In the September 1968 issue of Playboy magazine, there is this wonderfully strange fashion spread featuring instant mustaches, sideburns and beards. The idea of putting on a pair of fake sideburns to go to a party or on a date seems so laughably odd today, that I simply had to share.
“Presenting the hairiest of all put-ons: Clean-shaven urbanites are sporting false facial foliage that can be whisked on for a party and, if necessary, whisked off for working hours. The artful smoothie in this feature turns on a bevy of brush-loving birds by instantly sprouting the type of face fuzz that pleasantly tickles each of their fancies. Here he keeps a stiff upper lip, despite the nearness of two comely distractionists who dig his Zapata (left) and Britannia mustaches, $25 each.”
“Right on time for a pressing engagement, the young man has the situation well in hand; he’s hirsutably adorned in traditional boot sideburns, about $60.”
“Before an elegant dinner a deux, he caters to his date’s whimsy for whiskers by serving up a stylish side order of muttonchop sideburns, about $100.”
“The gentleman cultivates an even more sophisticated image – a look that this blonde definitely prefers – by favoring a Freudulent Vandyke, about $80.”
“As a swashbuckler, our man comes on strong in a mariner’s beard, about $100. All stick-on shrubbery available by mail and from Hollywood Joe’s, N.Y.C.”
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