Saturday 24 November 2012

Moustache Styles –The Handlebar & Imperial

 Two more moustache styles today, both very vintage styles.
handlebar
First the  handlebar moustache, which can be worn either large or small (“petit handlebar”); it is characterized by the fact that it is bushy and must be worn long enough to curl the ends upward, which is usually achieved with styling wax.  I would call  Hercule Poirot’s moustache (as portrayed by David Suchet) a petit handlebar.
hP1
For some reason Hercule always reminds me of Mr Monopoly, or Rich Uncle Pennnybags, maybe it the dapper suit, I’m not sure, but he also has a handle bar moustache, but not a petit one.
monopoly
Other mascots with handle bar moustaches includes that of Pringles, and National Bohemian Beer, (you can click the links if you want to see them).  Other famous handle bar moustaches are these:
wyatt
Wyatt Earp, American gambler, investor, and lawman at about age 33, c. 1880.
General-George-Custer-001
General George. A. Custer. This photo was taken between 1855 and 1865, (after the Civil War he had more of a walrus moustache, which I’ll look at later.)
Teddy-Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909.
John L. Sullivan
John L. Sullivan (1858-1918) world heavyweight champion in 1892.
Archduke-Franz-Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose death in 1914 sparked WWI.
The handle bar moustache appears to have been popular from the mid 1800s to about the 1940s, as these few photos show.
Andrewfisher
Andrew Fisher (29 August 1862 – 22 October 1928) was Australia’s fifth Prime Minister , from 1910, on three separate occasions, and also seems to be the last Prime Minister who sported a moustache.
couple
A Great War studio portrait of a British private and his wife, c. 1915. source
Witos_1920
Wincenty Witos, Polish Prime Minister 1920, 1923,1926.
More information about handlebar moustaches, including how to apply wax, can be found at the Handlebar Club.
Rather than waxing the moustache upwards, some decided to let it grown upwards, and so the Imperial.
imperial
A large moustache growing from both the upper lip and cheeks, whiskers from the cheeks are styled pointing upward.  A style favoured by British Imperialists of the 18th and late 19th centuries in particular.
Major_General_George_Campbell_of_Inverneill
A Scottish soldier, General George Campbell of Inverneill, with a large imperial moustache c.1790.
ambrose-burnside-mustache
Ambrose Burnside was an American soldier, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist, politician from Rhode Island, and a Union Army general. He took the imperial moustache to a whole new level, and not surprisingly, the sideburn is named after him.
It’s not my favourite style, I must admit, although this prize winning moustache from  Otto  Schmidt of Germany is quite spectacular!
ottoschmid
More moustaches next time.
Deb xxx







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