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We don’t tend to pay as much attention to men’s historical fashion around here — hey, we’re three gals who mostly wear and make dresses! But when we watch frock flicks, we do notice poorly recreated menswear and the inaccurate hair and facial hair that goes along with it. Whether a man shaved or wore a beard (and then what style of beard) changed over time, just like any other fashion. But historical costume movies and TV shows can get lazy and just use modern men’s facial hair styles. Sometimes they’re purposefully trying to modernize the characters (in a Leading Character Syndrome way). But I think it’s just lack of research a lot of the times — or looking at the research and thinking “ew that’s too weird!” eyeroll
There’s another trend I’ve noticed in frock flicks (and this is something of a theater trope too) — only the old male characters wear beards, while the young hero is clean-shaven. Likewise, the bad guy has a beard, all the better to stroke suggestively. Or twirl his mustache!
Kendra has explained what an eggbeard is, but I’m gonna go a little deeper into actual beard fashions through time. Because we provide a service with our snark :D
Historian Christopher Oldstone-Moore, in his book, Of Beards and Men: the Revealing History of Facial Hair, outlines four eras when beards were a big deal for western European men — they are “the second century, the High Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the latter half of the 19th century.” So if you set your movie or TV show during those times, the guys should have some significant facial hair. And if your frock flick is NOT in one of those times? Being clean-shaven was much more common, especially for elite men.
Let’s look at some representative historical costume movies and TV shows and judge the facial hair of their men! Because Snark Week is for being judgy!
Yeah, I’m skipping over the second century (a beard era noted by Oldstone-Moore) because there aren’t many frock flicks explicitly set then. But if you consider the High Middle Ages to be 1000 to 1300, we’ve got something to look at.
While the imagery isn’t super detailed, the Codex Manesse does show plenty of men with and without beards, like this king and his son.

Pretty typical beard on the king, not too long or short, and full around the chin.
The Last Duel is set in the 1380s, just a little later, but that’s no reason for this weird bleached goatee. C’mon!

Just as bad as putting modern beards on historical characters is giving beards to real historical guys who were depicted as clean-shaven. Like royalty!

Granted, that painting of King Louis XI of France isn’t as sexy as Andrew Scott on TV, but it would have been contemporary with this brief scene when Louis was with Margaret of Anjou in France in the 1460s.

The 15th century seems to be a “take it or leave it” era when it comes to men’s facial hair. Some upper-class men are portrayed in period images as clean-shaven, but not exclusively.
But I’ve yet to see this pointy, very sculpted goatee style! Sorry Robert Taylor.

Quentin Durward is also set in the 1460s at the French court, where plenty of fellas are sans beard.

A decade later in England, same deal. Shave or grow a beard, shit or get off the pot. What is this scruffy weird not quite a goatee thing on George, Duke of Clarence?

How about another documented historical figure? This is likely an image of Cesare Borgia from during his lifetime, and not only does he have a beard, I’ll bet good money he doesn’t have contractually obligated leather pants either.

You don’t get points for 5 o’clock shadow, boys!


OK, now to the 16th century, because the renaissance was peak beard! As Shakespeare said, “the beard maketh the man.” Most every man of every class wore a beard in this era, and there were many fashions for trimming beards. In particular, portraits of men from 1550 to 1650 show facial hair — that’d tend to be higher status men, but this would also be the styles everyone aspired to.
Kendra got hot and bothered about the Guise brothers‘ beards, and yes, I’m glad they have them, but let’s go further with it!

This is a period when beards could get wacky!

At least The Serpent Queen tried. Because we all know The Tudors DGAF. Here’s the king of France…

And here’s what Showtime thought of him. Let’s just focus on the lack of a full beard, since we’ve pointed out all the shitty, shitty parts of the costume before ;)

Not that The Tudors did the English king any better.

Weedy meth-addict chin scruff DOES NOT look like Henry VIII’s full beard by any stretch of the imagination.

Sure, we get it, not all historical men had what modern eyes consider an attractive beard. We’re looking at you, Thomas Seymour.

Because it’s hard to turn Seymour’s sexually predatory behavior towards a vulnerable 14-year-old girl into a “romance” if he actually looks like a bearded sleazebag who is 25 years older than that girl.
In the first movie, they made Seymour clean-shaven:

Then in the TV show, he did have a beard, but it’s a very 2020s “sexy” beard (but the storyline was still super gross).

Now to a more consensual relationship, whew! Robert Dudley was Queen Elizabeth I‘s favorite, and every portrait of him shows a typically 16th-century mustache and pointed beard.

But that’s somehow difficult for frock flicks to figure out! Sure, Joseph Fiennes is playing a younger Dudley, but that movie covers her coronation in 1559, not far off from this early portrait. He should have a beard.

