Gentlemen, Start Your Engines: Why Men Are Keeping Up Appearances

In his groundbreaking book, Ways of Seeing, author John Berger writes of the innate “sense of being” possessed by women. The book, which was published in 1972, takes a feminist approach to the role of women in art where, as the book claims, women have largely played the role of performer for the benefit of men. Writes Berger:

Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relations of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object – and most particularly, an object of vision: a sight.

 

But all that has changed, and now it’s your turn, dude.

Because now the score is even, and men are increasingly becoming as objectified as women — and they’re willing participants. Consider any number of men’s advertisements where the objectified man could just as easily be a woman. He returns your gaze and says, “you know you want me.”

Wait – what happened? Well when Nair launches a depilatory for men, you know a revolution is happening.

But the act of enhancing one’s personal appearance has a purpose that goes far beyond attracting the opposite sex; in fact, in this hyperactive global economy, career experts say that appearance is increasingly becoming a critical factor for men seeking (and keeping) a job. The world of work is about the appearance at least, of youth, and youth being equated with modernity and energy. Consider the exponential increase in the use of hair coloring, plastic surgery, and gym memberships – by men. Cultural critic Jonathan Rauch calls the latter the “Buff Revolution,” pointing out that since the 1980’s men’s bodies have become as fetishized as women’s, with magazines, advertising, and movie stars all promoting an enhanced physical form.

It’s generally no secret that the gay world that has come to increasingly influence the men’s grooming and clothing market – not to mention the growing influence of Japan and Europe. But mainstream retailers, buyers, and marketers are still missing the mark when it comes to how they sell to straight men even on a global level, men have evolved into near-equal consumers with their female counterparts. So what’s taking the U.S. market so long to catch up? Chalk it up to an American unease with obvious male vanity (too gay, too intellectual, too “European”) and the idea that “dressing up” reeks of a class society (dude, you think you’re better than me?). The real American guy would like to believe that he never has to be influenced by convention or etiquette, and that a “real man” is rough and completely unaware of his appearance. Until now.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not long a whole lot has changed. Men continue to typically shop with the assistance of women (mothers, wives, girlfriends), and tend to leave the decision-making to them. That’s a trend that’s changing and it’s becoming more common to see young men shopping in groups of two and three (strength and security in numbers). A 2003 NPD study showed that more men pick out their own clothing than ever before. The same study three years earlier showed that women shopped for 76% of men. Today, women buy for less than half of them.

Trend forecasters continue to look to Asia for how the market might evolve. Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong each reveal a thriving men’s retail market, one that’s growing by leaps and bounds and with no end in sight. Men account for roughly 50% of retail sales.

In Asia just as in the African American community, appearance speaks to how one “represents,” and fashion is a critical means of showing that one has arrived. Vanity and class is an important commodity in moving up the socio-economic ladder — just as Hillary’s pantsuits somehow demonstrate she’s ready to play with the big boys.

But the men’s wear retail landscape is a confusing one, and unlike women, men are still afraid that the wrong pair of pants or color shirt will somehow emasculate them right then and there, in front of the whole world. Why should I trust a store, or the flamboyant salesman to tell me what to wear?

It’s the retail conundrum that could potentially unlock a major new market, one that is nearly as extensive as that of the women’s market. Clothes, grooming products, accessories, jewelry – could all experience exponential growth once the male customer has evolved. So how do we get a man to discover his badass sartorial self? What if men’s wear in the U.S. was merchandised and sold in a completely different manner? What if the design and branding of a man’s store made men want to go shopping and do so with confidence and trust?

Find out in my new book, Branding the Man: Why Men Are the Next Frontier in Fashion Retail, in stores August 25, 2009. Reserve your copy now.

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