Our last post starred Scot Meacham Wood and his rakish mustache. By wayt of follow-up, here’s Ivy Style’s first-ever mustache gallery, featuring many military men from America and England, including my dad! — CC
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African-American men look better with facial hair while lighter-complexioned men look worse.
In general, some men can pull off a mustache better than than the rest of us. I find five-day+ scruff irritating in the extreme to my face, neck, and upper lip, so I’ll stick with the clean-shaven look. It’s just easier believe it, or not.
Best Regards
Rein in your *ism there Mitchell S.! Whoa! Speak for yourself.
This is a very fine collection of mustachioed gents! I am particularly fond of the mustachios upon the fellow in the header image, and of the last fellow’s facial whiskers, as well as of those of Mr. Acheson, as per always. Very fine indeed!
I aspire to any of those, though my own is by no means flimsy, it has not reached the magnificence of those fine examples above! Mine is more like a more closely cropped Magnum P.I..
While we’re at it, and upon an entirely different subject; what do any of my fellow readership think of the new all made in the USA AE offerings?
Upon the subject of facial hair; I usually end up using a bit of hand softened bees’ wax on the corners (not for a clownish twirl, but for a touch of structure), and a fine toothed box wood comb from Japan, along with the usual salves, unguents, and moisturizers and conditioners for my mustaches and for my skin beneath. I actually use my shaving soap as a conditioning soap as well.
@ Heinz-Ulrich von Boffke: I agree, Sir, you are correct that it is easier, and it is unconscionably uncomfortable as it grows in, however once it is in (a mustache that is), it is quite easy to maintain.
A beard on the other hand is excessively involved and requires much more care. I speak having had a full beard for about 7 years – time does fly! Combing and caring for your beard and skin beneath is a nightmare!
@ Mitchell S.: Please note my twinkling sarcasm. No argument or impugning of your character intended.
@ Christian: I like your father’s mustache Sir! Mine is similar but with a center part, and a bit more of a steep angle at the tips. Spot on!
Wonderful selection of Jeremy Irons as Charles Ryder in the final scene of Brideshead Revisited.
Excellent group of fine looking gents, including Papa Chensvold looking quite dapper in a blue blazer. It was been a number of years since I last wore facial hair, but this is somewhat inspiring. I am also pleased to see heyday-era UVA Writer-in-Residence William Faulkner. I would love to wear a Niven-style ‘stache, but it is a tricky one to pull off, for me at least.
For trads interested in giving it a try, I also commend consideration of the Commander Whitehead look, which includes a bit more fur than seen above. Pictures here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=schweppes+commander+whitehead&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS785US785&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjawunri8XdAhVrQt8KHXu6AJoQsAR6BAgFEAE&biw=1549&bih=880
NYT Obituary here: https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/18/archives/comdr-edward-whitehead-at-69-led-schweppes-tonic-campaign-imported.html
Cool staches. More importantly…Who’s coming in for Tailor Caid? The Armoury received a red hopsack blazer for one of the guys here… it’s divine.
Still a couple appointment slots!
-DCG, formerly of JP, now of TA, serving you bespoke TC
@ DCG: You are stirring up fond memories Sir! My Great-Uncle usually wore either a Burgundy or a very dark Bottle Green blazer. You never see them anymore, with the exception of those down-market ill-fitting things sold at JCP. It never occurred to me where he got the things, they just “were”, until I was gifted with a copy of Roetzel’s “Gentlemen”.
If I were anywhere near N.Y……
Oh, what color is the lining? Or is it something more interesting, like an ancient madder or foulard?
CC is well within reach of the Commander Whitehead look.
Less pronounced version seen in once-upon-a-time Barbour catalogs:
http://archivalblog.com/shopping-from-the-past-barbour-jackets/
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_if_XeEEAXGM/TUi7wqtUmOI/AAAAAAAAK1s/hJhF2atM3is/s1600/Untitled-8.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_if_XeEEAXGM/TUi8uX2LI8I/AAAAAAAAK2s/cqUnpiMWGuY/s1600/Untitled-21.jpg
S.E. – Indeed. I enjoy seeing men who can look elegant in a beard. In addition to CC, the Schweppes Commander and the Barbour chap, Sebastian Cabot and Monty Woolley come to mind. I tend to look, or at least feel, scruffy in a beard and most of the beards I see around these days fall into that category. I think it is easier to pull off elegance with a mustache than the full Monty (Wooley), but it is very nice when done well.
Whenever I’ve grown one, I tried (fairly successfully) to emulate the style of almost any of the actors in the fantastic 1980 movie, “Breaker Morant”. My daughter always cheers the effort; my wife does not.
I love photos of Faulkner at his desk, but always wonder to myself, “How many days out of the year could he have actually worn tweed in Mississippi?”
