He’s So Vain . . . : (He Probably Thinks This Story’s About Him) : Fashion: More men, experts say, are beginning to own up to their vanity. Chest-hair dyeing, pectoral implants and liposuction are among some of the looks-enhancing ‘options.’
He watches himself intently in the mirror, gut sucked in, sweat streaming, muscles rippling, teeth clenched.
“Finally, I can fit into these Size 31 jeans,” he says triumphantly.
Meet the new breed of man.
He’s sleek, he’s slim and he’s doing what women have been doing for ages: He’s openly talking about his body. He might do it under the guise of health and fitness, but deep down, it’s plain old-fashioned vanity that drives him in his quest for the perfect physique.
“Men have gotten away with murder in the eyes of women and other men in appearing to be less vain,” says Dr. Barry Glassner, author of “Bodies: Overcoming the Tyranny of Perfection.”
“Men are terribly vain and always have been,” says Glassner, chairman of the USC sociology department.
In the not-so-distant past, men could get away with a potbelly and a $4 haircut. And an unsightly blemish would never keep a real man from leaving the house.
But times are changing.
“Men are coming out of the closet with their mirrors,” says Beverly Hills psychologist Susan Krevoy.
Nowadays, not only do men spend loads of money on beauty supplies and subject themselves to exotic procedures, they even obsess about their weight.
Just check out the local gym.
Marcus Carter, 34, works out daily. He says he and his friends talk about weight, working out and diets constantly. Carter, who lives in Los Angeles, knows the best manner and time to exercise to burn the most calories and fat, and he doesn’t eat fried foods or red meat. He is proud of the fact that he weighs only 15 pounds more than he did in junior high.
“There is a lot of competition out there, in terms of getting dates,” says Carter, an actor. “The babes want (men) with bodies. And I want to look the best I can in this materially and physically oriented city.”
The number of men buying health and fitness books is also on the rise: At Crown Books in Westwood, sales to men have risen 20% to 30% in the past year, says assistant manager Stacey Florence. These buyers are not obese but are average guys--”suits” in their 30s and 40s and students.
“There are also more books for men,” says Florence. “Not Arnold Schwarzenegger books, but ‘gutbuster’ books targeted toward everyday guys. They’re more open about caring what they look like.”
Indeed, the illusive V-shape is becoming almost as important to men as, well, the car they drive.
“The body obsession is transferring from women to men. Plus no woman wants to be seen with a man with a potbelly. It’s unsightly,” says designer Maggie Barry, whose clothes are made with Lycra.
A decade ago, men wouldn’t have been caught dead in her form-fitting fashions. Now they’re a statement.
The “ideal man” these days--as portrayed in magazines and movies--is not only fit, but he’s getting thinner. A spread in People magazine recently featured Michael Douglas, Dwight Yoakam and Luke Perry flaunting their under 30-inch waists.
Male models must also be leaner and trimmer.
They are asked to be “tall and slim, like what women had to go through in the ‘70s and ‘80s,” says Jason Kanner, an agent at Boss Models Inc. in Manhattan. He says companies are requesting men with waists under 30 inches.
The concept of thinness equaling beauty is largely a result of the health and fitness revolution, and it’s a relatively new phenomenon in the history of bodies. At one time being fat was a sign of prosperity; it showed you could afford to eat well, says Clinton Sanders, a University of Connecticut sociologist.
In 19th-Century Europe, for example, a belly was a status symbol. And in Hawaii, royalty and other important people were force-fed until they became appropriately obese.
But while women became slaves to Slimfast, men were on the Lard and Sugar Diet. Now, thin is in for men too--as is looking chiseled and young.
These days, men can choose from a plethora of attractiveness-enhancing procedures, from cosmetic surgery and liposuction; to hair, calf and pectoral implants; to chest-hair dying and face patterning. About 20% of cosmetic surgery is done on males, up from about 5% just 10 years ago, according to the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.
Cosmetic companies have product lines for men, and the men’s grooming industry has grown to a $2.5-billion business annually. These services and products are not aimed only at a certain type of man; they are being used, if only in small measure, by everyman.
But one 41-year-old insurance broker says that although it’s becoming more acceptable for men to care about their grooming, women and men alike still think it’s odd that he gets manicures, pedicures and facials.
“I’ve had women I’ve dated tell me I take better care of myself than they do. But it makes me feel better,” says the unemployed Marina del Rey resident, who doesn’t want his name used because of what potential employers might think. He has also had three nose jobs as well as a face peel. And although he is very thin, he says he gets upset if he gains any weight because he “doesn’t want to get out of control.”
He admits some of his concern stems from neuroses: “I often think that it’s an outside job--that if I look the right way I would feel better.”
It’s not that men haven’t always cared about their looks. A man or two has been known to secretly primp for hours, sulk over a bad haircut and flex in front of the mirror.
But while billboards, magazines and movies have constantly bombarded women with images of how they should look, it has been only recently that men have been confronted with the same barrage.
“What the popular culture does is present ideal types, attractive people, that make us presume that attractive people are happy people,” says sociologist Sanders, who specializes in popular culture. “In the past, that wasn’t focused on men. That’s changed.”
Bob Conti, a 33-year-old lawyer, started working out after he saw an extra 10 pounds of gut. He goes to the gym five days a week--if he’s being “good”--and carefully monitors his weight. He says he and his friends talk incessantly about nutrition and different ways of working out.
“There is a tremendous societal pressure on relatively young, single men to look a certain way,” he says. “We’re inundated with images in the media. I would like my life to be like a light beer ad--everyone is in shape, tan and looks fantastic.”
Ten years ago, the only magazine focusing on men’s appearance was GQ. Now there is M, Details and Esquire, as well as a number of European magazines.
“The images in the media has influenced the average guy,” says Vahe Shaghzo, who runs the men’s division of LA Models. “Men’s concern about their looks is absolutely catching up to women’s.”
In another relatively new development, advertisers are using men’s bodies to sell.
“Ultimately, we’re selling sex, and women like to see men with nice bodies, broad shoulders and the V-shape,” Shaghzo says.
And while men have always openly objectified women’s bodies, women were not encouraged to do the same to men’s. Instead, men were judged by their power, money and prestige.
All that changed, says Krevoy, with the women’s movement and the sexual revolution. Only fairly recently has it been acceptable for women to openly look at men’s bodies.
“It’s always been about looking at women’s bodies,” she says. “Before, women didn’t think ‘he has nice buns,’ let alone say it. Now you see women cackling over lunch, looking at men.”
And as women become more financially independent, taking on traditionally “male” roles in society, psychologists say, men are more able to acknowledge that “female” side of themselves: their vanity.
“Men have the same neurosis women do,” says Marty Weiss, manager of Sammy Dinar, a men’s clothing store in Beverly Hills.
“When a man gets up in the morning, he wants to look good to himself and to everyone out there he meets. He wants to have people notice him for his attractiveness and grooming. . . . He wants to stand out as much as a woman.”
