The Metrosexual's New Clothes

Abstract

In analyzing the metrosexual and drawing on the work of Mark Simpson, this article argues that metrosexuality relates to the dressed, not naked, body. It also highlights the history and variations in form and expression of the metrosexual from the post-war period to the present day, illustrating how the metrosexual is a shifting kaleidoscope of relations between masculinity and sexuality, the body and clothing. Particular attention is given to the suit as the dominant form of modern, western men's dress and as a system of bodily adornment that has shifted over time. Underpinning this is a more unilinear development of the mediatization, commodification, feminization, and infantilization of fashionable masculinity. In sum, it is argued that furthering the understanding of the metrosexual and his relationship to masculinity and sexuality requires greater attention to men's clothes, which was otherwise rendered invisible in much of the preceding analysis.