James Reston called Dean Acheson’s facial hair “a triumph of policy planning” lol
“Red meat, martinis, and a few choice insults for his foes were, for Acheson, the indispensable staples of a good day”-Kevin Peraino
Love that still from “the Graduate,” one of my all-time favorite films. The Braddocks were from Pasadena, then a trad bastion, from what I’ve heard.
Couldn’t find a good picture, but I recall Mr. Braddock’s style in the film being very Apparel Arts, borderline Euro. Figured it must have been some Californian trad mashup.
@Evan It’s a tasteful darker red I believe…my grandfather related that he went to visit his uncle Paul at home on Rittenhouse Square because he wasn’t answering phone calls. When he got there, he told me, his uncle was seated in front of the fireplace with a sweating glass of scotch, English-made shoes, and his Brooks Brothers blazer in handsome red with brass buttons, dead and stiff as a board. Grandad told me Uncle Paul looked perfectly content, damned if I wouldn’t be content too!
A red blazer will make its way to me some day…for now Tailor Caid and I have some tweed and flannel to discuss…
Thing about a beard is…well, like a lot of other great stuff, including mustaches, the urban hipsters have (nearly) ruined it. When accessorized with tweed, whiskey, and a lab–all good. Even brilliant. But even the very best Commander Whitehead, when paired with hipster clothing (or, worse, sweatshirt and sneakers), feels forced, probably ironic, and maybe even pathetic. Context, as the smart people say, is everything. In a post-1970s, post-hipster world, sport facial hair at your own (“Who’s he kidding? No way he served in the Royal Navy”) risk.
I decided not to shave for a bit when I was between jobs about 16 years ago and then shaved scruff to beginnings of a mustache and my wife told me I looked like a vice cop and to get rid of it which I did so diligently. I always thought the older gentleman from the early 80s Polo ads looked distinguished with his mustache. Perhaps when I am a bit older I shall try again.
A couple of pencil moustaches here, I see. Not something you see much of these days, but a perusal of “Apparel Arts” would indicate they were quite the thing in the ’30s. I can’t imagine David Niven in anything but.
I first grew mine almost 50 years ago, 1969, as they’d become acceptable and I thought my cupid’s-bow upper lip needed some hiding. Shaved it off about 3 years ago just to see what it looked like, lip apparently shrank, so I now keep it shaved.
To each his own.
No Terry Thomas……? In any case, the Brits have this won, hands down.
DCG will soon be the best dressed trad in the city. Hopefully there’s an employer discount for TC goods!
@ DCG: That’s the image. My Great-Uncle Edward’s entire wardrobe was either Brooks Brothers, or clothing that his Aunts and Uncle had made (they were clothing manufacturers – still are, I suppose – and have been for generations). That’s the way to go out though! We all go alone, but keeping company with some nice scotch just prior is preferable.
I’m still kicking myself for not grabbing a nice little brick red sack model from the 1960s that I saw. It had white mother of pearl buttons! I asked my Uncle’s new wife (he re-married about 6-7 years before he passed) if I might go through any of the old wardrobe and she tersely informed me that she’d donated all of it. What a waste, and loss of family artifacts. I did manage to get his desk lamp from his writing table, and his flask, which he’d set aside for me. He was a world traveler, and interesting man of supreme refinement and culture. He was actually at one time engaged to marry a Spanish princess before she was assassinated by Basque separatists/terrorists. I’d say he had it all, but I always remember those 2 blazers, that and his love of cognac, bourbon, and French cuisine. I’m ranting.
Are you going for flannels in the yellowish-gray to warm gray range? Those always seem just about perfect for Autumn and Winter, or perhaps some Cheviot, or Shetland salt and pepper dogtooth trousers?
Just curious, any price range on their trousers out the door?
I say go for the proverbial gold, and actual maroon hopsack glory!
Thanks for sharing!
@ Old School Tie: Hear-hear for Terry Thomas! That was a magnificently masterful mustache indeed – and what a character!
@Hardy
Wisest words ever spoken on the Internet!
CC, is your dad the first one? Love the swords in the background.
@ Whiskeydent: the eye-patched gentleman is the Hathaway Shirt Co. Man.
I believe Christian’s father is the gentleman who looks much like an older version of CC., wearing the navy blue blazer and bright plaid tie in Vernal tones, in the modern photograph which was obviously taken at home.
Unless I misread your comment and it was comedic.
Dean Acheson, the quintessential Brooks Brothers customer with the quintessential collar roll. The way gentlemen used to look and still should look. No need to even read his bio.
Good old Alec Guinness. I always enjoyed him on screen, and Bridge on the River Kwai is certainly one of his stand-out performances as an actor. ‘Can’t beat Japanese war atrocities during WWII; the Batan Death March and all that (the Rape of Nanking?).
The best collection of the greatest mustaches ever, were all in the movie “Tombstone”.
Jim M.
I am always pleased to be reminded of the great Wm.Faulkner, and may I add Steinbeck,Hemingway,Vonnegut,Poe and Kipling to your gallery.