OF BEARDS AND MEN
Author Christopher Oldstone-Moore examines the centuries-long cycle of facial hair styles,
David Beckham
Oldstone-Moore calls the H&M model and reigning People’s Sexiest Man Alive “what we aspire as men to be.”
George Clooney
The fairweather beard fan has what Oldstone-Moore calls a “fashion beard.” “He’s just trying to tweak his look,” he says.
Phil Robertson
The Duck Dynasty star’s chest-length beard says a lot about his world view. “His show is often about manliness,” Oldstone-Moore says. “He wants modern men to stand up and be proud and brave men in a pretty traditional sense.”
Conchita Wurst
By mashing up an impeccably manicured beard with makeup and women’s clothes, the 2014 winner of the European singing competition Eurovision challenged her audience to rethink gender. “She would say in all of her appearances, ‘I want the world to be an accepting place for all people,’ ” Oldstone-Moore says. “She was daring her audience to accept her and affirm her and I think it made the audience feel good to vote for her.”
Thomas Mulcair
Oldstone-Moore watched the NDP leader’s performance in the 2015 election with interest — if he’d won, he would have been the first Prime Minister with facial hair since the micro-mustached Louis St. Laurent left office in 1957. Rideau Hall hasn’t seen a beard since 1896, when Mackenzie Bowell bowed out of office.
Paul Ryan
The newly minted U.S. Speaker of the House celebrated his appointment by growing a beard, one of the few political powers in the West to flaunt his facial hair. “He isn’t necessarily committed to the beard,” Oldstone-Moore cautions. “If he sticks with it, that would be huge.”