Beards, beards, beards

Make a man of yourself !

In the press, among celebs and on the catwalks, beards are the new big thing. Sean Lennon, Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake even, Hugo Boss and Dior's models all proudly wear their manly, rebel, poet-like prop, urging us to ask the question: what are they trying to tell us, they who suddenly forsake their perfectly smooth and clean, –photoshopped– skin?

Hairy symbols
In history, facial hair was associated with virtues such as wisdom or high status, by Ancient Egyptians or Greeks. The latter even considered beards so sacred that they could be used as pledge for the payment of a debt. But most of all, beards have invariably symbolized virility and sexual potency. Don't gays call a "beard" a girl who plays the part of an actually gay man's wife in public to hide his true sexuality?
Linked to this manliness, facial hair could also be a sign of lack of cleanliness and refinement, a hint to a somewhat eccentric, even disordered mind. A clue to "the devil inside" among Protestant clergymen who rejected the traditions of the Church, among hippies and among villains in Hollywood films.
"It has been noted that there is a close and consistent association of long standing in American film between facial hair and role –if one lead male character has more facial hair than another, he is far more likely to be the antagonist, and the men with less (or no) facial hair the protagonist.", says the Wikipedia entry about beards. It also tells us that Queen Elizabeth I is said to have disliked beards so much that she established a tax on them.

Sébastien Tellier for the launching of his “Politics” album

Have a trim, for God's sake!
Shifting meanings, according to time and space contexts... What is also interesting is the special care implied by a beard. According to Pliny, the first barber was brought to Rome around 300 B.C. But religious commandments had already been written about the specificities and requirements of wearing and trimming a beard. The rabbinic law, for instance, only allows the use of scissors, as the cutting comes from the contact of the two blades and not the blade against the skin –direct contact of a sharp tool is not allowed because it would damage the beard, which is forbidden. Of course, hip guys do not wear their beards like Rasputin did, neither like a Canadian lumberjack –or a French one, for that matter– would.
They pick an elaborate, falsely sloppy style that match their trendy suit and adds a bit of animal sexiness. It's culture over nature, engineered nature that gives a little more spiciness to 21st Century Homo Digitalus.

Eugene Hütz, lead singer of Gogol Bordello and happy mustache wearer

HEF (Highly Expressive Furs)
Beards and mustaches –as well as sideburns, stubbles, Van Dycks, Verdis and goatees of course, what am I thinking of– are privileged material to express your "deep self", as we may say. In the same way as you can grow a Marge Simpson blue sauerkraut, you can follow Wilkinson's latest viral campaign, DARE (Droit Au Rasage Extravagant, i.e. Right To Crazy Shave) and do your "shaving out". Become a pogonology enthusiast and make pleasant changes, join the Handlebar Club, www.handlebarclub.co.uk, and surprise everyone at work! And if you cannot grow a real, ZZTop beard, there's nothing to worry about: get a false one –your girlfriend will thank you for its removability– and take part in the happy, hairy party!

A beard index for those who have not made their choice yet

One more question: will the hairy trend also apply to women soon? Julia Roberts, Laetitia Casta have made their convictions known about hairy armpits but hairs definitely remain associated with men. Showing women's hairs is still a tabboo in many cultures and not only among body-conscious Middle-East communities: except perhaps in Scandinavian countries, Western countries do not see showing women's hairs as appropriate. Hippie days are long gone and women's future lies in razorblades... "for her". The Age Maleness is a way to reassert genres: men will be –hairy, manly– men, women will be –smoothly feminine– women.

Playmobil bob

Helmets on!

Neither the Louise Brooks bob nor the mop top Beatle haircut, the Playmobil bob is making the news on the catwalks in the person of Patricia Schmid, ambassadress of Shiseido make up. The ultimate corny haircut of the 1980s –at least to those who used to wear it, when they look at their childhood pictures. I refuse to name anyone but as far as Mum was concerned, she found it extremely cute– is coming back to the fore as the sharp hairdo of the year.

