About

Lumbersexual, a portmanteau of "lumberjack" and "metrosexual," is a neologism used to describe attractive and fashionable men who maintain a rugged appearance with nicely groomed beards.

Origin

On February 27th, 2008, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Adam Mateljan submitted an entry for "lumbersexual," defining it as a "metrosexual" with a "finely trimmed beard."

Precursor

On November 15th, 1994, The Independent^[8] published an article written by pop culture journalist Mark Simpson, who used the term “metrosexual” to describe men living in urban areas and demonstrate an interest in grooming, fashion and shopping. On July 22nd, 2002, Salon^[9] published another article by Simpson titled “Meet the Metrosexual,” which identified soccer player David Beckham as a prime example of the aesthetic. In June 2014, The Telegraph published an article by Simpson which described a new wave of body conscious men influenced by social media culture with “chiselled bodies, muscle enhancing tattoos, piercing, adorable beards and plunging necklines” labelled as “"spornosexuals"":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/spornosexual.

Spread

The term remained relatively obscure until October 30th, 2014, when the outdoor lifestyle blog GearJunkie^[4] published an article titled "The Rise of the 'Lumbersexual'", which highlighted several photos of models and celebrities as examples of the lumbersexual aesthetic. On November 6th, the pop culture blog The Bold Italic^[5] published an article titled "The Lumbersexual is Here to Chop Down Metrosexuals." On November 10th, the "Lumbersexual" Instagram^[2] feed was launched, which highlights photographs of attractive men with beards (shown below).

On November 13th, BuzzFeed^[3] posted an article titled "Introducing the Hot New Trend Among Men: 'Lumbersexual'." The same day, Huffington Post Live aired a discussion on the term led by host Josh Zepps (shown below).

On November 21st, MTV News^[6] posted an interactive quiz titled "How Lumbersexual Are You?" On November 25th, Paste Magazine^[7] reposted many of the images from the previous month's GearJunkie article.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References