Bearded Male Models from the SS12 Menswear Collections of Yohji Yamamoto, Junya Watanabe, Umit Benan, Ann Demeulemeester and Piombo.

Often the menswear collections of the past few years have been modelled by svelte young boys who are so fresh faced that it looks as though they may not have even started shaving yet. In the more recent Menswear collections for Spring-Summer 2012 it seemed as though many different facial hair variations were presented – everything from unkempt stubble to neatly trimmed moustaches and full grown beards.

The interesting thing about this choice of casting and styling, is that it lends the clothes a more worn in quality. There is something about the fact that the models hair has been left looking more individual that gives the models more ownership over the clothes. Whereas the freshly shaven young boys look as though they have been carefully groomed, before putting them into pristine clothing samples – the models with facial growth look as though they just walked in off the street, out of their everyday lives and onto the catwalk.

Catwalk images from Vogue.co.uk and Style.com.