Flower Power – Or Affected Shower

Thanks to the ongoing alternative / creative / bohemian (delete as appropriate) trend, bushy beards have received their fair share of media attention recently as crowds of young men from far beyond the borders of Camden Lock have adopted the scruffy look.

Often associated with hipster culture (though you’d be hard pressed to find a young ´beardo´, who’d admit that,) large beards have become so much of a trend in some cities that they’ve actually inspired counter-trends.

Earlier this year, GQ declared the facial hairstyle “officially uncool” after a New York style guru wrote about how The Brooklyn Beard was going mainstream in one of its mocked trend pieces.

“Now that the New York Times has officially declared beards to be a trend, that trend is, by necessity, over” Scott Christian. 

Time / trend stories are like a science paradox, where by examining the existence of something, they cause it to no longer exist. They’re like the media obverse of Cartesian philosophy ´I think, therefore I am no longer.´ So rest assured, the beard is now officially done. ´Long live razor burn´ the voices of a thousand jaded partners scream.

GQ Was Wrong

While GQ’s piece was widely shared among beard lovers and the clean shaven alike, it would appear as though GQ was wrong. Instagram, Twitter and many a city bistro are still bustling with bearded young men of, as the New Yorker called it, “the plaid-shirt-and-craft-beer creative underclass.”

And some of said beard rockers are even turning it up a notch, painting trend on top of trend with what’s come to be known as “the flower beard.”

Floral Beards

Photos of men with floral beards can be found from as far back as the late seventies according to the BBC. This summer, however, the trend appears to have hit full-tilt with more men donning facial hair flowers than ever before thanks largely in part to the internet. On Instagram alone, more than 1400 photos are returned on the hashtag #flowerbeard, showing men both young and older with a myriad of different floral beard stylings.

So are floral beards to be sniffed at? Sorry, but I certainly think so.