Patricia Schmid: the face and haircut chosen by Shiseido for its 2006 campaign

If Sienna Miller’s bob screams its hip-chick trendiness, its Playmobil counterpart remains a radical choice that has to be supported by self-confidence and a meticulous, exquisite style. Reminiscent of a long-gone era, its outdated look has to be counteracted by smart, stylish outfits: wear a chequered old jumper with it and you expose yourself to be mistaken for your aunt’s depressive neighbour –but then again, you may be chosen by a (non)conformist hip fanzine featuring only alternative, arty looks.

The Playmobil bob is characterized by clear-cut lines that give a very definite structure to the face and to the general figure: a shiny, often black, material like silk that closely follows and frames the features. Vidal Sassoon said that "Like in clothes designing, the cut is the most important element… the cut gives shape and that shape has to come from the inside". A clipped, trimmed hairdo with not a single hair sticking out, firmed up by a straight fringe neatly smoothed down on the forehead.

The original: French singer Mireille Mathieu has been wearing the Playmobil bob for nearly 50 years. And still does: http://www.mireillemathieu.com/

Fashion prop
The code underneath this perfectly fitting haircut it is that of a helmet, fastened to the head, that can be put on and taken off, explaining thus the Playmobil comparison –whose hair could be removed in a single gesture. Although this idea had already been exploited with the mop top haircut in the 1960s: the Beatles were so popular that toy manufacturers began producing real hair and plastic "Beatle wigs": "Lowell Toy Mfg. Corp. of New York was licensed to make "the only AUTHENTIC Beatle Wig." There have been many attempts at counterfeiting, but in its original packaging this wig has become highly collectible." (source Wikipedia).
Fortunately, you can grow it, too. And keep it on your head all the time, avoiding thus loss, theft and any other hair threat.

The other characteristic of the Playmobil bob is directly linked to its tidiness concept: its clear-cut lines authorize a single option and free you from the daily question as to how on earth you are going to do your hair today, before you go to work. Same shape everyday: a functional, unchanging finishing you wear like a uniform, a safe value that will no more let you down than your faithful, reliable pair of jeans. A bit like kids’ hairdos, nearly shaven heads that make hair washing easier for their mums.

Fun, fun, fun
Of course, you are not going to pick your cut for its undemanding care! Be reassured, the Playmobil can easily become a trademark and a personality asserting attribute. So distinctive and unalterable that it is automatically associated with the wearer –when other trendy haircuts miss their objective and too often just go unnoticed.
The Playmobil bob is daring, fun and reserved to those who go for experience, rather than neutral, conformist good looks. So are the outrageously outdated glasses you can see more and more on FaceHunter blogs and the like: I am not talking about the slick Tom Ford collection, here, but about the huge green ones that twist your otherwise charming face, while giving it an inimitable punchy, playful look.
An optimistic haircut that conveys energy and liveliness: life is a game, so dig out your primary colours t-shirts, get your crayons and your Playdoh, be creative and make the world a better –Playmobil– place!

Colourful, happy and simple: the Playmobil Beauty Salon.

 

Oldies rule!

How wrinkles are –rightly– taking over.

So much for Botox, Restylane and Juvéderm, being and looking over 50 is the new cool. No, plastic surgeons are not going to scarper overnight but yes, beauty standards are undergoing a slow yet true revolution, as least as far as age is concerned.
An article published last week in the NY Times, Style section, was asking –in a rather radical, daring way– the following question: "Is looking your age now taboo?" and answering it right away with a series of figures all pointing to the democratisation and growing success of surgery, injections and laser procedures.

