Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Chaplin Mustache in Modern Day Society?

StetsonHomburg

Practically Family
Messages
518
Location
None of your business!
Hi,

This is a question that has been floting in the
back of my mind for a long time and I just
decieded to ask it:

What would you think the reaction of someone would be
if they saw someone in modern day society with a chaplin
mustache/ Toothbrush Mustache? (and they had
a fedora, homburg, or even bowler on with a suit and
other dressy items on?)
 

StetsonHomburg

Practically Family
Messages
518
Location
None of your business!
James71 said:
Adolf killed that particular aesthetic.

Do you have a lot of Jewish friends? Might be a good look to miss.
I was not asking about me wearing it I more meant it as just a curious
question to see some opionions. In the first world war alot of soldiers on all sides had that mustache because of chaplin just for laughs but unfortunetly Germany's WWII-era leader also adapted it
 

cooncatbob

Practically Family
Messages
608
Location
Carmichael, CA.
StetsonHomburg said:
I was not asking about me wearing it I more meant it as just a curious
question to see some opionions. In the first world war alot of soldiers on all sides had that mustache because of chaplin just for laughs but unfortunetly Germany's WWII-era leader also adapted it

I thought WW1 soldiers had toothbrush mustaches because they fit under their gas mask, with a regular mustache your gas mask would not seal on your face.
 

StetsonHomburg

Practically Family
Messages
518
Location
None of your business!
****catbob said:
I thought WW1 soldiers had toothbrush mustaches because they fit under their gas mask, with a regular mustache your gas mask would not seal on your face.
That too, but I do remember reading something about chaplin and
the writer mensioned that...[huh]
 

Qirrel

Practically Family
Messages
590
Location
The suburbs of Oslo, Norway
Have anyone ever seen a man with such a mustache after WWII? Unfortunately the toothbrush mustache has become the number one recognized feature of Germany's WWII-era leader, i mean, you could make a toothbrush mustache on any stick-figure and everyone would think Germany's WWII-era leader.
 

Creeping Past

One Too Many
Messages
1,564
Location
England
Silly, really, to imbue facial hair with symbolic force. Many men still wear their hair like Germany's WWII-era leader wore it, and that's not considered an odd, authoritarian or anti-Jewish statment - and it's not called the 'Germany's WWII-era leader fringe'.

And strange that the wearing of a Stalin moustache never attracts such opprobrium, despite his regime's murdering millions. In fact, it remains as a symbolic beacon of virility and freedom: viz. various members of The Byrds and other more counter-cultural bands and Sam Elliot's cowboy in The Big Lebowski.
 

Torpedo

One Too Many
Messages
1,329
Location
Barcelona (Spain)
Whatever the reason, it is Germany's WWII-era leader's style of moustache what has endured, and the feature anyone immediately associates with him.

So, it's a no-no, because of this. Not even the fact Chaplin wore one offsets this. At most, if you wore the full, or part of, Chaplin attire, you would be thought of as someone in a Chaplin's costume. I do not think you can use a "tootbrush" for everyday. Bad luck.

Regarding the gas mask question, I believe this is just an urban legend. The rubber adapts around your face, so the style of moustache would not be an issue - beards would be, on the other hand.

IIRC, Germany's WWII-era leader did not sport his trademark style of moustache during WW1, anyway - he wore a full one at that time. He adopted the "toothbrush" later.

Regards!
 

Pompidou

One Too Many
Messages
1,242
Location
Plainfield, CT
It would take a whole society of people breaking the mold and sporting one to reverse the effect. I bet if Johnny Depp started wearing one, he could probably beat the stigma too - especially if a few other A list stars followed suit. If Hollywood went Germany's WWII-era leader, it wouldn't be such a bad thing in the eyes of the public.
 

grundie

One of the Regulars
Messages
138
Location
Dublin, Ireland
Last year British comedian Richard Herring did a show called 'Germany's WWII-era leader Moustache' in which he attempted to reclaim the toothbrush moustache for comedy.

Evidently, it caused some controversy - http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...r-moustache-underbelly-edinburgh-1773849.html
 

Nick D

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,164
Location
Upper Michigan
Qirrel said:
Have anyone ever seen a man with such a mustache after WWII? Unfortunately the toothbrush mustache has become the number one recognized feature of Germany's WWII-era leader, i mean, you could make a toothbrush mustache on any stick-figure and everyone would think Germany's WWII-era leader.

Well, Robert Mugabe, but I don't think that helps the image of the toothbrush moustache.

I've seen it a couple times, on older men, one of whom was in a suit and bowler.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
26,296
Location
London, UK
Yip, it's now the Germany's WWII-era leader 'tache, and I can't see that changing. Similar to wearing a ******** - no Westerner these days will look at that and think 'oh, Hindu symbol of peace and harmony...'. The original 'meaning' of both has been irretrievably subverted in this part of the world.
 

matei

One Too Many
Messages
1,022
Location
England
It isn't really a look that works nowadays. Certain styles don't survive the test of time, except in niche groups.

I think that the Germany's WWII-era leader/Chaplin moustache has been consigned, together with Norman-style haircuts, skull binding etc, to the dustbin of history.

Maybe I'm wrong... perhaps it'll make a comeback.

An aside... I worked with (thankfully not for) a manager who not only had the Germany's WWII-era leaderesque 'tache, but also a floppy fringe like the Fuhrer.

He had a bigoted, close-minded racist attitude to match his unfortunate choice of facial hair and hairstyle, however I think that it was a mere coincidence.

I don't think he went out of his way to emulate Germany's WWII-era leader, at least I hope not.
 

Creeping Past

One Too Many
Messages
1,564
Location
England
Edward said:
no Westerner these days will look at that and think 'oh, Hindu symbol of peace and harmony...'

Speak for yourself, mate! Also heard regularly is, 'a widely used symbol, of undetermined meaning, from pre-antiquity'.

;)
 

Dav

One Too Many
Messages
1,707
Location
Somerset, England
Qirrel said:
Have anyone ever seen a man with such a mustache after WWII?
Yes I had a school teacher who sported one plus an 80 year old chap(it was his birthday on thursday) who lives on a local farm both would have been alive during WW2 so I'm not sure why they choose to wear it, but hey each to their own.
 

Unlucky Berman

One of the Regulars
Messages
179
Location
Germany
Qirrel said:
Have anyone ever seen a man with such a mustache after WWII?

Yes, three times and all of them are members of the german NPD, a neo-Germany's WWII-era leadership party known to be extremly reactonary and a hoard for dumb and brutish "orc-like beings". :(

So wearing this means for everyone else you sympathize with them and that's why no one dares to do so except those Germany's WWII-era leaderships.
 

Feraud

Bartender
Messages
17,074
Location
Hardlucksville, NY
The return is imminent..
Michael-Jordan.jpg


http://www.bittenandbound.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Jordan-sports-a-Germany's WWII-era leader-mustache.jpg
 

Forum statistics

Threads
114,560
Messages
3,177,238
Members
58,397
Latest member
morsemad
Top