Functional Fashion

There was an interesting fad for beards and moustaches during the 1850s in Great Britain. The story goes that men became concerned about all the pollution spewing from the mills and foundries, and felt that facial hair could help filter some of the particulates out of the air they breathed. The fad spread to other industrializing nations as fads often do, and as it spread the initial functional intent was lost. Did whiskers actually make the air healthier to breathe? Maybe a little but the interesting part was that the beard craze was a response to environmental changes.

As functionality gradually dissipated during the Gilded Age, the capitalist system figured out a way to profit from all those whiskers. It took a little imagination to cash in on a naturally grown fashion, but before long moustache wax, beard trimmers, do-dads, and whatchagidgets were available in stores and mail-order catalogues at competitive prices to keep up with Jones' ever changing facial hair.

So just in case you ever wondered why George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the rest of the Founders were clean-shaven in imitation of classical Greek and especially Roman statesmen while later Americans sprouted whiskers like Burnside here, there it is. Just pull out a few denominations of the dollar from your wallet and track the evolution from republican to capitalist, industrial America. I mention the whole affair not simply in recognition of the latest in periodic comebacks for elaborate beards and moustaches among young American men, but that the original intent was to overcome dirty air. It was easier to grow a beard than clean up the filthy factory system.

In the early 21st Century, with climate change skepticism at record highs, what do you think the fashionable response will be to rising temperatures and more chaotic weather? Since we seem determined as a nation to let the man-made disaster unfold at an ever-accelerating rate, because changing might impact lifestyles and profit margins, what will corporate America come up with? There will be one hell of a market for all sorts of gadgets to cope, among those who can afford it of course.