TRENDSETTER? Sagdiyev

Are mustaches the new beards? In today's New York Times Style section, we learn about the questionably new trend of ironic and semi-ironic upper lip hair. The Dickensian named writer, Nick Burns, elucidates our mustachioed moment with some examples from the culture: Borat Sagdiyev has a 'stache, so does the guy from My Name is Earl. Even some real—more or less—people have mustaches:

A few years ago, youngish cultural provocateurs like the fashion photographer Terry Richardson, Dov Charney, the owner of American Apparel clothing, and Morgan Spurlock, the filmmaker of "Super Size Me," began sporting mustaches in a statement of retro hip. But the style never quite reached the kind of critical mass needed for it to tip from underground cool to mainstream fashion, like the goatee.

Burns should know: He appears to be the Times' male facial hair correspondent. In January 2006, he wrote about the rise of five blade razors, and in June 2005 he asked, Are Men Ready for the 5-Step, 10-Minute Shave?

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