“Bearded Guy” in Fashion

If your face lacks two percent of what is perfect, you should grow a beard.

A beard has been considered either unclean or rude, but recently, it is emerging as one of the symbols of attractive males. Eric, in the MBC drama “Albatross,” and Kim Min-jun, in SBS’s “Into the Storm,” had beards. Lee Dong-gun, who will appear in SBS weekend drama “Lovers in Paris” starting on June 8, has it as well.

Fashion and IT commercials, which emphasize on the charismatic sense of youth and sophistication, are following the trend also. Lee Jung-jae, in a commercial for Mind Bridge, a clothing brand, and Chung Woo-sung for LG-IBM’s laptop “X-Note” are the missionaries of the beard. Lee Dong-gun, in a commercial for Orion’s “Squid & Peanuts,” introduces the concept that you can look “cute” with a beard.

Kim Min-jun, in “Into the Storm,” takes care of his beard everyday so that his goatee does not merge with his mustache to play Kim Hyun-tae, a man with great ambition in the drama. “I grew a beard to fit his image. But I am worried that a strong image with the beard might limit my career as an actor.”

Eric grew a beard to play Suh Jung-min, who is seven years older than his real age, 25, in the drama. He commented on his beard, saying, “It is kind of a pain to take care of it everyday, but I find myself quite looking good with a beard.”

The beard fashion has moved to online communities as well. Online beard-loving group, “Digi-tuhl” (http://digi-tal.cyworld.com) - tuhl meaning hair in Korean – says, “People shouldn’t think that only good looking actors can go well with beards,” leading the movement of the popularization of beard. The members critique on others’ beards and share information on beard-growing. The peculiar thing about this community is that half of the members are female even though there is a strict rule of joining the community.

Beards in recent fashion are not scrubby sideburns but instead are shortly trimmed goatees and mustaches. There are no specific names, and the digi-tuhl members label by numbers according to the parts of the face where the beard is grown.

It is said that the biggest influence on the beard fashion recently is Kim Min-jun in MBC historical drama “Damo,” in which he played Chang Sung-baek. He grew a beard to emphasize the nature of Chang as a soldier of fortune who dreams of a revolution and earned good feedback from the viewers. Also, David Beckham, the English soccer player, and Brad Pitt, an American actor, are also adding influences on this trend.

Then, how is the young generation accepting the beard?

The young reads the beard as a code for freedom and sophistication. It is because freelancers, professionals, and artists tend more often to grow beards. In particular, it is seen as a method of being a “sophisticated rebel” to the older generation as well as an expression of their personality.

Ryu Hyo-il of LG Ad said, “The commercial for X-Note was targeting younger generations saying that ‘this is a cool stuff.’ We might have asked Chung Woo-sung to shave his beard if it was ‘Thinkpad, business people’s notebook’.”

Some analyze that it is a counter reaction to preferring “Cutie Guys.” Yoo Sung-eun, director at Leann DDB which made the Squid & Peanuts commercial, said, “I think men grow beard to add tough-guy elements rather than being seen as a cutie guy.” Kim Go-eun, a 25-year-old female graduate student at Seogang University, says, “With males becoming more and more feminine these days, it seems like the beard is considered as the last badge of masculinity.”

The book, “Hair: the Cultural History of Body Hair with the Focus on Beard and Head Hair,” written by Daniella Meier and Klaus Meier, tells of the image of the beard as power, sexual desire, and sexiness. Roman Catholic churches in the Middle Age banned beards for the priests as a symbol of chastity, and leftist intelligentsia in the 20th century grew beards as a symbol of resistance.

What about kissing a man with a short beard? “It is hard to get used to it because the lips get all red, and it burns and hurts,” commented a woman. “But also, I like the smell of lotion from his beard like one can smell shampoo in someone else’s hair.”

Katherine Cho kathycho@donga.com