Great news: Male cleavage officially back in fashion

Not our usual fare, but (a) it’s Friday, (b) the site has been too thin on lighter-side stuff lately, and (c) this is no minor fashion story. We’re talking about the return of chest pubes here. An epochal event and news you can use, direct from our RSS reader to your neckline just in time for office holiday parties.

The word of the day is “heavage”:

The latest resurrection of man cleavage does raise a not-so insignificant issue: to wax or not? For a number of years, any male chest hair was considered a fashion don’t, but very recently a thin thatch has become quite acceptable. The low-cut look “is better if you have a little chest hair,” says Tyler Thoreson, a New York-based men’s style consultant. “It’s not about showing off chest hair, it’s about it peeking out a little bit.”

Robert Caponi, a 32-year-old musician in Greensboro, N.C., isn’t taking any chances. In order to get the hair-to-skin ratio just right, he shaves his chest every two weeks or so — a regimen that helps him to feel comfortable in one of the six deep V-neck shirts he owns. Not all styles fit the bill. After purchasing a wide scoop neck recently, he declared it simply too revealing. “I looked in the mirror and I was disgusted,” he says.

Believe it or not, this topic generated a bunch of feedback on Twitter from women, with the Hammer herself weighing in to declare chest hair a good thing but V-neck t-shirts very much not. (A sentiment shared by others.) I await the verdict in the comments. Exit question: Can a new vogue for the Magnum ‘stache be long in coming?

Update: Says commenter SteveMG of our neo-Carter-esque era, “It really is starting to feel like the seventies.”

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