Today’s fashion forward man has a wardrobe best described as versatile; he cares about how he looks and everyone knows it. Just glance down the red brick road as it’s trodden on with Nike Flyknits and crisp, glossy Adidas Stan Smiths. Likewise, a good number of guys’ ID pictures feature either the man bun or the slick and dapper volumized undercut. And don’t forget the men who sport soft fleece grey joggers as they pass through SEC Walk, complete with New Balance 574s.
The 21st-century bloke is paying more and more attention to grooming and style, and now it seems that more and more guys reflect that James Dean look—an echo of the slick and debonair cultural icon from the 1950s. Fortune tells us that menswear sales grew significantly worldwide in 2013 while outpacing that of womenswear. Likewise, Dylan Jones, editor-in-chief of British GQ, shares that “we have a generation of young men who are more sophisticated than their predecessors and who have no qualms about buying contemporary, directional fashion.”
It is commonplace to think that men always dress down—but the styles that have resurfaced as of late are doing away with that stereotype, all while redesigning the traditional face of masculinity. When it comes to aesthetic, men have been thinking out of the (shoe) box for some time now as they continue to embrace diverse and progressive strands of fashion while moving away from less flexible forms.
Modern masculinity
It’s all about boys who dress pretty. This is the metrosexual—a term coined in the ‘90s by Mark Simpson, an English journalist, who claimed that the metro is a guy who spends an extra amount of attention to his grooming and style. While this primarily refers to a particular lifestyle of attitudes and preferences, this also applies to the look that a man takes on.
Although there are many variations to the look, metrosexuals can sometimes be seen donning uniquely printed floral or nautical patterned button-downs with folded short sleeves along with folded shorts. And while sockless loafers and other bespoke footwear may rest on their shoe racks, they also tend to be into bright-colored printed socks. A metro’s ultimate fashion icon is of the likes of David Beckham or Hugh Jackman, to name a few.
Management economics junior Nicholas Dy Buncio describes the metrosexual look as the “evolution of every style.” He shares that his look is conservative and practical, and that “it’s all about neatness and presentability,” as he usually sports simple pants and shorts that compliment his polo shirts.
As it is today, the modern definition of manhood is no longer black and white when it comes to style. Guys consider calculated and exact measurements to be the new golden rule with their aesthetics.
As management engineering senior Josh Ong puts it, “I honestly believe that being metrosexual does not reflect one’s sexual orientation. Why can’t we [men] care about how we look?” He notes that the fear of being judged or criticized, a fear that men have been conquering more and more, is what holds most men back from being more expressive in terms of their sense of style.
“Men have become more experimental and open-minded about dressing up,” he says, adding how his understanding of masculinity is the courage to do one’s own thing, regardless of what others may think.
Clothing canvas
Along with the developments in men’s fashion seen in at least the past decade come shifts in people’s general attitude to its connotations. The term “metrosexual,” as noted by Ong, is no longer viewed as a sort of backhanded compliment, but rather, as a particular style of dressing. In the same way, indifference towards how one looks or dresses is becoming less and less associated with masculinity the way it once used to be.
Communications technology management junior Romano Santos attributes the trend of men making a bigger deal out of how they dress to a wider, more accessible understanding of it. Instead of fashion usually referring to exclusively female designs, hairstyles and outfits, it has expanded and continues to expand into a diverse range of possibilities for the other sex.
An illustration of this is in streetwear, such as menswear scoop neck shirts, which are largely influenced by independent brands. Santos cites the emergence of streetwear and popular sports brands as trendy things to wear, explaining how this has led to guys paying more attention to their wardrobe choices.
Now more than ever, this has urged major brands to cater to male taste. “Men’s fashion isn’t just a distant, abstract concept [that] the average guy leaves to entertainment channels and magazine racks, but something that he develops in himself on a day to day basis,” he says.
Though men now have more options on how to style their hair or how to fit their polos, fashion still boils down to self-expression. Santos considers it a reflection of one’s personality, comparing one’s choice of clothes to his or her preference in books or movies. “Whether or not you’re completely aware of it, it says a lot about you as a person,” he says.
Fashion and freedom
Even with the rise of fresh possibilities in men’s fashion, how guys make use of these choices does not always turn out to be meaningful. In the eyes of some, these style choices tend to be either pointless or pretentious. Where critics would draw the line is when guys seek to be trendy for the sake of it, or when men sport apparel that they do not personally like just to appear fashionable.
The hypebeast trend, which revolves around popular sneaker and outfit brands, gets criticized at times for this reason. “Don’t drop thousands on a pair of shoes just because Kanye made it,” Edrick Luy, a junior interdisciplinary studies major, muses. It’s all too easy, after all, to adopt international fads and emulate Western male celebrities. “Our minds are westernized,” as Dy Buncio puts it.
Not all trends for guys are centered on the newest looks or the biggest brands, though. The normcore style, which began to trend in late 2014, is a “palate cleanser,” as Vogue describes, or a form of fashion detox.
Going back to basics is the main agenda, as K-Hole—the New York trend agency that launched the term—characterizes normcore as an attitude of “finding liberation in being nothing special.” For the normcorer, whether male or female, both comfort and style are everything—a contrasting attitude to those who dress for the brand.
With all of this, it’s hard to deny that men’s fashion is continuously expanding and becoming more diverse; in the Ateneo, one only has to briefly look around to see different outfits, ranging from simple color schemes to elaborate patterns. For Luy, this variety mirrors our culture as a whole. “The evolution of the clothes we wear is based on the music we listen to, the people we hang out with, the idols we [choose] to follow,” he explains.
This is perhaps the most important thing that modern fashion brings for men: They are free to care about what they wear. It’s hard to deny that there has been a boom in the permutations of shoes, hairstyles, and outfits for men nowadays. But what makes male fashion so relevant now isn’t that men need to conform to these options—it’s that they can.
