Beauty, A Gender Challenged Phenomenon - Sexes Are More Than Just Pretty Faces

“Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty”, penned John Keats. The phenomenon of being beautiful is often mistaken to describe one’s appearance, when really, it’s an emotion. Beauty, by all means, lies in one’s confidence and their right to be comfortable in their own skin. If one believes and feels that their appearance is acceptable, they are undeniably “beautiful”, be it male or female.

On the contrary, in the fashion industry, “beauty” is a highly relative term. There always seems to be an invisible bar upon which individuals (men and women alike) tend to evaluate themselves based on what fashion popularly deems as being “beautiful”. Also, beauty in fashion is often seemingly restricted to women. One should consider why this is so. When fashion evolves to meet the needs of the mass population, why is it that their models do not reflect on the variety of the general public? Also, since when has being thin, fair skinned, and tall been the majority of individuals who invest in fashion?

Fashion is certainly a female dominated industry. One factor that is mostly taken for granted is the state of the male and LGBTQ communities in the industry. But, with models such as Andreja Pejic, Rain Dove and Lea T redefining beauty in fashion, as well as the transgender campaign “Brothers, Sisters, Sons and Daughters” by Barney’s New York in early 2014, the LGBTQ community has become more welcome into the eyes of fashion. Also with companies like Dove and Aerie promoting the concept of “real beauty” for women, the fashion world is accommodating more honest forms of representation of the female gender. The male community, however, still seems to be under-representated.

(from top) Face of Redken - trandgender model Lea T, Androgynous Lesbian Model Rain Dove and Australian Transgender Model Andreja Pejic

Men still face problems as to what makes them “beautiful”. Men, today, are also expected to be and look a certain way; a way that is “fashionable” and so-called “appealing”. Is this true male beauty? Is the lack of a man’s sartorial inclination the reason why this problem is overlooked?

“When it comes to ‘looks’, the success of male models as an industry is attributed to the items they are hired to sell. Items that connect intimately to a man's body, self-esteem and self-articulation are designed to alter a man's appearance for the ‘better’: body-shaping undershirts, expensive suits to denote success, skincare designed ‘Just For Men’. With the mass consumption of such items, we are creating a hegemonic beauty standard for men by making the average Joe feel less-than if he doesn't look like the guy in the ad selling him these notions of masculinity.” – [1]

A Huffington Post article from 2013 mentions that male models undergo a lot of stress and anxiety related issues whilst casting, due to the demand of near perfect bodies. Their masculinity also comes into question when they are popularly considered as props to female models in fashion. “Brainless Mannequins”, they are often stereo-typed.

Recently, a retro bro-chic male fashion brand called “Chubbies”, has been running an “anti-model” modeling campaign in hopes to find men to propagate body diversity and body positivity amongst men. How about men of color, one may ask?

A video for Chubbies' Male Model Search

Vogue covered the latest story of novice African American model Adonis Bosso and how he has been changing the face of fashion in the recent past. “Often when black people are represented within media, they are lighter-skinned, and I remember growing up and not seeing anyone who looked like me on television or in magazines.”, Bosso states. He further goes on to mention that he aims to break these pre-existing stereotypes of African American men.

Also “Next Top Model” franchise has also been the cause of opening the industry to more men of color. Miss J. Alexander of the reality show states “[Next Top Model] allowed me to imagine a world that accepted gender-bending black folks while I still lived in one where manhood and masculinity were narrowly defined. Together, they introduced gender nonconformity by black men on a mainstream platform.”

(from left) Model Adonis Bosso and "Next Top Model"'s Miss J. Alexander

With the fashion world slowly shifting its platform to accommodate the versatility of the general public, Men also have a place in the industry. The definition of “beauty” has become holistic. Everyone is beautiful in their own way and now fashion has also conformed to fit the real definition of beauty, which is confidence in oneself and that true beauty lies in one’s very nature.

Sources -

[1] - Jill De Donato, "More Than Just a Pretty Face: An Inside Look into the World of Male Modeling", 11 Sept 2013, Huffington Post, Web, 3 Dec 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-di-donato/male-models-7-things-you-didnt-know_b_3893864.html

n.a, "11 Women Who Are Redefining Beauty", Marie Claire, Web, 3 Dec 2015, http://www.marieclaire.com/beauty/news/g2781/11-women-who-are-redefining-beauty/?slide=1

Anna Rocco, "BEAUTY IS SUBJECTIVE — IT HAS NO CONCRETE DEFINITION", 17 Nov 2015, The Nevada Sage Brush, Web, 4 Dec 2015, http://nevadasagebrush.com/blog/2015/11/17/beauty-is-subjective-it-has-no-concrete-definition/

Janelle Okwodu, "Adonis Bosso, Male Modeling’s Newest Star, Is Far More Than Just a Pretty Face", 6 Nov 2015, Vogue.com, Web, 4 Dec 2015, http://www.vogue.com/13368926/adonis-bosso-male-modeling-trendsetter/

Alex Rees, "5 Chubbies Male Models on Bringing Body Positivity — and Some Welcome Body Diversity — to the World of Short Shorts Fashion", 23 Nov 2015, http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/news/a49739/chubbies-male-models-contest-husky-body-positivity/

Tre'vell Anderson, "'Next Top Model' provided a runway to freedom for one young black man trapped by gender conformity", 4 Dec 2015, LA times, Web, 4 Dec 2014, http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-americas-next-top-model-20151205-story.html