The Mustache Cup

  

 The Mustache Cup

In fashion, styles change as rapidly as the seasons of the year.  Many times, we tend to forget that fashion is influenced by a nation’s political and religious environment. For instance, historically, short skirts and small hats are indicative of a nation's economic prosperity while long skirts worn with large brimmed hats normally indicate a lack of prosperity or point to a nation that is in a state of financial depression.

If we look at the cut of men’s clothing during the "Regency era" which sometimes refers to a more extended period of time or the period between 1795-1837,   it is somewhat easier to state that the Empire style began as part of Neoclassical fashion reviving styles of the Greco-Roman art which showed women wearing loose fitting rectangular tunics.  English women's styles often referred to as "regency" followed the same general trend.

As 1850 approached, many men who considered themselves fashion leaders of the day, adorned themselves with large, flowing mustaches to compliment the curves in their cutaway coats.

The unveiling of the Mustache Cup designed by Harvey Adams in Britain ca. 1850 was received with great enthusiasm as the “moustache guard” which was a moustache-shaped ledge that extended across the cup, with an opening in the middle allowed a gentleman to sip his drink and still keep his mustachioed upper lip dry and free from the melted wax with which he had groomed his mustache. 

Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective as played by David Suschet is but one such example of the many men, world-wide, who dyed and waxed their mustaches to keep them curled and looking fabulous.