Zohran Mamdani has the most famous mustache in politics — for now

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani knows the power of maintaining a signature look in politics. When he began his campaign for the city’s top job, he swapped the South Asian collarless tunics, or kurtas, he’d gravitated to in his earlier career in favor of slender-cut suits that helped to balance his platform of democratic socialism with an air of the establishment. Those suits, and his trimmed beard, have remained key features of his style — so much so that it was not uncommon to see many men adopting the look as Halloween costumes this year. (Often with a New York Knicks jersey , to boot.)

So it was something of a shock to see the mayor emerge over the weekend trying something new: a Mamdani mustache.

While handing out water to runners at the New York City Marathon on Sunday , the mayor debuted his new facial hair, shaving his beard off to leave a standalone row of thick black hair above his upper lip. (Evidently, the look was so novel many runners raced past without recognizing him.)

The mayor’s new look made instant headlines. New York magazine’s The Cut dubbed him “Mayor Mustache,” while the New York Post compared “the socialist’s shaving shake-up” to a “random redistribution of facial hair.” Others online debated whether Mamdani was more of a “beard guy.”

Dave Sanders/Pool/Reuters

Thanks to celebrities like Pedro Pascal and Benson Boone, mustaches have enjoyed something of a cultural renaissance in recent years, but it’s still a relatively rare look in politics. While certain foreign leaders have embraced the style (think ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro or Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan), American male politicians tend to favor either a clean-shaven look or beard. For years, the most famous mustachioed figure in DC was John Bolton , whose rounded facial hair leaned more walrus than Wario .

So was the mayor simply hopping on the mustache movement? Or was he trying to make a silent appeal to New York’s Italian or gay communities, where mustaches have long carried cultural cachet?

The answer, it turns out, lies in men’s health.

In a video posted to social media on Monday evening, the mayor revealed his mustache was in honor of Movember , the annual event in support of men’s health issues, such as prostate or testicular cancer. (Purists will say the mayor should have shaved all his facial hair off and grown a new one in from scratch, but we don’t begrudge Mamdani for wanting to avoid the awkward early days of wispy hair. Just ask Timothée Chalamet! )

Twirling the ends of his new stache, the mayor said he wasn’t just paying “lip service” to the issues, highlighting a $4-million investment in a new prostate cancer center at a Brooklyn hospital.

In addition to raising both funds and awareness, the Movember campaign, which began in Australia in 2003, also allows men like Mamdani to experiment with a mustache for a month before deciding whether to ditch it when December rolls around. So it remains to be seen whether Mamdani’s mo will stick around.

Although one thing seems likely: he’s unlikely to grow it into a longer handlebar mustache. “What do you think?” he asked Council Member Rita C. Joseph, who appeared with him in the video. “Handlebar next?”

“No, you’re going too far,” she replied.

纽约市市长佐兰·马姆达尼深谙在政坛保持个人风格的重要性。在他竞选市长之初，他放弃了早年偏爱的南亚无领长袍（库尔塔），转而选择修身西装，以平衡其民主社会主义纲领与体制内人士的形象。这些西装和修剪整齐的胡须一直是他标志性的风格——以至于今年万圣节，不少男士都以这种装扮作为万圣节装扮。（而且通常还会搭配一件纽约尼克斯队的球衣。）

因此，周末看到市长尝试新造型——留起了马姆达尼式胡子——着实令人震惊。

周日，在纽约马拉松赛上给跑者们分发饮用水时，市长首次以全新的胡须造型亮相——他剃掉了胡子，只留下上唇上方一排浓密的黑发。（显然，这个造型太过新颖，以至于许多跑者从他身边飞奔而过时都没认出他。）

市长的新造型瞬间成为各大媒体的头条新闻。《纽约》杂志旗下的时尚网站The Cut戏称他为“胡子市长”，而《纽约邮报》则将这位“社会主义者的剃须大改造”比作“胡须的随机重新分布”。网上还有人争论马姆达尼是不是更适合留胡子。

戴夫·桑德斯/Pool/路透社

近年来，得益于佩德罗·帕斯卡和本森·布恩等名人的带动，胡须在文化上经历了一次复兴，但在政界仍然相对少见。虽然一些外国领导人也留着胡须（例如被罢黜的委内瑞拉领导人尼古拉斯·马杜罗和土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安），但美国男性政治家往往更倾向于刮干净胡须或蓄须。多年来，华盛顿特区最著名的留胡须人物是约翰·博尔顿，他那圆润的胡须与其说像瓦里奥·沃利，不如说更像海象。

那么，市长只是在赶时髦，追随胡须潮流吗？还是他想借此向纽约的意大利裔或同性恋群体发出某种隐晦的呼吁？在这些群体中，胡须长期以来都具有文化象征意义。

答案其实就在于男性的健康。

周一晚间，市长在社交媒体上发布了一段视频，透露他留胡子是为了响应“Movember”活动。这项年度活动旨在支持男性健康，例如前列腺癌或睾丸癌。（一些保守人士会说，市长应该把胡子全部剃掉，重新留一把，但我们并不责怪马姆达尼市长想要避免胡子稀疏的尴尬时期。问问蒂莫西·柴勒梅德就知道了！）

市长捻着他新留的小胡子，表示他并非只是对这些问题“说说而已”，并重点提到了在布鲁克林一家医院新建的前列腺癌中心，投资额达 400 万美元。

除了筹集资金和提高公众意识外，始于2003年澳大利亚的“胡须十一月”（Movember）活动还允许像马姆达尼这样的男士在一个月内尝试留胡子，然后再决定是否在12月到来时剃掉。因此，马姆达尼的胡子是否会一直留下去，还有待观察。

不过有一件事似乎很有可能：他不太可能把胡子留成更长的八字胡。“你觉得呢？”他问和他一起出现在视频中的市议员丽塔·C·约瑟夫，“接下来会留八字胡吗？”

“不，你做得太过分了，”她回答道。