Let’s beard like it’s 1849

Posted on by Matthew Wright

Full beards are in these days, it seems. Especially for those twenty-somethings who cycle past on their designer bikes, sipping designer coffee in a designer take-away cup with one hand while steering with the other.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) with hipster beard. Public domain, via Wikipedia.

This is the hip way of the future; urbanised, up to the minute, millennial, mobile-enabled. And bearded, if you happen to be a bloke.

Except a bit. The thing is that the full-scale hipster shovel-beard and moustache isn’t exactly new. It’s been in vogue before. Mid-nineteenth century to be precise.

Hipster beards. Brand new. Just like in 1849.

And if you want to see more photos of people in nineteenth century hipster beards – and get a copy of my new book The History of Hawke’s Bay, click this link.

Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017

7 thoughts on “Let’s beard like it’s 1849”

  5. The male twenty-somethings at my day-job are into hipster beards too. I can’t judge. The male long-hair phase of the 60’s and 70’s was a throwback to another century too. I guess every generation seeks their own identity, one that’s markedly different from their parents’. They don’t seem to realize they’re identifying with their grandparents or great grandparents.😀

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  6. With the Victorian beard as a symbol of virility and the (cough cough man-bun) top-knot being a Samurai symbol of status… methinks these hipsters are overcompensating for…? lolz Ah yes, the younger generation has cultivated a more home grown (and unarguably organic) version of buying a bright red sports car 😉 ps: literally yesterday I saw a man with a full red viking beard captaining a Segway down the sidewalk. And yes, it was just as surreal as it sounds!

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