The Ubiquitous Mustache
I was over at my friend Jack's house last night, stealing his internet, when all of a sudden I remembered something I wanted to look up.
This happens fairly often, as I don't have internet at home, or in my pocket. I think, "Where did that come from? I bet the Internet would know!" and then forget promptly, since that particular Guru is rarely at my disposal.
"Jack!" said I. "Jack, where does that whole mustache meme come from?"
"Hipsters," he said with a faint air of derision. "It's a big hipster thing. Waxed mustaches."
"But... did it START with hipsters? They're everywhere. Mustaches, I mean, not hipsters. But them too. On pillows. On jewelry. On pacifiers. They make mirrors now with mustaches ALREADY ATTACHED!"
So, having the internet, we looked it up. I couldn't find a PRIMARY source of the Mustache Meme yet, but the conclusion seemed to be that the current fad arises as much from the STEAMPUNK movement as from the HIPSTER movement.
"It's like a collision of our worlds," I told Jack, who is a musician. (I don't know why I think of hipsters as a musical movement. It seems to have more to do with mason jars and knitting and bicycles, but I always associate it with music too. Why? SOMEONE EXPLAIN!!!)
But whereas, I mused, someone really into Steampunk might wax their mustache because they think it is a FINE THING, that it is COOL and even BEAUTIFUL, and it goes with this neat VEST and the pocketwatch with the GEARS and all, a hipster might wear a waxed mustache (says Jack) out of irony. Because they think it's stupid, and will do it to make fun of it.
I don't really have a good grasp on Hipsters. ETA: Although Urban Dictionary has a GREAT ENTRY on them. (I think most of the things Hipsters do, like knit and recycle and bicycle, are actually awesome. And most of the knitters, recyclers, DIYers and mason-jar drinkers are doing those things out of love, not irony, but then what do I know?)
...But then I never really had a good grasp on Steampunk either. (See "Canary of Candletown," for my one and only foray into the genre. And tenuous it is INDEED.)
In the meantime, I mean, mustaches! I'm not really into them. But I think it's funny that my 12 year old niece has Mustache Parties. It's so... Marx Brothers.
Any thoughts?
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