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Asia's metrosexuals: Mirror, Mirror...
By Ling Liu (Time)
Updated: 2005-10-28 09:04
A young man
receives a facial treatment in a promotional event held by a Hangzhou
beauty salon Jan. 17, 2003. Chinese men begin to pay more and more
attention to their appearances.
[newsphoto] |
These flower men are not rare
orchids. According to a survey conducted last year by leading South Korean
advertising agency Cheil, roughly two out of three South Korean men say they
have adopted androgynous characteristics and lifestyles, meaning they practice
personal-care routines and indulge in fashions in ways once thought rather
unmanly. "If I dressed like this in Toronto, my friends would laugh at me,"
admits Matthew Ko, a 21-year-old Chinese-Canadian, who on a recent night in Hong
Kong was clad in a bright purple blazer over a psychedelic floral shirt offset
by lime green pants. Granted, it was a special occasion. Ko was vying for the
crown in the Mr. Hong Kong competition, one of several male beauty pageants that
have sprung up around the region. And Ko, a doe-eyed, soft-spoken amateur
pianist, won! Asked about his retina-searing duds, Ko shrugs. "The fashion
trends just change faster in Asia."
Hallelujah, say cosmetics- and clothing-company
officials, who help to dictate the pace of change. In fashion-forward Japan,
male grooming is booming, so much so that Tokyo's popular Isetan department
store devotes an entire sales floor to men's cosmetics. Throughout Asia,
men-only spas and salons are popping up in major cities, and big cosmetics
companies now offer extensive lines of he-male moisturizers, hair-care products,
perfumery and other vanity fare. "Asian men increasingly want to look after
their looks, and are prepared to spend to do so," says Carol Sarthou, managing
director of Synovate, a Philippine-based market research company.
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