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Facial Hair - what's your fancy?

20/3/2016

I don't know about you, but I think the nineteenth century outdid itself for the variety of facial hair sported by the men of the day.
Let me show you...

<- This painting is reputedly of Beau Brummel, that leader of fashion in the Regency period. He sported a very nice pair of side-levers - a popular fashion item early in the 19th century.

By the time Queen Victoria married her Albert on 10 February 1840, he owned not only luxurious side-levers, but a natty moustache as well. ->

Marriage of Victoria and Albert
Painting by George Hayter

The Young Victoria poster - 2009 movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0962736/)

Jane Eyre (2006 BBC mini-series) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780362/?ref_=ttawd_awd_tt

<- Charlotte Bronte's popular novel, Jane Eyre, was written by August 1847. Her hero, Edward Rochester, in one well-known version of the story, had the trendy long, sharp side-levers of the time, as well as long locks.

Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, written in the 1850s, has John Thornton as its hero from The North. In the popular mini-series of the book, actor Richard Armitage sported more restrained side-levers, and an under-shaven chin. I do wonder how common that unshaven look was amongst the well-heeled men of the time. ->

North & South (2004 BBC mini-series) (http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2981566976/
tt0417349?ref_=ttmd_md_nxt)

General Ambrose Burnside. Photo by Mathew Brady

<- But the penultimate decade of facial hair, in my opinion, was the 1860s, when luxurious side-levers, or side-burns as they became called after General Burnside (shown left), met up with massive moustaches on many well-regarded faces of the time.

The American Civil War, as shown in the movie rendition 'Gettysburg', was an outstanding period for facial hair. Never have I seen such an amazing array of lady-ticklers! Let me show you...

Gettysburg, 1993 movie (http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2991496960/tt0107007?ref_=ttmd_md_nxt)

But that wasn't the end of facial hair. In 1870s Australia, Ned Kelly's flamboyant beard was a fashion many embraced. ->

Hume Photographic Collection, University of Queensland Fryer Library.

Ned Kelly, 1870.

<- However, the 1880s brought a more restrained and sombre look, as these three gentlemen from the mid-1880s show...

Throughout the next two decades the Prince of Wales led the fashion for neatly trimmed beards . This coronation picture of King Edward VII was taken in 1902, but his tidy facial hair was an already established fashion. ->

I wonder if any century before the nineteenth covered such a variety of fashions for men's facial hair?

In this age of the hipster we certainly live in a time of variety.

Are you similarly entertained by men's facial adornments? Leave a comment. I would love to hear your opinion.

cheers, Isabella

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isabella.hargreavesbooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IsabellaHauthor

#facialhair #beards #moustachelife #moustache

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For the love of books

11/3/2016

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If you've read any of these books and enjoyed them, please leave a review on any of these sites:

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Reviewing a book only needs to be a few words long or a star rating. I'm grateful for every single one!

Thank you,
Isabella H.

P.S. If you're interested, an Isabella Hargreaves Readers' group has formed to discuss my books: https://www.facebook.com/groups/223984487953919/

#historicalfiction, #Historicalromance, #romance

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Facial Hair - what's your fancy?

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