Luxury trend : the male as an object
What do the new Motorola Aura mobile phone
and Emporio Armani underwear have in common ?
David Beckham for Emporio Armani, June 2009
The shiny moisturized body of David Beckham!
David Beckham for Motorola “Aura”, May 2009
The basic archetype of the man with athletic body, which used to out of date while Hedi Slimane was ruling the world of fashion business, seems now to take over again the collective imagination of success. The long thin body is now out, welcome back the cult of a sharp brawny body!
Photo Hedi Slimane - Blog : Hedi Slimane Diary
This testimony of manly aesthetic revival is also overlapping another emerging trend : it is the birth of the male as a sex-object, a kind of “toy-boy” meant for working-girl leisure
Photo Matthias Vrien for Numéro, June 2009
Lets figure out why ?
In the early 80s, the advertisers did not hesitate to unveil women to increase business sales
“Tomorrow I take off the bikini” (Avenir, 1981)
Since women got rid of the old fashion housewife stereotype to be rewarded for their personal, social and professional influence (bringing their financial independence), they pulled the trigger of new relationships between men and women ….
Working Girl, 1988
…which also redefine each other’s position !
D Squared Campaign , 2006
Since influencers, blogs and media focus and give more attention to a kind of social singularity and women with customized fashion style, the body obsession which used to be supported with the aesthethic surgery boom seems now to run out of steam.
Une fille-Un Style par Garance Dore pour VOGUE
From now on, the woman happens less concerned with matching the conventional beauty standards to be sexy, though she remain sensitive to an aesthetic personality.
Now question : Is society becoming less sensitive to advertisements with nude women (since we had too many for long years) than the athletic body of a man? Who drives that new hunger for body male obsession ?
The man as an object is not a Chippendale nor a “niche” culture for gays. It is a society phenomenon like the pin-up used to be at her time. The man as an object is becoming a standard and is likely an aspirational type to sell more !
Agent Provocateur, Sirens campaign ,2009
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