This TV miniseries starts in 1579, but all Jeremy Irons can manage is some scruffy nonsense? C’mon!

This miniseries covers Elizabeth’s whole adult life, but Tom Hardy doesn’t get facial hair.

And I guess we shouldn’t expect much from Reign, when this guy shows up in the third season.

Queen Elizabeth’s later favorite Robert Devereux came to court when he was just 22, and this portrait was made when he was 31. Quite the long, shapely beard on this young lad!

But not onscreen! Errol Flynn has a tiny mustache and the barest hint of a goatee.

Hugh Dancy is particularly baby-faced!

Hans Matheson is a total mess.

Sam Reid actually has a good Elizabethan look! It’s just not as extravagant as the Earl of Essex could have been.

Like the 16th, the 17th century was quite fond of men’s facial hair, especially well-groomed fashions for upper-class gents. But as generally wonderful as the costumes were for Mary & George, the series leaned into the trope of only the old men (like King James) have beards, while the young favorite is clean-shaven. In spite of historical evidence to the contrary.

Every portrait of George Villiers has a beard, but Nicholas Galitzine didn’t get one.

George’s mentally unstable brother John got this weird bit of lip fluff though.

Everything changed radically in the 18th century, and beards almost entirely went out of fashion. Certainly upper-class European men stopped wearing beards. Much speculation has gone into why — maybe because new types of steel razors became available or because the barbers and surgeons split into separate companies. Perhaps it was related to the Age of Reason philosophy and the idea that the beard was seen as hiding the face, so an ‘open countenance’ meant having an open mind.
Whatever caused it, you see extremely few images of 18th-century men with beards unless they’re very old or of the lower classes or both, which historian Dr. Alun Withey points out in his blog and book, Concerning Beards: Facial Hair, Health, and Practice in England, 1650-1900.

Shaving and getting shaved was a common and popular activity for men during this period.

So there’s no excuse for totally modern beards (much the less hair) if it’s supposed to be 1720s Spain.

OK, fine, if you don’t think full-bottomed wigs make the world go round, at least shave that face!

No, modern long hair doesn’t suffice, especially not with a beard in this decidedly non-beard era.

Amazon’s short-lived Casanova story was maybe set in the 1750s, not that you could tell from the lead fella’s hair and beard.

Pity the costumes were lovely because the rest doesn’t look anything like Casanova:

Ooo boy. This one’s just set in a vaguely mid-18th-century time frame, but there’s no excuse for this guy’s beard.


It’s bad enough that the guy isn’t wearing a wig (crappy little faux rolls and tie in the back of his own hair don’t cut it), but he would absolutely not have a full beard. Nope, no way, not happening.

There’s Victor Frankenstein, who starts off beard-free in 1783.

But 6 years later, he’s going away to university and has a beard? Is this supposed to show “growth” like “now he’s a man”? Feh. That’s not how it was done.

You could make an argument for Victor’s hair being “artsy” like this painter’s looser, fluffy ‘do in the 1780s. But the artist is still clean-shaven!

I could almost give the mysterious Englishman a pass for arriving in 1790s India unshaven.

But then he takes off his Crocodile Dundee hat and puts on a nice cravat, but still with the beard!

Sorry, but no, it’s still a clean-faced time for guys.

And while the Bennets were not rich in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Bennet was landed gentry. He would own a razor.
MR. BENNET WOULD SHAVE.

All of Jane Austen’s men would be neatly shaved, like this:

Not like this:

Definitely not like this! Captain Wentworth is a naval officer, they have regulations!

And while sideburns could be fashionable, this Mr. Knightley could use a trim.

Compare with these fashionable fellows:

From the 1850s to the end of the 19th century was a new great beard movement, both in western Europe and the United States. All kinds of different mustaches, sideburns, and beards became fashionable among men of all class levels.

I think British TV productions tend to do a better job recreating the variety of mid- to late-19th-century beard styles, but they’re not perfect. Like only the older men having facial hair:

And the smarmy jerk having a mustache even when he’s young.

At least actual men from the 19th century seem to get more accurate portrayals with regard to facial hair, like:

Looking pretty darn close!

Do you notice men’s facial hair in frock flicks?
Oddly enough, what is generally believed to be the first portrait of an English king from life (Richard II https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/The_Westminster_Portrait_of_Richard_II_of_England_%281390s%29.jpg) does actually seem to have the wimpy, barely-there beard and ‘tache. Succeeding copies of the portrait give him more and more facial hair, as if trying to make him more manly.
Many plaudits for your correct invective against Mr Bennett’s half-arsed unshaven look in the (spit!) 2005 film. One of many reasons to despise that performance and, indeed, that film.
In all fairness, Mr Bennett is defined – in the book and film – with a strong element of “Oh well, if you must” indifference, so it’s hardly out of the question for him to go longer between shaves than is desirable (Especially if Mrs Bennett is too busy scheming ahead to give her Mister marching orders).
Also, I feel morally obligated to recommend ‘If you’ve only got a moustache’ from A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST – can’t recommend the film (which has it’s moments, but truly erred in making Mr Seth Meyers it’s leading man and not having his character shot dead) – but this is a catchy, catchy ditty and a fine reminder to COWARDS who refuse to wear decent facial hair for a Wild West picture.
‘Seth Macfarlane’ that should be – my indifference to the man apparently extends to his actual surname and not just 90% of his works.
“Indifference” in Austen’s time did not translate into “transgressing all social standards & complete propriety.” The look Mr. Bennet was given in the 2005 movie is that of a poor slovenly farmhand in the 1790s!
I think the reason that older “know” actors like John Rhys-Davies (aka Gimli in The Lord of the Rings) & Donald Sutherland are sporting “beards” when they should be clean shaven is: they probably have/had too much “power” in the Hair & Wig Department. They just didn’t wanted to shave (their well known features/”trademarks”). And the production team didn’t dare to disagree/argue with their Stars?
It’s like it was with famous female Movie stars, in “costume”/
historical movies, who always wore the wrong kind and amount of (“trademark”) make-up…and demanded their bosoms were on show – in pointy bras.✌🏻🤷🏼♀️
Sure, leading character syndrome – https://frockflicks.com/snark-week-leading-character-costume-syndrome/
But it’s so rampant with men’s facial hair that I think it’s a special case, more about lack of knowledge / interest in the changing fashions.
My son graduated with a degree in Film-making. He’ll need to see this for how NOT to make a historical drama!! :-P
Oops! I meant to post this on Beyond the Mask Part 1!!
Zulu (1964) is one of my favourite movies of all time. It’s not one that FF needs to bother with, being all military and such! But despite my love for it, handsome, clean-shaven Michael Caine and Stanley Barker (and most of the other actors, too) are missing the magnificent facial hair of the real men they portrayed.
I absolutely hated the stubble look on Theo James and whoever the Pillsbury doughboy second leading man on Sanditon was supposed to be. Makes me crazy to see that, because no gentleman would have been caught dead looking that way in public, as if he’d just rolled out of bed. I do want to point out that in Richard Lester’s exquisitely costumed version of The Three Musketeers, Simon Ward playing the Duke of Buckingham looked as if he was posing for one of George Villiers’ real life portraits. Beard, mustache, hair, costumes. They nailed it.
The men in that wonderful movie were HOT (I had a crush on Richard Chamberlain for years), and Simon Ward had Buckingham to a T, but I hadn’t considered how physically accurate he looked until you pointed it out!
I was thinking the same thing re. Simon Ward! Love those movies, and Ward was just gorgeous.
Everything* in that The Three Musketeers was gorgeous!
*except Raquel Welch, as we’ve mentioned before LOL
There’s some very nice facial hair in Miss Potter. Even Ewan McGregor as the love interest gets a big moustache, and her father has great Piccadilly weepers. I think the prize for my favourite ever muttonchops would go to Harry Goodsir in The Terror, played by Paul Ready.
I suppose the problem with getting facial hair Just Right is that one either has to grow the stuff (which is a fairly serious commitment most cinematic productions simply don’t allow the time for) or endure a significant amount of extra make-up work (with no guarantee that the outcome will be up to standard).
It’s also worth pointing out that the wrong facial hair can actually cost actors jobs, so it’s
perhaps unsurprising that quite a lot of them prefer to keep their options open rather than worry about getting the look Just Right.
All of which in no way justifies or excuses all those wretched fellows with five o’clock shadow trying to pretend it’s ’designer stubble’, who absolutely deserve to be condemned to a spell in the stocks.
No, not the dashing 18th century gentleman’s neckwear, the ones associated with being pelted by rotten fruit and having the contempt of the community also thrown at you.
It’s no harder than getting hair (on the head) right with decent wigs. I’d argue it’s easier than a full wig in that faux facial hair is smaller & quicker to apply than to style & apply a full wig, having done both (on myself, for the same costume even ;) ). Like anything with historical costume onscreen, it’s a matter of time / budget & the filmmaker’s “vision” of what historical accuracy means.
Just so long as we can all agree that ‘designer stubble’ is a red flag for the Sin of Sloth, rather than a valid fashion statement.
On a more serious note, given the number of duffer wigs in various period dramas (Quite a few of them lampooned on this very site) it’s easy to understand why actors don’t like their odds…
I blame Son of the Morning Star for my love for a facial hair. Specially William Cooke. Young (25-30 years old) man with such impressive beard made me appreciate good, accurate and for someone even wierd styles. I was so happy when full beard came in fashion again! I love them. I love mustaches, I love whiskers!