They shaved their entire bodies, except for the upper lip and the head.

The ironic mustache first hit the scene in the earliest years of the 21^st century. Young men who may be a bit less tough than their blue-collar equivalent, namely musicians and artists, began to embrace their masculinity by growing mustaches to reference strong male figures of years past.

Mustaches gained popularity in the 1970s as a juxtaposition to the clean-shaven conservative values of the post-war years and as a nod to their tougher predecessors. Wild-west outlaws were depicted with mustaches; Civil War soldiers had mustaches so their modern day counter-parts should too. Rock musicians Frank Zappa and Freddie Mercury became mustache wearing idols. Burt Reynolds and Tom Selleck were mustachioed sex symbols. Reggie Jackson and the other 1972 Oakland A’s wore some of the first mustaches Major League Baseball had seen in almost six decades. It provided a bold, yet inherently temporary, stamp of masculinity.

Young men have always tried out mustaches in an attempt at premature masculinity. High school halls are filled with various attempts of facial hair growth. A 16-year-old boy might look more along the lines of 18 or 19 if he were to have a mustache above his lip. He may even be able to buy cigarettes if he can avoid being carded. The disguise factor of the mustache is of particular importance here. The iconic “Groucho Marx” mask, which includes a large eyebrows hovering over glasses, with a large nose over a oversized mustache has long been a cliché costume when one is trying to be taken for something which they are not.

With mustaches typically worn by men who were not to be messed with, the young urban males of today are using it in a similar fashion, but in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. Mustache parties are extremely popular as a way for attendees of all genders to show up in this costume of masculinity. By adorning themselves with this ultra macho “take-me-seriously” stamp, they are presenting a caricature of this tough persona. They use this symbol of masculinity as a way to reference the strong attitude once associated with it without the necessity of having the roughness to back it up.

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