The reformation of the masculinity through Metrosexuals in the fashion advertising - Essay Example

?The reformation of the masculinity through Metrosexuals in the fashion advertising Introduction: Fashion has become the need for everyone. Everybodywants to be beautiful in the recent time and most of the fashion goods companies are taking the advantages of the new age demand of the fashionable goods. The clothing and accessory industry has grown very fast in this particular field. The main question in everyone’s mind is how to look good. Now in this context the advertising strategies come to the limelight and the most effective advertising media in the designer ware is the print media. Here comes the importance of the metrosexuals. The metrosexuals have become the focus of the fashion advertising in the recent time. This demographic group has become the main focus of the fashion advertising as this group attracts both males and females. The new kind of masculinity has evolved through these metrosexuls. It is very ironical to state but, sex appeal has a great influence on the viewers of the advertisements on the magazines on over the billboards. In the recent fashion advertising the gays, lesbians and metrosexual appearance have a great lingering effect over the consumer’s mind. This paper will take a diligent effort to discover the reformation of the masculinity of men in the fashion advertising in UK market. The impact of metrosexual images has reformed the traditional male masculine look in the fashion advertising industry in the recent time. The metrosexuals: The metrosexuals have become the new age demographic group of people in the urban societies. The basic term generated from the metropolitan and the heterosexuals. This group can be stated as a group of male who have some fashion statement which relates with the female character and these med are associated with the homosexuals. However they are not homosexuals in generals. The ‘new man’ emerged on to the advertising scene in the 80’s, and was marketed as the modern man. Images of the new man emerged everywhere from Calvin Klein’s ‘Eterntity’, an image of the perfect father figure, to a domestic hero advertising Mr. Muscle. Men were becoming increasingly objectified, their bodies being used to sell grooming products and vanity to themselves, from shaving cream to Levi’s jeans. This phenomenon reached greater lengths when Men’s lifestyle magazines such as GQ and Arena Homme hit the stands in the mid eighties, adhering to men’s apparent newfound lust for fashion since the masculine renunciation at the end of the 18th century. This trend still carries on today, with the term metro-sexual coined in 2003 by journalist Mark Simpson, while reporting on the “it’s a Man’s World” style exhibition, organized by GQ. He described the metro-sexual as a man who has “taken himself as his own love object.” ( Simpson, M. cited in Salzman,M., Matathia,I. & O’reilly,A. 2005: 53) If one opens a current issue of Arena Homme, it will be of no surprise to see in its pages images of men in skirts and jewelry, or an advert of Marc Jacobs wearing nothing but an oversized bottle of his new fragrance BANG deliberately placed over his sexual identity. These are the group of men who are over fashionable and love to groom themselves as the females. Some people say that metrosexuals are not any gender specific person they can be lesbians, homosexuals, straight or transsexuals, as the term do not refer any gender it is basically a community which is heterosexuals and urban in nature. It can be treated as a behavioral trait of a person to be adorable to all the genders (Baker 4). It has been also mentioned by many observers that metrosexuals could adopt different sexual personas to match their outlook. The idea behind the metrosexual look is the ultra modern look which attracts all kind of people or rather consumers for the fashion industry. It is a new concept in the fashion industry which blends the concept of individual identity, consumerism and sexual identity and the reformation of the masculinity. For an example it can be stated that the city of Manchester has developed two metrosexual identities and they are Morrissey, the lead singer of the group The Smith and the famous football player of Manchester United club, David Beckham. Beckham’s metrosexual identity was cultivated during the period of his captaincy in the Manchester United Club in 1990s (Baker 4). And that is the reason even after being a globally recognized football player he proved himself to be on the top of the fashion industry as a metrosexual model for many designer brands in the fashion industry. It is a very important to understand why metrosexuals have a great impact over the fashion industry and how it became the focus of the industry. However, in this context the media has a great influence over the fact. There were many TV shows which have the significant effect over the cultivation of the concept of metrosexuals. The reformation of the masculinity through metrosexuals: The influx of the metrosexual imagery, which directly challenged the traditional notion of masculinity, was also the moment of a pivotal shift in the idea of the gaze. John Berger in his book “Way’s of Seeing” explains this phenomenon in 