Friday Facial Hair: It’s Date Night!

Smartly dressed couple seated on an 1886-model bicycle for two (77-RP-7347-4) ARC Identifier 533495

Earlier today, I was searching for images with “bicycles” to create a Facebook album after being inspired by the commuters of DC, who took to the streets on their bikes to celebrate DC Bike to Work Day.

I was thrilled to see this image, which is not only a fine example of a nineteenth-century velocipede, but is also a tandem bicycle for double the old-timey fun. And not only that, but this gentleman has a fine moustache and sideburns, qualifying him to be featured in Facial Hair Friday.

But the burning question is this: Are these two on a date?

After all, what better way to spend time out in public with your sweetheart in a way that met the high moral standing of the day?

If they are, I am impressed. They are both have corsages to pinned to their coats and have on stylish hats. The woman is wearing gloves and a fitted corset with many, many tiny buttons. The man’s facial hair is neat and tidy, unlike the flowing beards and neards that we often see. They are impeccably groomed, a fact noted in the original caption to this photo which refers to them as a “smartly dressed couple.”

And despite operating a four-wheeled bicycle together using their feet and their hands, neither of them seems sweaty or flustered. If it is a date, it’s going really well.

So trim your mustache, dust out off your tandem bicycle, pop on your jauntiest hat and take your sweetheart out for a spin this Friday night! Bonus points to any one who sends us a picture recreating this scene–did you notice they are posing in front of the White House?

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