When I was a child, I thought my daddy looked like Elvis. Perhaps it was his dark brown hair and the way he combed it up in the front, or it might have been the way he moved his hips to “Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog” when it came on the radio. Men’s hairstyles have caused many to swoon across the generations.
When I think of the classic images of Paul Newman’s all-American hairstyle as Brick in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” it resonates with the chosen styles of movie idols and local heartthrobs today. It’s no wonder that Maggie was smitten and so busy trying to win Brick back. The smell of Vitalis, which was a men’s grooming pomade from my childhood plunders into my daddy’s medicine cabinet, still lingers in my recollections of the king of our house.
James Dean, Rock Hudson and many before and after these leading men knew that it was all about the grooming. I have seen many hairstyles come into fashion, some staying for a while and others leaving quickly.
The mullet was my least favorite as it defined a generation rebelling against the barber shops on Main Street. Don’t look up my senior portrait from 1989, or you will indeed see what appears to be business in the front, party in the back. What was I thinking? Then there was the fad of perming the back of the mullet, but mercifully it only lasted for a season or two.
Fonzie from “Happy Days” and Danny in “Grease” brought back the “bad boy” with the swagger of a cooler-than-cool pompadour. Before that the Beatles, or their stylists, gave birth to the “mop top” haircut.
Lately, young Hollywood has been going retro by channeling hairstyles we’ve seen before and still adore. These looks might have been called “fades” in my daddy’s day. Today you see closely worn and tapered edges with longer tops on such style icons as Zac Efron, Ryan Seacrest and Channing Tatum.
Brimming with elegance, these debonair and dashing vintage styles definitely make the cut. Take a look around, and you’ll probably see more than a few of them on stylish fellows who can’t help falling in love … with Elvis and a few glances right here on Main Street.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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