Abraham Lincoln, Karl Marx — these men in history with beards would not be out of place on the streets of Williamsburg in Brooklyn today, thanks to their dapper facial hair. The past few years have been the era of the superbeard, with formerly clean-faced financiers rocking full beards, buttoned-up execs splurging on fancy beard-care products and, of course, the bearded, plaid-shirted lumbersexuals who know just what a hot commodity they are. I'm not sure what it is about beards, but they just work — and now is their time to shine.
Though Claude Debussy might not have been an obvious heartthrob if you studied him in middle school — I mean, let's just say no one was tacking posters of him to their walls alongside JTT and a young Leo — somewhere along the way, the beard has come back from 1862 with a vengeance, and for now it seems it is here to stay. Though beards go in and out of fashion, men of now and yesteryear who have the guts (and the cheekbones) to make it work are always OK in my book.
Whether a closely cropped Freud or a full-blown Blackbeard, here are 15 men who might've done well on, say, Tinder in 2015. Swipe right?
1. Ernest Hemingway
His grizzled devil-may-care look would not be out of place at a locally-roasted coffee joint today with an espresso and a MacBook Air.
2. Abraham Lincoln
Arguably world's most famous beard, Lincoln's scruff could do him a few extra favors these days.
3. Friedrich Nietzsche
This mustache could out-beard most beards on the block any day of the week.
4. Sigmund Freud
A little somber for my tastes, but well-groomed — and we know the man could talk about sex.
5. Mark Twain
Again, just a mustache, but ladies and gents, Samuel Langhorne Clemens: a real ladykiller.
6. Blackbeard
Not a great guy, but we can't fault him for his beard.
7. William Shakespeare
"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man. He that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him." Mic down, Shakespeare. Straight from the source.
8. Frederick Douglas
An incredible man with an incredible beard.
9. Otto the Great
Can't argue with royalty.
10. James "Grizzly" Adams
Pictured here with his bear, Ben Franklin.
11. Claude Debussy
He wrote the Préludes and he had this beard. No more needs to be said.
12. Karl Marx
Here's one put-together gent. Beards for all?
13. Che Guevara
A revolutionary. Beard.
14. Carolus-Duran
This handsome French artist had a beard and painted beards.
15. Salvador Dali
Another mustache, but shout-out to this king of surrealism — and his facial hair.
Images: Getty Images (7); Library of Congress (5); bootbearwdc/Flickr; brostad/Flickr; wikimediacommons/Flickr
