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Return of the mustache

BY DAVID ABRAMOWICZ | amNY STAFF WRITER

February 17, 2006

A revolution is afoot, and the soldiers on the front lines may not realize how serious the fight has become: Mustaches are taking over New York City.

The rebels themselves don't know how it started.

"It just happened," said the mustachioed NYU sophomore Armen Danilian, 19, as if a mustache fluttered down from the sky and landed on his upper lip. "I'm on that lazy-man note, you know?"

That note is becoming a five-act opera. Mustaches that sprouted last year out of laziness, or as jokes, or on dares, are clinging to skin and refusing to let go. Two years ago, mustaches on young men drew stares. These days, few men ride the L train without one.

While the mustache-wearing demographic is evolving, the mustache's reputation is not. Many mustache-wearers admit the look evokes 1970s porn stars, cheesy action heroes and sketchy uncles. Some even say they adopted the style as a sort of gag. But as mustaches become widespread, they also become less outrageous. Irony is giving way to sincerity, raising the possibility that mustaches are here to stay.

Jay Della Valle, a 26-year-old filmmaker from New Jersey, said the novelty of his handlebar mustache is not wearing off. "Every single night, I have at least five people say something," Della Valle said.

"It runs the gamut from 'That's disgusting' to 'What are you wearing?' to 'Is that a joke?'"

For Della Valle, the mustache serves as a wearable billboard for his latest project, "The Glorius Mustache Challenge," a 60-minute documentary that explores what happens when 35 men, all younger than 30, wear mustaches for a month. (The title is not a misspelling, Della Valle explained, but a reference to his alter-ego, Glorius Mustache.)

Della Valle hopes the trend lasts long enough to carry him to Hollywood success. Others can't see it end soon enough.

Kyan Douglas, the grooming guru on Bravo's "Queer Eye," wants to understand mustaches. Sometimes he even tries one on, shaving his beard but leaving a mustache, just to test how it looks and feels.

Every time, his boyfriend orders him to remove it.

"I don't want to begrudge anybody their self-expression," Douglas said. "But I don't think it looks right on most guys."

The trend troubles the few who can pull off the look. Steven Derwoed, 34, of Park Slope, has worn a mustache for years. It rests neatly under his nose, a soft, wavy patch of light hair that blends seamlessly into his features, like a racing stripe on a sports car.

Those new to the mustache scene sometimes cite Magnum P.I. as inspiration.

Derwoed cites the 19th-century French painter Alfred de Dreux's portraits of Duke D'Orleans. "I guess I kind of hate to get lumped into people jumping onto a fad when it's something I've liked a long time," Derwoed said.

He may need to get used to the company. What began as a fling between men and mustaches is turning into a long-term romance.

"The only reason I would ever shave it," Della Valle said, "is so I could grow it back."

(dabramowicz@am-ny.com)