1972, “men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relations between women and themselves.” (Berger, J. 1972: 47) here Berger clearly describes how women were the object of the male gaze, dominated by their desire, and controlled by masculine ideals of beauty. However contemporary representations of men in advertising has opened a door to the idea that men are now also objects of desire, looked upon by both women and other men. This one can argue creates a larger threat to hegemonic masculinity, as homosexuality stereotypically represents everything men as “should” not be. It has been claimed that along with the feminist up rise, the progression of Gay rights at the same time, has been a large factor in this movement of representation. “Gayness, in patriarchal ideology, is the repository of whatever is symbolically expelled from hegemonic masculinity, the items ranging from fastidious taste in home decoration to receptive anal pleasure.” ( 78) Men are increasingly being represented in fashion photography as sexual objects, domestic, vain, emotional, traits stereotypically considered feminine, and in some cases dressed in clothing and adorned in jewelry commonly associated with women. However it does not necessarily give evidence of a universal masculine crisis or a loss of patriarchal power. It could therefore be plausibly argued that the idea of the masculine crisis has been exaggerated, and the introduction of the new man was in fact a “lucrative market niche”(Salzman,M., Matathia,I. & O’reilly,A. 2005:73) which was used to fill a gap in the market, rather than being reflective of the aesthetic of the male population as a whole. The reformation of the masculinity has given a new paradigm to the fashion industry in the UK fashion industry. The print media has taken a great initiative towards changing the traditional masculine look a new age metrosexual look. The Face Magazine has taken a promising step towards the new reformation. The Face magazine became the symbol of new fashion among the youth during the 1970s and 80s. The use of the feminine features in the male modeling was the main initiative taken by the Face Magazine during the 80s. “Sean Nixon has written very persuasively about this, talking about the emergence of The Face magazine as a key moment that allowed depictions of masculinity to move from a gay subculture into the mainstream. The rise of the style press gave permission for many different kinds of images of masculinity to circulate that did not exist previously." (Rethinking masculinity: Men and their Bodies). The new kind of masculinity of men has arrived in most of the Medias. Mainly in the print media the use of the metrosexual men has become the brand new trend in the British advertising and fashion industry. The so-called masculine men images are taken to be back dated in the recent time. The feminine touch has given the new fashion statement among the men. And the state is focused on the well groomed men. Previously the masculine body was enough for the a man to be visualized in the fashion advertising but in the recent time the masculinity has taken a few step down and the fashionable metrosexual look has taken the lead among the men. During the late 90s the metrosexuals were pampered in the advertising industry and men like British Footballer David Beckham, British actor Jude Law and Orlando Bloom have been considered as the faces of the new metrosexual look of the male society who are having slightly feminine taste in their mannerism (Fourie 315). David Beckham created a history in the fashion and the sports advertising industry by his robust metrosexual look. He created the reformation of the masculinity in the sports and fashion industry by posing for British gay magazine Attitude in June 2002 (Coad 183). Even after the posing for the homophobic society in UK for the fashion magazine Attitude David Beckham did a glittering fashion parade for Attitude magazine wearing a Roberto Cavalli caftan and he also showed the plunging neckline in a Dolce & Gabbana silk print T-shirt (Coad 183). David Beckham showed the path for the novelty in the fashion advertising industry which offered the suppressive desire for the gays. However, with this new trend of male masculinity with the pinch of feminine touch has given a great ripple effect among the females too. Even though it has been said by many scholars that the masculinity had taken a step back during the 70s to the metrosexual men, but the new fashionable looks were there during the 60s also. The Life magazine has portrayed the ad of Hathaway shirt which had a man with the eye patch which has a mafia look and that was a different state of masculinity among the men. In the other ad of Marlboro cigarette the man’s tattooed hand gave a new look to the advertising industry in the late 60s (Life magazine 1958). As mentioned before that the term metrosexual was coined by prominent writer Mike Simpson in his original article in The Independent newspaper on November 15th of 1994. According to Simpson the new breed of men were born who wanted to be more good-looking and fashionable in nature and in other hand the traditional heterosexual males became the worst consumers in the fashion industry who used to buy beer, fags and occasional condoms for themselves (Tungate 