Moustaches are in – that's a given. However, the advent of top lip topiary shouldn't signal the end of the beard as we know it, and the frappelappuccino swilling hipsters that are 'so over' them (and, strangely enough, the same hipsters who reduced the beard into a mere Instagram opportunity in the first place) should listen up.
We refer you, good reader, to Jon Hamm.
The Mad Men star's new beard clinched that covetable notion of ruggedness, and did so without making him look like an extra from The Road.
That's because he followed the rules. The beard is thick enough to make a statement, but also remains kempt. All hair south of where the head meets the neck has been sheared too, resulting in a neat and tidy beard that's preened but not overly so. Nobody wants to look like the Armenian entry to Eurovision, after all.
And, best of all, Hamm finally - finally - seems to have enjoyed a release from the Don Draper curse. Hamm with a beard is nothing like his on-screen counterpart, and could well be a remedy to the typecasting that's plagued the 47-year-old for so long.
So for all those that think the phoenix is to rise from the 'taches, know that the beard still burns brighter than ever.
