Style Scout: Behind the scenes of the World Beard and Moustache Championships

Members of the Pforezheim Beard Friends Club, of Pforzheim, Germany, turn out for the WBMC parade through downtown Anchorage on Saturday.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Colin Rowe, 23, who describes himself as “a paparazzi from Los Angeles,” and competitor in the Partial Beard, Musketeer category, channels Captain Morgan at the 2009 WBMC kickoff party Friday night.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Pasadena resident Ed Schander and Full Beard Natural competitor turned out at the WBMC parade in Anchorage wearing a frock coat and top hat and carrying a walking stick. He said he was trying to evoke the look of Southern California railroad magnate Henry Huntington. “You never win, you just have a lot of fun,” he said about his prospects in the following day’s competition.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Members of Beard Team Canada wore hockey jerseys (of course) emblazoned with their team name to the 2009 WBMC kickoff parade in downtown Anchorage.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Gary Plunkett, a member of Beard Team USA, traveled from Benin, West Africa, making him the sole competitor attending the 2009 event from the continent of Africa.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Stuart Eastman, left, and James de Brueys both made the trip from Louisiana. They didn’t know each other before the trip, which explains the faux pas of two purple Mardi Gras-style suits and parasols as their competition garb.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Based on the rules of the competition, Gilroy, Calif., resident and 2003 Imperial Moustache Champion Gary Hagen’s lower lip hair meant he had to compete in the Partial Beard, Freestyle category.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Twin brothers from Jacksonville, Sam, left, and Devon Holcombe, shown at the Friday parade, both made the podium at the 2009 WBMC the next day. Sam took third place in the English Moustache category, and Devon took second place in the Freestyle Moustache category.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Andy Lear from Walton on Thames, Great Britain, and member of the Handlebar Club, which hosted the 2007 event in Brighton, England, at a meeting of the World Beard and Moustache Assn. in Anchorage on Friday.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

A facial hair fan shows her support for the competitors on the streets of Anchorage during Friday’s parade.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Alexander Antebi, the 2007 world champion in the Imperial Moustache category and third place finisher this year, at Friday’s parade.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Toot Joslin, of Tahoe City, Calif., winner of the 2003 Partial Beard, Sideburns category at the 2003 Carson City, Nev., games, won top honors in this year’s more narrowly defined Partial Beard, Sideburns/Muttonchop division.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

The sole Spanish competitor, Xavier Lozano Carreras, with the Spanish flag during the parade of WBMC competitors.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Juergen Draheim, left, and Karl-Heinze Hille, both of Germany’s Berlin Beard Club. Draheim placed first in the Musketeer Moustache competition, and Hille won top honors in the Partial Beard, Imperial category at the 2009 event in Anchorage, taking second place in the Overall Competition.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Patrick Melcher, a member of Los Angeles’ Bristly Chaps, (sporting an Elmer Ave jacket) at the Friday night party. The next day, Melcher went on to place second in the Imperial Moustache category at the 2009 WBMC.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

One of four competitors from Colorado, Stuart Wilf – show at an Anchorage farmers market appearance – won top honors in the Partial Beard Freestyle category.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Bill Mitchell, one of the five fur-laden faces representing the state of Georgia, took third place in the Partial Beard Sideburns/Muttonchops category (fellow Georgian Kim Price took third in the Full Beard Garabaldi division).  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

California’s Toot Joslin holds the American flag as U.S. competitors take to the stage between the mustache and beard segments of the 2009 World Beard and Moustache Championships in Anchorage.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Don Martin takes an artistic turn with his outfit. The Californian was a competitor in the Full Beard, Natural category.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

German Bernd Popiak won in the Natural Full Beard with Styled Moustache category.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)

Kees Lek, left, member of the Eerste Nederlandse Snorrenclub and winner in the Natural Moustache category, one of the many competitors to hoist a celebratory pint or two at Anchorage dive bar Darwin’s Theory on Sunday night, as a member of the Texas delegation looks on.  (Adam Tschorn / For The Times)