Macho man has been sent six-feet-under: he’s been substituted by someone just as tough on the insides, but a little smoother around the edges. He adores Dolce & Gabanna, is just as often seen near a runway as competing in sports, confesses a love for Britney Spears. Heck he probably even designs his own material, but there’s one thing you must know, he’s not gay.
This man occupies his time differently to the average man - not only spending more of it in front of the mirror, but also at boutiques, in bars rather than pubs, dancing at nightclubs and going to beauty salons. Cosmetics brands such as Ella Bache say men make up as much as 40 per cent of their salon customers in some areas.
Mark Wahlberg's semi-naked appearance for Calvin Klein underwear in the early 1990s is often claimed as the beginning of mainstream male vanity. Marketing myth has it that the advertisement was targeted at a gay market, but straight men began to take notice. Whether it was because women were ogling, or men themselves believed the former rapper looked good, Calvin Klein soon became an advertisers wet-dream and instigated the upward spiral of the metro sexual.
Marketers are stimulating the change, dropping the macho component of products that target men. Gone are the tough male images which used to encompass beer and car advertising. The definition of what it means to be male is changing as men are now more secure in their masculinity
Men's fashion chains are growing, with women's stores such as Esprit launching men's ranges, and department stores offering boutique-style experiences. Men's magazines are increasing their coverage of fashion - not just for editorial reasons, but because they're getting more ads. The men's title FHM says its fashion and grooming advertising has increased 40 per cent over the past three years. Twenty years ago, male fashion, skin care and vanity in general were only identified with gay men. Now sexuality, it seems, is irrelevant. The name for this new type of man which is distorting the image of gender and sex? The Metrosexual.
David Beckham, who has been credited with shifting male behaviour to a less-hardy image, has been deemed the ultimate metrosexual. Celebrities like Beckham have aided the destruction of masculine codes, defying various manly expectations such as what a man is ‘allowed’ to wear. He differs from the traditional heterosexual male, wearing sarongs and nail-polish one day, captaining the English football team the next. He has even posed for a numerous amount of gay magazines, admitting that he likes to be admired, be it from women or men.
Many men do not even realise their metrosexuality, and it comes as a general shock to them in it’s diagnosis. There are a number of things you must ask yourself when determining your possible metrosexuality. Do you use more than one product in your hair? Do you ever go sock shopping? Do you carry a purse? Do gay men hit on you? If you answer ‘yes’ or ’It’s not a purse it’s a man-bag!’ to any one or more of these three questions, I can with great confidence inform you that you are mis/fortunately a metrosexual. Don’t fret at this result, because as you soon will find, metrosexuality is becoming ubiquitous. Soon you’ll be seeing UCD’s resident homeless person sporting Armani tighty-whiteys and fussing over his choice of sock colour. Metrosexuality is here to stay, it is no longer a segregated style but a prominent way of life, so you better get used to it.
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