Handlebar moustache

Not to be confused with Horseshoe moustache.

Franz Ferdinand Archduke of Austria-Este with a handlebar moustache typical of the early 20th century.

A handlebar moustache is a moustache with particularly lengthy, upward curved, extremities. It is named for its resemblance to the handlebars of a bicycle. It is also known as a "spaghetti moustache", because of its stereotypical association with Italian men. The Handlebar Club humorously describes the style as "a hirsute appendage of the upper lip and with graspable extremities".

Styles

This style is usually achieved by the use of moustache wax, although hair gel, a curling iron, or natural curling can sometimes be used. By varying the amount of curling of the extremities, a more dramatic appearance can be achieved. When worn without wax or grooming, the moustache style may more closely resemble a walrus moustache.

History

Similar styles of moustache are quite ancient, appearing on statues and other depictions of Iron Age Celts.

In the United States, handlebar moustaches were often worn in the later part of the 19th century by Wild West figures like Wyatt Earp. In Europe, handlebar moustaches were often worn by soldiers during the 18th century through roughly the World War I era.

In 1972, to win a $300 "best facial hair" prize offered by team owner Charlie O. Finley, Oakland A's pitcher Rollie Fingers grew a handlebar moustache which he sported throughout his career.

More recently, the contemporary hipster subculture has embraced the handlebar moustache by mocking conventional ideals of fashion, and by ironically combining a highly manicured handlebar moustache with the portrayal of an unkempt appearance or a haphazardly selected clothing ensemble.

Famous men with handlebar moustaches

• Michael "Atters" Attree (b. 1965) — comedian and figurehead of the Handlebar Club
• Francisco Bertrand (1866–1926) — President of Honduras
• Juan Cailles (1871–1951) — Filipino commander
• Billy Childish (b. 1959) — artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist
• Lord Randolph Churchill (1849–1895) — British statesman
• George Armstrong Custer (1839–1876) — United States Army officer during the Civil War
• George Dewey (1837–1917) — admiral of the United States Navy
• Wyatt Earp (1848–1929) — American gunslinger
• Edward Elgar (1857–1934) — English composer
• Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) — Archduke of Austria-Este
• Rollie Fingers (b. 1946) — baseball pitcher
• George V of the United Kingdom (1865–1936) — King of the United Kingdom
• Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) — English novelist and poet
• Maurice de Hirsch (1831–1896) — German-Jewish philanthropist
• Joseph Bruce Ismay (1862–1937) — English businessman
• Tom Ketchum (1863–1901) — a cowboy who later turned to a life of crime
• Horatio Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850–1916) — British Field Marshal
• Henry Ware Lawton (1843–1899) — United States Army officer
• George Lycurgus (1858–1960) — Greek American businessman
• José Martí (1853–1895) — Cuban national hero
• Robin Olds (1922–2007) — American fighter pilot and general officer in the U.S. Air Force
• Marcelo H. del Pilar (1850–1896) — Filipino writer, journalist, satirist, lawyer
• Albrecht von Roon (1803–1879) — Prussian soldier and statesman
• Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) — President of the United States
• Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) — Swiss linguist
• Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) — Premier of the Soviet Union
• William Howard Taft (1857–1930) — President of the United States
• Ben Thompson (1843–1884) — a gunman, gambler, and sometime lawman of the Old West
• Snidely Whiplash (fictional) — cartoon arch-villain to Dudley Do-Right
• Emiliano Zapata (1879–1919) — leading figure in the Mexican Revolution
• Eugene Hütz (b. 1972) - Ukrainian musician and frontman of New York-based band Gogol Bordello

See also

• Handlebar Club
• List of moustache styles

External links

• The Definitive Guide to Handlebar Mustaches
• Handlebar Moustache Life