Gieves & Hawkes are proud to support Movember – prostate cancer awareness month, in which gentlemen are encouraged to cultivate a fine moustache all November long. In homage to this special cause, we are delighted to bring you a brief history of moustaches though the ages.

Moustaches have been sported throughout the ages in a myriad of different styles. Early records show Egyptians did not grow facial hair, considering it unclean, while in Greece they grew beards but not moustaches. Elaborately curled and anointed with costly essences, the beard denoted gravitas and rank.

Under the kingship of Alexander the Great, the hirsute Macedonians went to war with the Persians. During these skirmishes, the Macedonians were grabbed by their beards and many killed. Alexander decreed that henceforth they should all be clean-shaven to avoid disaster in this way.

The Romans perfected the art of men’s grooming and the barbershop became one of the places to meet, exchange gossip and be pampered in the process. These early spas provided hair-cutting, shaving, manicure and massage services to keep the man about Rome looking fabulous.

Then came the Roman emperor Hadrian, who allegedly grew facial hair to conceal imperfections. This started a fashion and suddenly all the Roman nobility followed suit.

As men start to grow facial hair after the onset of puberty, throughout the ages it has been regarded as a sign of virility and manhood. In the British army young men were encouraged to foster the growth of facial hair, culminating in the luxuriant moustaches seen in engravings and sepia pictures of dashing majors and crusty brigadiers. One of the most famous examples being the conscription posters around the time of the First World War, with Lord Kitchener exhorting that “your country needs you”.

Moustaches in some areas of military life were obligatory. The European Hussars traditionally wore long moustaches but not beards. These gentlemen were the apogee of the swash-buckling male — a dashing, conceited amorous figure of whom it was said that men fled from and woman ran towards.

Another type of adventurer so beloved of fairy stories and now popularised on film, is the pirate. Where would Captain Hook in Peter Pan be without that all-important slash of hair on his upper lip? The ultimate baddie, he was perhaps modelled after the author of Peter Pan himself, JM Barrie (above). Styled on the buccaneers of the high seas in the time of Charles II, the look was probably based upon the fashion of the court and the social mores and morals of the time — those of exuberance and adventure. It is no coincidence then that Johnny Depp sports a similar look in the film Pirates of the Caribbean.

Many famous names have sported moustaches in the past, particularly the heartthrobs of cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. One notable example is Clark Gable for his role in Gone with the Wind. As Rhett Butler, the swashbuckling chancer, Gable was tailor-made for the part. He epitomised the smooth, tough but sexy character playing opposite Vivien Leigh’s Scarlet O’ Hara, the antithesis of Leslie Howard’s wet and feeble Ashley Wilkes. The secret weapon, of course, was the moustache – Butler had one and Wilkes did not!

Another towering figure of Hollywood’s alpha males was Errol Flynn (above). Where would he have been without that all-important growth on his upper lip as Robin Hood or Zorro?

And later still we have the comic genius of both Terry Thomas, usually playing some frightfully upper-crust major in the British Army, wearing an outsized handlebar moustache and drawling instructions to a bemused brigade of squaddies, and Leslie Phillips (below) as the gent who was most likely to get it on with the nurse in Doctor in Love.

All these characters, both off and on screen, enforced the notion that having a moustache gave you greater power both over subordinates and members of the opposite sex.

Many notable sportsmen have also taken to adopting the moustache. Most of the early photographs we have of cricketers bear witness to the fact that they generally had facial hair. This, of course, was the fashion at that time but it also denoted an air of being a jolly good chap, one of the boys, as well as bestowing that all-important but discreet label of virility.

The world of motor racing has Graham Hill (below), epitomising the dashing and brave sportsman with his pencil moustache.

Champion swimmer Mark Spitz sported a handsome Tom Selleck-style one at the 1972 Olympics. He had it to prove to a coach from college that he could grow a moustache but decided to keep it after all the attention it got. After he won seven gold medals, the Russian team coach asked why the moustache hadn’t slowed him down in the water. Spitz joked that it had actually contributed to his success. The next year, the entire Russian swimming team had grown them.

David Beckham famously changes his style regularly but usually sports a moustache. Both he and Brad Pitt would look so much younger without one, which is one of the many reasons why men allow them to grow.

These are just a few examples of figures from history to the present day who have proudly worn a moustache.

Here at Gieves & Hawkes, we say “huzzah” to the wonderful ‘tache!