Creative Class

While I planned to work my way down the body in as unisex a way as possible, there’s a proverb somewhere that says something about looking a gift-horse in the mouth. In this case we’ll forgo the mouth to look slightly above the lip toward what I’m observing as a re-emergence of the mustache in North America.

I started seeing it a while ago at TimeKode – since about May or June of ‘08, ’stache after ’stache began to pop up in the party. While in Toronto over the holidays I kept my eyes open, and indeed there were more mustaches on the street than ever – on younger men too. I thought it was strange, but I was sure that after being ostracized by all of the respectable women in their lives that these guys would realize the obvious: we live in a post-Tom Selleck world – mustache’s are a no-no.

But at the ripe old age of 26 I was showing my age. These guys experienced no loss of attention or affection from the fairer sex – in fact it probably increased. And this confused me. In the months to come the trend would seem to trickle up to Hollywood, with star after star throwing caution to the wind and challenging the abiding anti-mustache coalition of the late 80’s and 90’s. Eventually Brad Pitt would confirm that the ’stache, love-it-or-lump-it, had fully arrived in North America - again.

While in India, they seemed to be experiencing the reverse as this article investigates:

The famous beards and moustaches of India – seen as representing a huge tradition to the outside world – are under threat, a new book says.

It says that the country’s famous facial hairs are disappearing as India enters the clean-shaven digital age.

“Hair India – A Guide to the Bizarre Beards and Magnificent Moustaches of Hindustan” says that India’s extravagant beards and moustaches – proudly sported by generations of Indian men – are being trimmed as the country becomes more clean-shaven and urban.

In reality there are only so many trends in facial hair that are even possible, so I guess it shouldn’t be so surprising that the re-emergence cycle of lip-hair is so short in North America. It’s more the apparent spikiness of the phenomenon that’s interesting.

How could it be that while we’re bringing them back in North America, over in the east they’re shaving them off? How does place delimit style conventions in an increasingly globalized world? Is the world spiky not only in terms of economic prosperity, productivity, and innovation, but in terms of styles as well?

And now, as always, some music.

For a while I’d had the idea to do a head-to-toe profile of modern urban couture, so I thought that I’d start today. In an increasingly interconnected world, the way that we dress is an important mode of relatedness. I’ll try to keep it as unisex and lighthearted as possible.

So, starting with the head: I am going to be bold and claim the 59Fifty as the official headgear of the city. What’s a 59Fifty you might ask? It’s the technical term for what we’d colloquially call a baseball cap. And It turned 55 this year:

Up until 1954, players wore many styles of headgear, such as sloughy caps and pillbox styles… So the company developed a fitted cap as the uniform headwear for Major League Baseball. Today this style, known as the 59Fifty, remains the official cap of US ball players.

And its many variations have become a key part of the standard urban wardrobe, be it for an American tourist, a footballer’s wife or a young man aping a rap hero.

There is just something so affirming about seeing one’s city represented on a passerby’s head, be it the city of your origins, or the one you’ve adopted. When growing up in the GTA during the Blue Jays’ back-to-back World Series win, a Blue Jays cap was easily one of the coolest things to have on your head – especially when crossing the border. I liked to represent. It felt like we finally had something beyond the ubiquitous design staple of the New York Yankees cap that we could distinguish ourselves with in the world.

At that time teams only had their official hats available with the exception of the Yankees – of course – who had their standard hat available in three colors. As both specialization and design intensiveness in cities increased over time, there are now dozens of variations on standard team caps designs. They have fashion flexibility and give people the ability to express their individuality, while still being down with their team or city. In my fantasy world of vanity, I would wear a different Blue Jays hat every day. Even toques, which once held the distinction of being the hat to wear if showing off one’s nicely shaped head, have grown brims, taking design cues from baseball caps. Beyond even professional sports, it has become a prevalent form of headwear engaged by fashion brands that aren’t even sports-exclusive.

What is it about the baseball cap I wonder? What about its design has brought citizen after citizen in city after city around the world into line with its fitted decree? What does it say about the relationship between sports, urban identity, and the concept of representing? What does it mean that something so distinctly American has almost passively emerged to dominate casual urban headwear globally?

I feel a boxing day trip to the New Era store coming on…

And now, for a change, not some music:

Happy Holidays!