The rise of the metrosexual male in the early 2000s embraced a highly-tailored and sculpted look among men. But a more rustic presentation is taking over as a trend pioneered by the burly, flannel-wearing, bearded man continues to gain popularity: lumbersexuality.
On Tuesday, railroad worker Jason Lance and HuffPost Live video editor Connor Magill discussed the marriage of a hipster and lumberjack with HuffPost Live's Nancy Redd.
"To me, this is not a fad, to me it's masculinity is coming back," Lance said as he described how beards were once a symbol of dignity.
Marcie Bianco, an editorial fellow at news site Mic, agreed. "Shakespeare used to write in his plays, if boys had their whiskers coming in that meant they were becoming men and and they could no longer play women on the stage," Bianco said.
Lance said the late '90s encouraged a more refined and sculpted look for men, thanks in part to boy bands, and when "all of a sudden the fad turned into clean-shave six-pack, you know, the working man just kind of went out the door."
"I just think it's cycling itself back around," Lance said, later adding, "The masculinity has been there the whole time. It's just the fad of the clean-cut man and the so-called 'Wolf of Wall Street' [that's] dying, and America is actually coming back to the working class."
Watch the full conversation with men embracing their "lumbersexuality" here.
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