, a public relations manager for the fashion company BCBG. "I've been talking about this with my friends for weeks. I'm kind of into guys with beards today, and I'm embarrassed to say that. But the pretty-boy look can only last for so long."

lets discuss

 

[The_Ida]

I love beards. And body hair. On men, that is. I think it's sexy and grown-up, I've always thought that. I'm also very fond of long hair on men.

My boyfriend has it all... long hair (and lots of it), beard (lots of that too) - and is there anything more comforting than a hairy chest to lay your head on? I think not.

 

[pointup]

I like a scruffy beard, but I don't think they look professional

thanks for the article Lena , Grant.. a style icon? Well, atleast he did something right

 

[Lena]

you are welcome pointup

i find this beard thing very interesting in its sociological context...
can't say i find it sexy in an erotic way, but sexy in an intellectual way
it's 'reactionary' and about time too... i believe it fits better younger men.
could Stefano Pilati (ysl) be leading a trend here?

real interested to hear opinions from tFS boys

 

[fashionista-ta]

Some of it's alright to look at, but I don't wanna kiss it I have sensitive skin, and try to avoid beards, moustaches, and stubble for the same reason I avoid unlined wool ... and no one's ever suggested I wear *that* next to my lips

 

[crepebacksatin]

ooh this is an excellent development... i love beards! super, super sexy

 

[Kimkhuu]

Great article Lena...

To me it is only a detail, but to each their own I guess....

 

[Whitelinen]

I don't like babyfaces, but beards...are just too much to me. I rarely find beards good-looking, I think most of the time they just look scruffy. A nice stubble (is that the word?) is sexy though...

 

[Lena]

yes, i had a 'thing' with this guy last year, he was looking uber great with a bit of a stublle...

you are welcome kimkhuu, i so want tFS boys to join in the discussion

 

[Spacemiu]

Not for me

 

[tott]

Well, Lena... I'm a lazy shaver personally. I'm stubbly most of the time.

But I think there is a certain sexy appeal to beard/body hair again after years of Ken-doll apperances. I still prefer a little bit smoother though.

That being said, I've seen younger men with rather full beards... Mostly "new age/green" people though. I'm not so sure this is more than a marginal trend, at least not here in Europe?

 

[Kizzume]

I'm VERY happy with the trend.

I think it's a shame that men have been taught for so many years to remove the second most major thing, besides the obvious, that visually separates men from women.

Beards generally make men look more masculine. --And "clean shaven" on someone with a very full beard never feels like anything but sandpaper.

 

[Lena]

right tott, i can see this working mainly with younger, not necessarily fashion related guys.
true it is a niche for europe but its growing and it is influenced by diverse poles.

both the 'intellectual activist' type and the hot 'bear' scene seems to be affecting the rise of this niche trend.

 

[Spacemiu]

I hope the bear look dosn't become a trend, that would be to much

 

[pencilrot]

Sexy:

Credit: film.pl

Sexier:

Credit: zap2it.com

I'm a big fan of facial hair... but as with many things, it only suits certain people.

 

[miss x]

today, there was a short article in the dutch newspaper "NRC" on this as well... its this weekly article about streetstyle.
anyway, they thought that at the moment men just have a bit more facial hair than before, no full grown beards yet, but they thought in a few months or so they would show up. they thought all the facial hair was a reaction against the metrosexuals. they called these new men with beards "ubersexuals"...

 

[Kizzume]

Ok, cool! Long live ubersexuals!

I'm looking forward to longer beard styles to become fashionable. There's so much a person can do with a beard, and there are so many variances in the coloration and natural shapes of beards. Just grow the beard around the large areas that are thicker, shaving or trimming short the areas that are thin (making sure it's symmetrical), grow it beyond stubble length, and it's an automatic individualistic style.

I'm obviously QUITE biased towards beards.

Someone could argue on the other side that there are also so many variances in shapes of people's chins.

 

[Alliecat]

My partner has a beard - well I guess it's a goatee at times and a beard at other times - he says that it depends on how he feels. That and he is hairy. For him to be 'hairless' he would need to shave atleast twice a day. I like it because I have make-up to play with and can change my look when and if I feel like it. He changes the length, the width of the sideburns or just has a little amount of hair around his moustache and beard (hard to explain).

I also had a friend a long time ago who used to shave shapes and patterns into the sides of his beard (around the cheek area). He was/is an artist and felt that it was part of his artistic ability to express himself. I was always amazed that he managed to get both sides the with the same pattern. Amazing stuff but def. an individual thing.

 

[kLm]

I've got a full beard and have had one for probably a decade. The length varies, I've gone caveman a few times, right now it is fairly short and even. I hate shaving and that is really the single most important factor that goes into my decision to keep one--that and my wife likes it.

 

[milkeyedmender]

ewww no! men with beards look like they smell.