While recently analysing the trends between what went on the menswear runways during the fashion weeks in Milan and Paris, and as Summer comes to an end and bodies start covering up, here at The Style Examiner we could not help but wonder if the Summer of 2012 has confirmed a very positive, albeit polarised, affirmation of the male body.
A few years ago, it was indubitable that the skinny look was unavoidably ubiquitous. Designers like Hedi Slimane banked on this look because, according to a certain view of fashion, clothes hang better on young, thin people and it’s always profitable to invest in the youth myth. However, as the end of the first decade of the new millennium approached, athletic bodies have become increasingly more accepted in the male fashion industry, to the extent that the sartorial world has become somehow bi-polar in its acceptance of more than one dominant ideal type.
Below is The Style Examiner’s list of this polarisation of masculinity for your consideration and enjoyment.
Characteristics | Type A | Type B |
Ideal body type | Muscled | Skinny |
Approximate age decade | 30s | 20s |
Professional range | Middle management and going upwards, usually in the corporate or entertainment industries | Internships, lower or middle management, usually in the creative industries |
Magazines | Men’s Health, GQ, Esquire, Wallpaper, Monocle | Nylon Guys, A Magazine, Another Man, and most magazines with experimental typefaces and fashion |
Eating disorder | Bigorexia (muscle dysmorphia) | Anorexia |
London neighbourhoods | Soho, Vauxhall, Kennington | Shoreditch, Hackney, Dalston |
New York neighbourhoods | Chelsea, mid town | Williamsburg, Lower East Side, Hell’s Kitchen |
Europe holiday hangouts | Ibiza, Mykonos, Barcelona, most places with beaches | Berlin, Tbilisi, Copenhagen, music festivals, most places far from the seaside |
Americas holiday hangouts | Hamptons, Punta del Este, Florida beaches, Brazil, Argentina | Mostly road trips |
Brazilian city | Rio de Janeiro | São Paulo |
City hangouts | Cafes, restaurants, hotel bars | Own and friends’ apartments, art galleries, city parks |
Blackberry preferences | Work email on the go | The messenger capability |
Sunglasses | Vintage aviators or most recent lines as long as they are black or tortoise | Redesigned contemporary aviators or most recent lines as long as the frames are colourful |
Fashion week | Milan | Paris |
Male model | David Gandy | Ash Stymest |
Sartorial decade for inspiration | 2010s | 1990s |
Food type | Protein, as in meat and protein shakes | Fibre, as in edamame and salads |
Facial hair | Clean shaven or full beard | Clean shaven or moustache |
Body hair | Acceptable to have body hair, maybe clipped | Undesirable to have body hair |
Trousers | Plain, unpleated front, classic cut | Slim, skinny, or carrot cuts, and turn-ups |
Casual shoes | Loafers, white trainers, most stuff in black or brown | Desert boots, deck shoes, colourful trainers, gladiator sandals, plimsolls |
Jeans colours | Dark blue | Any bright colour, stone washed, black |
Shirts | White with two or three buttons undone | Plaid and buttoned all the way up |
Summer top style | Tank top/vest | Hawaiian shirt or v-neck t-shirt |
Skin tone | Tanned | Pale |
Summer shorts | Cargo or tailored shorts | Cut-off jeans with turn ups |
Head wear | Nothing usually, or maybe a trilby, flat cap or sports hat | Definitely a trilby (when not messing up the hair) |
‘Twilight’ male actor | Taylor Lautner | Robert Pattinson |
TV male role model | Jon Hamm (aka Don Drapper in ‘Mad Men’) | Chace Crawford (aka Nate Archibald in ‘Gossip Girl’) |
Film male role model | Hugh Jackman, George Clooney | Zac Efron |
Prescription glasses | Tom Ford eyewear or contact lenses | Anything geeky, black and thick-rimmed |
Fashion labels | Dolce & Gabbana, Marc Jacobs, Armani, D&G, Dsquared2, Tom Ford, Aussiebum, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, Gap | Dior Homme, most Belgian designers, American Apparel, Uniqlo, Lyle & Scott, Penguin, Farah, Topman, friends’ designs |
And the list could go on and on…
Relativist post-structuralism has taught us that type A is not better or worse than type B just because it comes first. So these columns are devoid of any hierarchy and are best read with a touch of irony.
If you feel that, as a male reader of these columns, the way you see yourself does not fit in either of them or you can actually zigzag between these basic descriptors, consider yourself lucky. If we have learnt anything from gender theory as described by the likes of Judith Butler, it’s that it’s in the rich grey in-between areas that identity has always gained affirmation.
Enjoy being the man that you are!