Philip Khor

Inherant disorder amongst good looking men!

The term originated in an article by Mark Simpson (“Here come the mirror men) published on November 15, 1994, in The Independent. Simpson wrote:

“Metrosexual man, the single young man with a high disposable income, living or working in the city (because that’s where all the best shops are), is perhaps the most promising consumer market of the decade. In the Eighties he was only to be found inside fashion magazines such as GQ, in television advertisements for Levis jeans or in gay bars. In the Nineties, he’s everywhere and he’s going shopping.     ”

The term greatly increased in popularity following Simpson’s 2002 Salon.com article “Meet the metrosexual”, which identified David Beckham as the metrosexual poster boy. The advertising agency Euro RCSG Worldwide adopted the term shortly thereafter for a marketing study, and the New York Times published a Sunday feature, “Metrosexuals Come Out”; the story trickled into local news outlets across North America.

Simpson’s Salon.com definition is more nuanced than the term’s common use today.
“     The typical metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis – because that’s where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Particular professions, such as modeling, waiting tables, media, pop music and, nowadays, sport, seem to attract them but, truth be told, like male vanity products and herpes, they’re pretty much everywhere.

For some time now, old-fashioned (re)productive, repressed, unmoisturized heterosexuality has been given the pink slip by consumer capitalism. The stoic, self-denying, modest straight male didn’t shop enough (his role was to earn money for his wife to spend), and so he had to be replaced by a new kind of man, one less certain of his identity and much more interested in his image – that’s to say, one who was much more interested in being looked at (because that’s the only way you can be certain you actually exist). A man, in other words, who is an advertiser’s walking wet dream.[3]

in short, its gay, but less gay lah.

I wonder if girls like metrosexual men, or soft men? Feel free to comment!

[end]

Happy Birthday Juan!

Related posts:

1. A little bit of Marketing I updated my Facebook status with this: Random thought just popped in my head, blast from the past. In college, two terms popped up a lot in Marketing: “USP, Competitive...
2. Lets See How Far We’ve Come Whoa. Daym, I AM sexy. From Lukas Foo [link] A slimmer Philip… [with annoatations in italics] 13th June 2009 I should get more tight fitting metrosexual shirts! There’s still a...
3. Some Music Devices I’m looking for Ok, budget is not here yet. But here are some devices I’m eyeing. 16-pad by Akai. Youtube [link] Wouldn’t be awesome if you’re able to tweet preset messages? 16 configurable...
4. Direct Swap This Christmas, I set up my desktop computer for my dad. In return I get to use this Core 2 Duo laptop by Eh-Seus (Asus). Since I’ll be on the...
5. Warning: Cloverfield-esque footage Here I am doing a video review on the bus with shaky hands :P Warning: Stay at least 3 feet away from your screen. DO NOT put fullscreen, unless you...
6. Malaysia Budget 2011 Thoughts Our prime minister begins with a Koranic verse of wisdom. Notes that much consideration has been taken when drawing up this budget. Healthy economy outlook to start things off! 7%...