Advent of the Mustache

We heard it before but we just weren't buying it. Now, a concession: the mustache is empowering, it's attention-grabbing, and it's back.

1/2/2008, 5:33 AM

Jeff Westbrook/Studio D

Although society had been flirting with the return of the mustache for years, we’d remained unconvinced. It had become a trifle, a mockable prop -- even to those sporting it.

But sometimes the truth comes at you unexpected. Like maybe riding down from the rooftop bar of a fine New York hotel, after an evening of drinks, in a paneled elevator crowded with not a few beautiful women, some of us yobs from the office, and, in the middle, a single man standing tall, in a dark suit, wearing a mustache.

The space grew quiet, then one of our people -- the one who’d had the most to drink -- started in: “The mustache. Are we okay with the mustache?” A response came without hesitation or rancor. “Oh, yes, you should try it yourself,” the man with the mustache said. “It’s empowering.” The accent was Merseyside. He sounded like a bodhisattvan Ringo Starr.

But we weren’t done with him. “Really? What about maintenance?”

“There’s less to do. You don’t even think about it.”

Our own guy hesitated, paused, and confessed: “The truth is, I have thought about it, but don’t know if I could pull it off.”

The man nodded. He understood. “You can. It’s a declaration. Try it. Set yourself free.”

With that, the doors opened and he disappeared into the night. And we were believers. The serious mustache is back.