Actually it kinda was, would you believe? Although it fell out of fashion due to Hitler, of course.

It's another case of military influence over fashion.

Up to WWI those large, often elaborate moustaches and beards were the trend. Until chemical warfare became a thing (which almost killed Hitler btw) and so the men in the trenches had a need to wear gas masks as a countermeasure. Large moustaches and beards made wearing gas masks prohibitively difficult and so the trend for minimal facial hair arose and that's how the toothbrush moustache came into fashion.

You're probably thinking of Michael Jordan.