Salvador Dalí’s mustache style is a common category in mustache contests.
The Dalí mustache is a type of facial hair worn on the upper lip, inspired by the famous artist Salvador Dalí’s mustache. In his later years, Dalí’s outrageous personality became as well known as his artwork, and that included an unusual style of dress and his mustache. He normally wore a fairly thin, waxed mustache, styled so that each of the outer ends pointed up on either side of his nose. A Dalí mustache is usually styled this way, though since he also used the mustache in other outrageous ways, it can refer to other styles as well.
Salvador Dalí, after whom Dalí’s mustache is named, was a 20th-century Spanish artist whose work in surrealism has influenced numerous artists and other creative people ever since. His work was considered powerfully symbolic and influenced by dreamlike imagery, often depicting scenes and objects that lacked permanence and seemed to melt and dissolve. Dalí was especially influential to the surrealists and Dadaists who create works that are often intended to reflect the alien nature of reality. Surrealism is often used to demonstrate the ridiculousness of the world, and thus objects are often depicted in ways that betray their common meaning or purpose.
Dalí’s mustache often reflects this concept, as the mustache itself is often styled in a way that is supposed to look strange or absurd. Dalí himself wore a mustache for much of his career and often styled it quite impressively. Perhaps the most famous example of a Dalí mustache is a basic style in which the mustache is kept fairly thin, although it has grown long. Wax is used to shape the mustache, usually dramatically, creating a point on each side of the nose, or more subtly, to create a crescent shape with the mustache.
Many artists and creative individuals influenced by Dalí and surrealism use Dalí’s mustache as a symbol of Dalí’s work and strangeness. An artist can create a work intended to reflect the absurd nature of art and expression by recreating a classic work of art such as the Mona Lisa and painting a Dalí mustache on the portrait. This not only makes the image ridiculous, but also immediately draws the viewer’s attention to Dali’s work. The Dalí mustache is among the most famous mustaches in popular culture and has been used by celebrities, artists and even in the paint design of a Delta® aircraft.