We’ve ruminated in the past on Lloyd Blankfein’s sartorial strategies and the tradition of executive dressing, particularly among Italian titans of industry who know how to do it. So we were curious to discover recent shots of Mr. Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, in Davos, with a beard. Apparently he grows them when he’s on vacation and this time he felt confident enough to go on the record before the cameras.

While this did not cause as much comment as the First Lady’s bangs, it does represent the migration of the beard from the urban woodsman to the corporate boardroom. Mr. Blankfein’s beard is certainly not radical–it’s more of a thin layer of snow than an avalanche of white–but it is progress of a sort for those of us who support beards in all tax brackets and all locations, including the corridors of power.

A beard should be at home everywhere man goes, in the city and the country, among the creative class and corporate chieftains. It pairs well with a bottle of Bowmore or Barolo, with a fountain pen or a fly rod. It would be nice to see Charlie Rose with more advanced stubble, Joe Biden with a massive three-monther or Larry Gagosian, who’s been on his back foot recently, rebooted and properly bearded for 2013 (though in his case a mustache might be even more raffish and compelling).

The beard does not judge the one-percent–it moves across society, beyond reproach, ennobling and expressing the face of man. –DAVID COGGINS