Handlebar moustache

A handlebar moustache is a moustache with particularly lengthy and upwardly curved extremities. These moustache styles are named for their resemblance to the handlebars of a bicycle.^[1] It is also known as a spaghetti moustache, because of its stereotypical association with Italian men.^[2][3] The Handlebar Club humorously describes the style as "a hirsute appendage of the upper lip and with graspable extremities".^[4]

History

Similar styles of moustache are quite ancient, appearing on statues and other depictions of Iron Age Celts.^[5] In the United States, handlebar moustaches were worn in the later part of the 19th century by Wild West figures like Wyatt Earp.^[6][7] In Europe, handlebar moustaches were often worn by soldiers during the 19th century until roughly the era of World War I.

English comedy actor Jimmy Edwards grew his trademark handlebar moustache in the late 1940s in order to disguise facial injuries sustained as a pilot in World War II.^[8]

In 1972, to win a $300 "best facial hair" prize offered by team owner Charlie O. Finley, Oakland A's pitcher Rollie Fingers grew a handlebar moustache which he sported throughout his career.^[9][10]

More recently, the contemporary hipster subculture has embraced the handlebar moustache by mocking conventional ideals of fashion, and by combining a highly manicured handlebar moustache with the portrayal of an unkempt appearance or a haphazardly selected clothing ensemble.^[11]

Famous handlebar moustaches

• 
  Wyatt Earp
• 
  William Howard Taft^[12]
• 
  Wilhelm II^[13]
• 
  Joseph Stalin^[14]
• 
  Buffalo Bill^[15]
• 
  Bhagat Singh^{[16][17][18][19][20]}
• 
  Prince Victor Napoleon
• 
  Giovanni Verga
• 
  Vincenzo Garioni
• 
  Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
• 
  Marcelo H. del Pilar
• 
  Porfirio Diaz
• 
  Lord Randolph Churchill
• 
  Jimmy Edwards
• 
  Rollie Fingers
• 
  Michael Attree
• 
  Robert Johansson
• 
  Paul Von Hindenburg
• 
  Chandra Shekhar Azad^[21][22]
• 
  Antonio Luna
• 
  Maurice de Hirsch
• 
  Will Vinton
• 
  Robin Olds
• 
  J. Bruce Ismay
• 
  George Dewey
• 
  King Kelly
• 
  Gustave Flaubert
• 
  Thomas Hardy
• 
  Ruggero Leoncavallo
• 
  Ferdinand Foch
• 
  Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg
• 
  Herman Hollerith

Company mascots

• Julius Pringles
• Mr. Monopoly^[23]
• Mr. Boh^[24]
• Air India's Maharaja mascot^[25][26]
• Terrible Herbst

Styles

This style is usually achieved by the use of moustache wax,^[27] although hair gel, a curling iron, or natural curling can suffice. Generally, the greater the curl of the extremities, the more dramatic the appearance achieved. When worn without wax or grooming, the moustache style may more closely resemble a walrus moustache.

See also

• List of moustache styles
• List of facial hairstyles

References

External links

This page was last edited on 19 January 2024, at 04:56