By “Amish look” I’m referring to men growing beards without moustaches. Lincoln was far from the originator of it, he actually adapted it after Brigham Young and Horace Greeley and others did (they grew their beards around 1859), though Lincoln may be the reason most of hisCabinet members with facial hair adopted the look. I recognize that fashion can be arbitrary (green’s in this year, out next year, I remember when razor parts came in and went out, etc.), but is there any reason that this was considered stylish? A royal personage perhaps (Victoria would have gone through menopause around this time but I doubt that was the reason)? Or a popular Amish musical perhaps?
According to a tour guide I asked in Lancaster, the reason Amish men adapted this look was as a protest. When some of their men were forcibly conscripted into the Prussian military in the early 18th century the military style for Prussian officers was mustaches with clean shaven faces so the Amish wore exactly the opposite facial hair as a form of protest. Amish men only grow beards after marriage however. To my knowledge there’s no connection twixt the Amish and Victorian era fashions, but who knows.
I have heard it claimed that the fashion comes from the Crimean War.
According to folklore, supply shortages made soap and razors rather scarce. When the troops returned home, they all had beards. And they decided they liked the look, even when they returned to civilian life. Whether that is true, or just an after-the-fact rationalization, I have no idea.
In the 18th Century, most men were clean-shaven. Maybe the 19th Century men were just rebelling against their parents.
But razor shortages would have meant growing moustaches, too.
The explanation I’ve heard, from a Mennonite man, for the lack of moustache is that their wives express a preference for a smooth upper lip in the man they kiss. But of course, who knows if that’s the original reason.
I read a theory that the resurgence of facial hair in the 19th Century was a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. Men, particularly those of the aristocracy, felt emasculated by an age of machines and merchants, and big, shaggy mustaches and beards were a way of reconnecting with their supposed medieval warrior pasts. According to this theory - which may be utter bollocks - it’s no coincidence that significant facial hair was first spotted in Great Britain, where the industrial age began.
The no-mustache style was an American thing, though, and I have no idea where it came from.
If anyone ever develops an explanation for the soul patch, I’d be curious.
I’ve always assumed that the fashion for beards was inspired by the Civil War, not the Crimean. No idea about the Amish beard, tho…
Given Lincoln’s cabinet, it’s more likely that they would have unadopted the look because Lincoln had adopted it. Edwin Stanton, for one, had such a beard long before Lincoln grew his:
Smaller picture dated between 1852 and 1855.
(picture dated between 1852 and 1855)
Re: The Crimean War.
Rather than a moustacheless beard, a popular look among cavalry of that era was the massive moustache merged into massive sidewhiskers with a clean shaven chin. Modeled here by Lord Cardigan, probably some time after the war:
If somebody popularized that, it might have been Franz Josef I of Austria:
