Clothing:Body::Mustache:Face ?

Stache, tache, tash, mo, muzzy, nose neighbor... all common abbreviations for the facial hair that rests so snugly against the upper lip: The Mustache. The Mustache must not be confused with The Beard. Indeed, a beard takes over an entire face whereas the mustache lies on the face like a comfortable afterthought - kind of like it was forgotten during the shaving process but the gentleman thought "Hey, I kind of like you. Stay awhile!"

Throughout history, many significant figures have sported mustaches: Edgar Allan Poe, Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Einstein, the Mario Brothers... Today, though, mustaches seem to be much less common than they were in the past. The American Mustache Institute argues that when the "Me Decade" ended, so did America's respect for the mustache. AMI points out that in the 1970s, a mustache was seen as a luscious, respectable addition to one's face whereas today, the mustache is seen as an ironic, trendy novelty. And a discriminated one at that. A recent poll showed that half of American women would refuse to kiss a mustached man. In 2006 the US Supreme Court ruled that it was permissible for a trial lawyer to throw someone off a jury using the pretext that they have a moustache. Now, consider this excerpt from The Mustache by Guy de Maupassant written in 1883:

[... ] a man without a mustache is no longer a man. I do not care much for a beard; it almost always makes a man look untidy. But a mustache, oh, a mustache is indispensable to a manly face. No, you would never believe how these little hair bristles on the upper lip are a relief to the eye and good in other ways.

Got it. The mustache was an important attribute to a true man's face. Read on...

Imagine placing to your lips a piece of dry--or moist--parchment. That is the kiss of the man without a mustache. It is not worth while. [...] There is no love without a mustache!

What happened here?! Where did this love for the mustache go? According to "research" performed by AMI, mustaches were most widely accepted between 1969 and 1982. Is it possible that American men, in an attempt to cleanse themselves of the sequined rollercoaster ride that was the 1970s, shaved their mustaches as wishful thinking for the coming decade?

My father wore a mustache until 1985. I did not know him when he was sporting what I have come to learn is named the "Fu Manchu." I conducted a short interview with my dad via e-mail to find out a little more about the mustache that I have only known through family photos that were taken before I joined the family, of course. In my photographic research, I have come to the conclusion that my dad shaved a few months before I was born. There he is, in October of 1985, standing beside my mother with her ballooning belly, mustache revealing a hint of teeth. But then there he is, in late February of 1985, sitting behind the gargantuan lobster the hospital provided him for his celebratory "My Daughter Was Born Today" dinner, sporting a smile that is comparatively blinding, no facial hair shielding his grin at all. According to my dad, he shaved because "It was just time for a change." Could his sentiments reflect those of other American men in the early to mid-1980s who had been growing mustaches since their late teen years? And of the American populace in general during the mid-80s?