2). This the reason the fashion industry took an attempt to attract more man towards the new metrosexual looks so these traditional males can be prone to buy some fashionable goods to groom themselves. The reason of the evolution of the men to the metrosexual form is mainly because of the lack of interest towards the fashion for the traditional masculine men. The masculine crisis: There are many reasons for the recent crisis of the male masculinity. For many years the females have been suppressed for be in the house and look after the kids. And men used to be the head of the family and they used to rule the society. However, with the change the female started becoming stronger in all the aspects. And the reformation of the male dominated society came to the lime tight. The importance of the female came to the focus. The male masculinity was very prominent in the work field (Brod, 1995). However, with the advancement the society started accepting the different genders in the primary positions. The taste of fashion and clothing started focusing on different genders instead of the dominated gender, the male (Pleck, 1981). However, the images of the male remained as it used to be but the emotional parts of the men were started appearing in the advertisements (Kimmel, 1996) and from that time the masculinity of the men started pushing backward. For this time the new age male were born. Due to the importance of many demographic groups like female, lesbian, gays, transsexuals the masculinity of the men started fading out in the field of advertising which is closely related with the consumer behavior. If one looks at contemporary fashion images of masculinity within western society, and how the representations of men have changed over time, particularly within the last thirty years, one can argue they give evidence to, and fuel the idea of a Masculine Crisis. On one level the masculine crisis can be explained as a crisis of representation, (Edwards.T, 2006). The idea that men were in crisis arose at a time when “ seismic social-psychological shifts”(Salzman,M., Matathia,I. & O’reilly,A. 2005:8) began taking place between the sexes. Large extents of these changes are due to the rise of second wave feminism in the 70’s, and the push for equality in all areas of life. In an issue of the Atlantic magazine in August 2010 the headline of the article written by Hanna Rosin “ The End of Men” in which she describes how: “Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women?” The term “masculinity” created out of women’s revolt against patriarchal affairs came into popular use in the 70’s and 80’s, did people start to see that men were also gendered, and this created a base for criticism and analyses to the idea of masculinity (Benwall,B. 2003) Images of men began to change alongside this growing sense of liberation from patriachal views of gender, and reinforcing the idea of gender as a performative (Butler:1990) rather than a biological preset . The idea of the involvement of the metrosexuals in the fashion advertising: Advertising is an art. The aim of a proper advertisement is to target the audience is such a manner so they recollect the memories of the advertisement with many cultural activities. The metrosexual concept has the upper hand over the masculine looks, but, that is in some specific countries and in some specific societies. Nowadays there are different communities are there in the society and some of the most important communities are the Homosexual communities or transsexual communities, lesbians etc. and most of the advertisers are targeting the erotic effects in their advertising for the lingering effects in the viewers mind. Most of the advertisers have tried to use the feminism as one of the basic target for the society. The advertisers have tried to harness the ideological currency of the feminism in the advertisements (Goldman 108). There are many advertisements where female are used as the attractive options for the lingering effects. Advertising images towards the gender specifications have changed a lot. In the earlier time the females used to beautify there selves and males used to be masculine. But, now the male and female both are focused to beautify there selves. In the present culture man can wear a lipstick. However, the color of the lipstick is not too bright in color. The new urban lifestyle has given a totally new looks to the advertising industry. Female and male fantasy has become a great deal of concept used in most of the advertisements nowadays. The concept of the gender specific advertisements is not only prominent on the pictorial representation of the gender specific fantasies. For an example the print advertisement for the shoe brand named scruffs (male fantasy: genderads.com) has given great example of the gender specific fantasy for males and also the changing masculinity criteria through metrosexual look. Scruffs is a brand which sells the shoes for trekking. However, the specific ad of the Scuffs has shown a tough leather boot which is rugged in looks and has a great male attitude. Here in this ad the metaphor of the male masculinity has been portrayed. The best part of the advertisement is the punch line of the advertisement. The masculine print ad of the scruffs boots which are sold as the safety footwear comes with the interesting wordings which says “ for men who screw, band n drill”. This punch line can have many meanings. The using of different gender, class, lust and fantasy has given the new advertising industry a brand new look. And the metrosexual concept has become a great weapon for the modern advertising industry. Over the last few decades the involvement of the men in the fashion advertising has opened a new paradigm in the fashion advertising. There are many magazines have evolved which focus on med models as far as the advertising in concern. Previously the men’s body used to be taken under consideration for the advertisement of men’s underwear, aftershave lotions and fashion clothing. But in the recent time the men are used frequently on promotion fragrance brands which attracts the women and in some extents some other genders too. The advertisement for Joop, a popular designer perfume had chosen a body of a man to attract the women gender. However, the product was for men but the ad has an indirect affect over the females too (body talk: Men in spotlight). The remake of the fashion industry with the metrosexual ads started showing up during the 1980s and from then the involvement of the men in the fashion advertising had showed a path to the success. It is very true that in the recent time the men are the main focus in the fashion industry. All the top designers are men and they are Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Giorgio Armani etc. these designers are coming up with their latest male grooming products. The metrosexual males are bold in nature they love to stay near city so they can shop; they appear in the television advertisement for new age fashinalbe products like Levi’s jeans, they ware Devidoff Cool Water perfume, Paul Smith jackets, Corduroy shirts which Elvis used to ware and they also appear in magazines like GQ (here come the mirror men). These are the characteristics of the new age metrosexual men. Fashion advertisements: There are many fashion brands that are focusing on the male products instead of the hardcore female products. Most of the designer brands have come up with the new fragrances for the male. And for most of the advertisements for these brands designers and rather the advertisers are choosing metrosexual models instead of masculine men. For an instant the Gucci ad for the male fragrance was focused on a Danish model Mathias Lauridsen. The focus was given on his eyes in the ad instead of his body. And the metrosexual look was the final outcome of the dilemma of the Gucci ad being portrayed on male or female (Emerging magazine news blog). The Motorola launched the MotoRazr V3i gold model which was designed by Dolce & Gabbana. The print ad appeared in most of the news papers and the Magazines was introducing to men in the ad, one with the MotoRazr Gold model in a controversial situation (Motorola's Motorazr V3i: The cutting edge of technology). This ad was very much controversial and offensive in nature as many viewers thought it could depict the act of violence. However, the ad was much more metrosexual in nature or rather it had a blend of homosexuality and the male dominance along with metrosexual look in the advertising field. In most of the reputed magazines like Vogue, Vogue men, GQ, Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, etc have many ads of many reputed designer fashion brands which use male models for their products. The brands like Roberto Cavalli, CK, Versace, D&G, Armani and many more brands are using male model to promote their male grooming products. These are the indicators of the shift of the paradigm of the masculine men to the metrosexual men in this changing environment. Conclusion: From this descriptive paper it is very prominent that the masculine look of the men are not in trend any more. Men have started focusing on grooming themselves apart from the bodybuilding. Most of the fashion brands in UK are looking for the new generation metrosexual males who would be the faces of the new generation in the fashion world. Although representations of men have changed, it seems that the idea of the masculine crisis has been exaggerated and exploited for marketing purposes. These images may have made some men feel inadequate or in crisis, however it is unlikely that these have affected all men, and thus these images do not represent a universal masculine crisis nor do they fuel it to the extent we have been led to believe. It seems that patriarchal views are still dominant within the media. Prominent fashion designer Tom ford talks to GQ in 2008, saying “ as much as I’ve tried it has been consistently harder to get images of nude men onto magazine pages and billboards than it has nude women. In a society where images of brutal violence are consumed during breakfast, the male nude is one of our last taboos.” This probably sums up the overall view of society today; a move away from traditional masculinity is still uncomfortable for many. The existence of other forms of masculinity is not necessarily a sign of crisis either. Work cited Baker C R. “The hybrid church in the city: Third Space thinking”. New York: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007. Benwall, B. 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