The macaroni and the meterosexual male
In recent times,with the increasing success of social media, selfie culture and the shared self on social media where one develops an 'alter ego' online, there seems to be increasing pressure for everyone to look perfect. With camera phones, snap chat as communication and the fear of being tagged in a bad photo on Facebook we have become our own paparazzi. This pursuit of perfection has been seen for both males and females alike, with the rise of the male grooming routine become the norm and ever more intricate. As girls are seen to contour their faces, curl their hair and pursue the power brow - their male counterparts have had to up their game. The male beauty market has been booming, anti ageing creams, tinted moisturiser to the more extreme 'mascara' and 'guy liner' - with range of lotions and potions to help with the quest of perfection, the meterosexual male has arrived.
It may appear that this well groomed, over styled male is something of the new times but really the image obsessed man has been a thing since the mid 18th century. The macaroni originated from England in the 1700's and was a 'fashionable fellow who dressed and even spoke in an outlandishly affected and epicene manner'. The macaroni man was presented as gender neutral; he was neither explicitly male or female, having a overtly feminine appearance and behavioural manner dressing int he times high fashion of extremely tall powdered white wigs with hats on top that could only be removed by the point of the sword. This fashion and eccentrically image obsessed male represented the first idea of metrosexuality.
The metrosexual male has been interpreted differently in the 21st century. Within uk popular culture, television shows such as Geordie Shore and The Only Way is Essex have branded a new type of image obsessed male, focusing on working out, fake tan and 'manscaping' no amount of grooming is deemed to extreme. The levels that some males go to to achieve these standards as they idolise the tango faced stars has seen some older generations interpreting their appearance opposite to the intended look. Due to the presentation of the macaroni as a well groomed yet 'gender neutral' male, the 21st century metrosexual can sometimes be perceived as homosexual do to the feminine nature of the sheer attention to detail in regards to personal appearance.
This can be a problem for fashion promoters as they want to present males in a fashionable manner but want to attract the right consumers for their product, or do not wish to push some audiences away from the product in the fear of appearing in a way that mean that they are interpreted in the manner of the macaroni man.
Fashionable males that have managed to find this balance between the adhering to high end trends, appearing groomed whilst clearly ticking the box of the metrosexual male are celebrities such as Tinie Tempah, Harry Styles and Pharrell. The suave and sophisticated appearance of these individuals is juxtaposed by a more street and rugged edge. The ultimate metro sexual male for the 21st century being David Beckham, his sculpted look with his lifestyle of family man, sports player an brand ambassador makes him the ultimate icon for a large proportion of fashion promoters- his work including H&M, Haig club whisky and Dolce and Gabbana.
The representation of male models physically has often been exaggerated by fashion and what is perceived as the ideal. Males are expected to appear overtly muscular and thin, this can be an issue as the frequent representation of males in this way can cause a distortion of what is the expected norm. Males are also normally expected to be well groomed and hairless, they are often infantilised by fashion.
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