Any survey of the National Portrait Gallery's collection reveals numerous variations in facial hair fashions. From the be-wigged and clean-shaven gents of the eighteenth century to the 70s blokes brandishing handlebar mos, portraits and the individuals depicted in them show also that such styles are more than mere whim; and that men's choices to sport facial hair have usually been closely connected to shifts in ideas about politics, society, identity or masculinity.
Changes in facial fashions from the 1780s to the present day.
Magnificent moustaches, bold beards and masterful muttonchops, it's all here in the Style Guide.
Find out about the curator of the exhibition.
Joanna Gilmour (curator)
Joanna Gilmour discovers that the beards of the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills were as epic as their expedition to traverse Australia from south to north.
Elegance in exile is an exhibition surveying the work of Richard Read senior, Thomas Bock, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and Charles Rodius: four artists who, though exiled to Australia as convicts, created many of the most significant and elegant portraits of the colonial period.
'I have just been to my dressing case to take a peep at you.
