Until about a year ago, when it came to fashion trends, the beard was ruling the roost. People were sporting all kinds of beards - simple, bizarre, outrageous, bohemian. Along the way, there came a refreshing and clutter-breaking trend that encouraged men to trade their bearded look for a cleaner one. It was called #BreakTheBeard. As part of #BreakTheBeard, everyone including celebs and commoners were posting pictures of their well-groomed avatars with the hashtag #BreakTheBeard. Here’s one such post by cricketer Hardik Pandya during the 2018 IPL.
Well, if that was the story then, things have changed now. If recent trends are anything to go by, it seems as if the ‘beard’ is fading away. We decided to dig a little deeper and reached out to India’s top celebrity hairstylist Aalim Hakim to know what the true picture is. He says, “Beards as a trend is definitely fading away, the lumberjack beard is completely out and nobody wants to look like a copy of each other.” “Everybody wants to have their own identity so most of the men are opting for really sharp, well groomed styles; Van Dyke, French beard, goatee and the soul patch. Men are moving away from heavy beards because you cannot actually recognise the face,” adds Aalim.
In fact, the signs of these changing fashion trends were noticeable last year itself when the humble mooch suddenly became the centre of attention.
The moustache became a major style statement that everyone wanted to flaunt.
What further led to the popularity of the moustache is when Bollywood actors started sporting it onscreen and offscreen. And you know when Bollywood starts a trend, the whole country catches on to it. Talking about the trend of actors sporting moustaches, Aalim said, “I will say that moustache trend is very subjective to their movie roles and characters. But it’s definitely helping them look sharp and show their jaw line. Most of our male clients want to look sharp, fresh and opt for a look which helps them enhance their features. And the moustache trend fits in with that requirement.”
Last year, we saw Ranveer Singh in Simmba and Ajay Devgn in Raid, among others, rock the mooch look. This year, we’ve already seen John Abraham in Batla House and Ayushmann Khurrana in Article 15 give us moustache goals.
It only gets better from here with Vicky Kaushal and Kartik Aaryan joining the moustache club for their upcoming films.
For the longest time, the moustache hadn’t really got its due. It was always about the beard. But it’s great to see the moustache at the centre of a fashion trend now.
The mooch has upstaged the beard and how. It’ll be exciting to see where it goes from here.
Till then, keep calm and celebrate your mooch look!
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