Being elderly actually seems to grow less and less of a taboo. A few decades ago, looking old was definitely not something to mention as: 1. there was no treatment for it and 2. the question did not seem relevant to aged men and women totally summed up by their p/matriarchal roles. Today, not only are elderly people more numerous but, freed from the yoke of traditional roles –with the reinvention of family and of social relationships– they also want to play a more active part in society and assert their right to self-fulfilment as individuals. And younger ones will have to accept this: not only the old geezers’ hobbies and crazes but also the fact that they are around; in other words, they will have to cope with the sight of people who used to be confined to old people’s homes.

Issue One is a trendy fashion and beauty London magazine, which does not only leave room to less-than-thirty year olds.

The mere sight of age rises the question of image in society, sometimes with unexpected insights. A quote I found particularly shocking in the NY Times article:
"Women have always been under pressure to look good, but that has increased recently because we have become so used to seeing perfect, unwrinkled faces", Ms. Burke said. "Now, when you see someone who looks like a raisin or a prune, it seems so unusual that you are almost repulsed" (Ms. Burke, a registered nurse from Point Pleasant, NJ.)
"Repulsed"? What can be more repulsive than wrinkles is the sight of swollen, duck-like lips matched with forehead skins that look like they are going to crack any minute. I was on holidays a few months ago on the French Riviera, sharing time between Cannes, Nice and Monaco: about twice a day, I was dead sure I was walking past the same tall, long blond-haired plastic woman I had seen the day before in another part of the region. Of course, it wasn’t her, it was only the very same nose but on another woman.

Fortunately, not everyone goes for the total blond makeover. Many people, mostly women –although men are catching up– cannot help but correct what is going wrong in their appearance owing to age: nip and tuck a sagging eyelid here, remove a little fat there… Surgery helps them fill in the gap that has always been there: a lack of self-esteem, whatever its weightiness. Which is OK –anyone under 30 is probably not allowed to pass judgements on such issues. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t mind in the least, as long as streets are not overrun by repulsive clones…
Of course, surgery and treatments help "improve" one’s appearance and help some people feel more confident, thus happier. Yet, from a strictly aesthetic point of view, it rules out the inimitable qualities that only come with maturity.

Age takes away a firm skin but replaces it with other assets, such as knowledge, experience, taste: a charisma, which makes elderly men and women glow among young starlets who feel and look either clumsy or out of place for lack/ excess of self-confidence. People aged 50 or 60 know their real self and it shows physically, on their faces and bodies.

Jean-Paul Roy, senior model for Masters

Wrinkles, shadows, little scars, wonky noses, no longer perfect hair and teeth are actually what gives structure and character to a face. Over life, you "earn" your features, you gather the details that make you different from anyone else: newborns all look the same and are called "cute". Now, who wants cuteness, when distinction and uniqueness can be effortlessly achieved? The deep lines on old people’s foreheads, their crow’s feet give a new strength, a graphic authority to their face. They testify to a life carved in the flesh: body and personal history make one and can never be dissociated.

Is it for this reason that designers like Jean-Paul Gauthier or John Galliano asked seniors to take part in their fashion shows a few years ago? Or is it because, beyond the "visual exoticism", the elderly also have a special aura, an expertise and a detachment allowing them to be full of humour and spirit? Having seen everything, they often watch the world with a mix of impishness and wisdom that cannot be replicated, however how hard you try. Experience shows in their expression –for, if you avoid Botox, you may still have face expressions– and gives that special sharp and solemn, yet fresh feel. Take a look at Jean-Paul Roy, model for the French agency Masters specialized in seniors: a natural authority, intensity, density that come directly from his age and wrinkles.

Tanya et Stanley, Masters models, picture by Jérome Macé

Please, rebel and break free from the new convention that forces you to waste time in devising no-ageing strategies and gnaw at your inner self and at your true beauty. Be that smiling old woman in the Dove ads, adopt a classic ladylike or an eccentric Vivienne Westwood style and follow make-up artist Bobbi Brown’s advice: "I want women to know that they have a choice about ageing. There is the Hollywood way, or my way. I am not saying look younger. I am saying look good for your age."