Similar to diversity and body positivity, which is regarded as done by adding one curvy model of color to a fashion show, there are occasional male models wearing jewelry, make-up, lipstick, and raising more (commercial) interest in buying fashion products. Alternative social initiatives are taken in, commercialized and gentrified, often in such a blunt way that the encounter might seem laughable and unintentionally amusing. But we could still appreciate that there is any change happening at all and new role models help alternative life styles to become accepted.
Chaning Society or Pseudo “Pinkwashing”?
The slow acceptance of supposedly feminine fashion trends for men, androgynous and unisex looks, completes a development that in the past referred to things that were formerly masculine like trousers, football or becoming chancellor/prime minister. We are still far from truly equal chances and opportunities. The past years have seen some change, but neither German chancellor Merkel in her trouser suits nor the so-called “metrosexal” football players (Beckham and Neymar, quoted after an article in the Daily-Mail) brought much actual change. We had feminie men in the 1970s and 1980s: rock musicians with permed hair, tight jeans and stretch pants, or Rudi Carrell looking surprisingly female on some of his vintage photos.
In the executive suites of large companies, you often find old white men in classic dark suits with ties and white dress shirts, whose classic appearance perfectly reflects their backward-looking attitude and actions. Wearing suits is a matter of taste, concerning fashion, and it can look elegant and beautiful. So, a change of attitude would be much more important than a change of outer style like wearing unisex clothing and using expressive cosmetics.
“Gentlemen’s” fashion – sign over ladies’s underwear and jackets
Besides, it would probably be more sustainable to wear jackets and suits formerly worn by company leaders as second hand fashion than buying tight vegan faux leather pants at fast fashion or recycled eco fashion labels.
Body Positivity and Figure Types
Anyway, “androgynous” and “unisex” is far from mainstream culture. “Male, female, diverse”, so far, so, good (and even this is enough to upset conservative critics, even the fact that anyone dares to use gender language or questions the usual toilet signs), but even the supposedly “alternative” ecologic labels sort their jeans mostly in the usualy binary “men” and “womena” categories, as if all women and all men were the same, respectively, or more similar to each other than they differ from the other sex, despite divergent body shapes. Fashion knows many shapes of the body: skinny to curvy, ectomorphic to athlethic, or an average mixture of all of that. Alternativley popular are references to fruits or letters: apples, pears, plums, or A-, H- and E-line, differing significantly from each other independent of gender.
Sketch of body shapes and figure types (collage of search results)
The fits are as diverse as the body shapes themselves. Fortunately, the cuts of clothing are easier to vary than one’s own body. The same person can appear as a completely different figure in wide work trousers, narrow leggings, or pants with flared legs. However, using fashion to shape one’s appearance is also limited in itself.
Traditionals fashion clichés with their classic, mostly slim body types and model sizes are rightfully criticized. Body Positivity is an attitude of accepting and loving one’s own body and granting that same right to all other people as well. While body positivity is often associated or confused with plus size in public perception or rather lumped together as an alibi of diversity, a deconstruction of male ideals, not only in fashion, still lacks not only awareness but also diverse role models.
Figure-Hugging Menswear: Why at all, and if so, where to find it?
It seems like a futile attempt to buy tight men’s pants, especially in a small town. In a big city, I can ggo to Boggi Milano, while rural suppliers default to “belly size” cuts starting from 32 inch upward. What’s up? Mabye the real reason why second-hand retro pants and wellness-wear has become so popular because there is nearly no figure-hugging fashion that really fits anybody? “Skinny jeans” for men feel uncomfortably tight on my calves, but unflatteringly baggy on my bum or flattening it like I was a square toy creature. Alternative: the often more stretchable and even more figure-hugging cut female departments’ offers, sometimes even visually “unisex” when it’s a classic blue jeans by brands like Levi’s or Wrangler.
Specious Arguments against the “wrong” Fashion
Why do some pants fit that tight at the bum? Is it good to emphasize the buttocks so much? This is not merely a social and fashionable question, but ultimately, thankfully, a matter of taste. Personally, I like tight jeans and they can look good if I manage to find one the actullay fits me.
“Feminine” Figure-Enhancing (Stretch) Jeans
Transparency, String-Thongs, and gender-related Underwear
Unisex does not have to stop at deliberately separating design decisions, but it often ends where anatomy almost always differs decisively. Men, just like women, can wear strings and transparent fabrics, but the cut needs to fit! Modern metrosexual men can be grateful to the queer scene for the current diversity of swimwear and underwear. Without them, we’d possibly only have bermudas and boxer shorts by now.
Apart from fast fashion and sexism, there is ageism as well: a “jeans buying advice for men over 30” This may be well-intentioned, but in its current form it unnecessarily pigeonholes people. Further research She adds variations in detail, but impersonal fashion advice probably only works through simplification.
Depending on the source, there are about four to five different cuts for men’s jeans. Which is, by the way, even less than the number of different products for men offered by the brand Levi’s alone. There seems to be much more choice for women, but interestingly, all the pattern sketches are drawn from the front view, even though the fit at the rear is supposedly the most important thing. At least, that’s what many articles say.
The Power of Fit
“Clothes make the man” or “these jeans make your butt look great!” How great is the power that a pair of pants can have over a body’s shape? There are shapewear and push-up cuts, and those skinny jeans that used to be very popular. While loose fitting pants can either look casual or unbecomingly slaggy, tight jeans don’t look all the same either. Skin-tight skinny cut stretch fabrics emphasize what’s already there. The jeans adapt to the body to a great deal. But the tighter your wear it, the more it’s the body that has to adapt to the jeans. Worn a little “too tight” intentionally, skinny jeans become shapewear, shaping slim legs even slimmer, push-up fits lifting the buttocks and also presses them into a specific, firm, round shape. Of course, all of this is only possible to a limited extent, but it can accentuate existing body shapes or distort them unattractively.
Ecological Fair Alternatives?
Aside from style and role-playing, another problem remains: finding skimpy and transparent underwear, especially for men, which is already rare, from sustainable, ecological and fair production? Popular alternative shops often focus on timeless basics and comfortable underwear made from untreated materials, which is generally a good thing, but then they lack a natural source when a more compact item is needed. Neither second-hand nor women’s fashion can help here, but perhaps inquiries with the designers themselves and articles like this one.
P.S. Side Effects of Lingerie Research
When I get surprised by advertising banners on the internet that show half-naked people in swim trunks (not even always “safe for work”) or thong panties, When I fear with alarm that, after a brief search in relevant online shops, I will once again be haunted for months by suspicious advertisements, it is sometimes just a holiday ad, that will popup everywhere even with deleted cookies and the most restrictive privacy settings. An advertisement that was probably only not stopped as sexist because the beach figure shown is actually a man, and/or because thongs are now generally accepted as normal — except when it’s a man. What is permissible or undesirable is becoming increasingly unclear to many, especially in times of societal polarization between awareness, backlash, and double standards. What’s body-positive, sexy, or sexist is not always easy to categorize. Here are some more photo collages from publicly accessible online content to illustrate this dilemma.
“Something for every ass” (literally, meaning for everyone). “The butts of Snocks customers will be on display for a week on an LED board in Hamburg.” Source: Trade magazine Absatzwirtschaft, 2024
Dubious online advertising: why do I see lingerie on Linguee, an online translation service?
Another excerpt of image search results provided by ad-aware algorithms:
