Bradley Cooper’s hairy chest revival is mane attraction of A Star is Born

Nuala Woulfe says best - Burt Reynolds, and Aidan Turner in Poldark. the dramatic reappearance of furry-chested leading men, led by Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born, is worth celebrating.

I was out recently with a gaggle of mums to see the Big Weepy movie du jour, A Star is Born, where we were all warned, “don’t forget the Man-size tissues!” and as the film began in between whispers of, “would you like a malteser, doesn’t Lady Gaga look beautiful, and doesn’t Himself have a fine voice,” there was a collective gasp of, “wow, would you look at Bradley Cooper’s hairy chest!”

Now, it’s not that us ladies haven’t seen a hairy chest up close before; after all we all grew up with the hirsute abs of TV’s Tom Selleck, Bond’s Brosnan and Connery and ’90s pin-up, Alec Baldwin, it’s just it seems so long since we’ve seen a hairy torso loom large on the screen and being celebrated.

After all, the hairy chest had not only disappeared in recent years it even became a thing of ‘too macho’ ridicule, think — Austin Powers’ man rug or Borat in a lime green mankini.

It’s hard to say why exactly, but the hairy chest has been making a comeback even before Bradley Cooper’s au naturel on-screen assets debuted. It could be that now we’ve seen full-on grizzly beards for years, there’s a sense chest and stomach hair might as well follow. It could be just plain old laziness.

Perhaps men are realising what women know from years of experience; waxing, shaving, epilating and lasering is not only costly and time-consuming but painful too.

Fashion, undoubtedly, is also playing a part. The last 20 years have been big on tattoos and there’s no doubt a silky chest like David Beckham’s shows off artwork to maximum effect, but when Keira Knightley’s husband, James Richton, recently showed up at the Paris Opera with not only manly hair peeking out of an open-necked shirt but a medallion too, the world was left in no doubt — a full on 1970s hirsute revival is here with man jewellery an optional extra.

The revival might seem sudden but it’s actually been happening for a while and the historical dramas have been to the forefront. Outlander’s Sam Heughan has been rocking the red body curls for more than a year with his 17th century portrayal of Highlander, Jamie Fraser (there was no manscaping in olden days).

Ireland’s Aidan Turner, who plays Ross in the BBC’s period drama, Poldark, has been causing women to swoon ever since he first showed off his abs while scything topless. BBC producers, now wise to the ‘mane attraction’ knew well what they were doing when they got the actor to walk out of the Cornish sea, topless and dripping wet one minute into the start of this year’s season causing overcome viewers to take to take to Twitter singing the Irishman’s praises.

“A topless Aidan Turner five seconds into Poldark and my awful day has made a whole lot better,” tweeted one grateful viewer. Another tweeted, “I can’t think of anything other than running my hands through Ross Poldark’s hair.”

It seems while women have been viewing the smooth chests of Daniel Craig, Mathew McConaughey, or Channing Tatum, on celluloid for the last few years, the hairier man has most definitely been missed.

Now perhaps this ‘noticing’ is double standards, maybe this is women objectifying men in a way that’s distasteful, but then again, maybe hairy chests have just been hidden for so long that their reappearing is as dramatic as when TV actress Christina Hendricks (Joan in Mad Men) debuted her curvy figure and reminded us all, that women’s shapes came in all sorts of beautiful sizes and not just Hollywood skinny.

Today’s men should be allowed be who they are and know that there’ll always be women attracted to their type. There’ll always be smooth-chested men, and women who’ll adore them, but if you’re of a furrier breed, now’s the time to rock your assets, and ladies, for the man who has everything next birthday or Christmas — think about buying him a medallion!

Best chests of all time

The Daddy of them all is often cited as the late Burt Reynolds who had a veritable bear skin stuck to his chest and who was never shy about showing off his ‘look’. Sadly Burt died this year.

1980s Magnum PI detective Tom Selleck’s hairy chest was almost taken for granted; his Ferrari car and his moustache probably caused most comment on the TV series.

💫 Big congratulations to @ladygaga and Bradley Cooper as the stunning soundtrack for @starisbornmovie has been #BRITcertified Silver! 🇬🇧💿 pic.twitter.com/tvJcQVB8J1

— BRIT Awards (@BRITs) October 26, 2018

Past Bond’s, Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan, were never follicly challenged in the chest department and, as TV’s Aidan Turner is hotly tipped for the new Bond, 007 might literally be going back to his roots soon.

Today, Alec Baldwin is best known as Trump impersonator on Saturday Night Live but he was a 1990s pin up with very ample chest hair.

When it came to singers, everybody’s mum loved Tom Jones and his swinging gold medallion or they danced to the open shirted Bee Gees with their signature gold jewellery.

In the 21st century, the men beloved of women who like a bit extra are Hugh Jackman, Jude Law, Jake Gyllenahal, Henry Cavill and Zac Efron amongst others, or even tennis player Roger Federer, while bad boy Robbie Williams, currently on the X Factor, is getting more and more ostentatious about rocking the gold chains and man bling on his oft-flashed furry chest.