Just when you thought peak beard had finally, thankfully peaked, beards find their way to the pages of the New Yorker, which hailed former TV show host David Letterman’s decision to mark his retirement from the Late Show by growing an “achievement beard”. The magazine defines it as “a marker of triumphant lassitude, the victory lap after a long job well done”. This also suggests that there are other people in possession of facial hair aside from the much-maligned hipster. Who knew? Here are six more to look out for.
Chris Evans: the P46 beard
New job, new immaculately kept beard. (Not to be confused with Jeremy Clarkson’s P45 beard.)
Jeremy Corbyn: the newstalgia beard
It’s old! But to those of us ignorant of Labour backbench MPs until 2015, new!
Ed Miliband: the awol beard
You lose out, in humiliating fashion, so you go to Ibiza and return with a newfound sense of youth and something edgy on your face and then someone wants a selfie …
Simon Cowell: the rebrand beard
Because you’ve been wearing the same dad jeans and deep Vs for the past 16 years and are in desperate need of an upgrade.
Chris Robshaw: the loser beard
You might be largely responsible for your team’s early exit from the Rugby World Cup but hell, you still look great.
Prince Harry: the genetically defying beard
Your balding brother might become the king, but who’s the real winner here?
• This article was amended on 23 October 2015. A reference to “the king of England” was changed to “the king”.
