Twenty years ago, my essay ‘Meet the Metrosexual’ was published on the (then) popular online US magazine Salon.com, introducing my insistently pretty offspring to America. Both the piece and he went virulently viral, starting an outbreak of global metrosexmania that lasted years. Thousands of media outlets ran items on him. Several books were written… Read More »Meet the Metrosexual – Twenty Years On
China’s ruling Communist Party has reportedly finally had enough of impossible male prettiness, and is cracking down on the promotion of metrosexuality. ‘Sissy’ boybands, ‘vulgar’ social media influencers, reality TV and ‘abnormal esthetics’ have been denounced by China’s mighty broadcast regulator, The National Radio and Television Administration. They have, according… Read More »China’s Metrosexual Crackdown
Football may not be coming home, after England’s Euros finals defeat earlier this year. But football’s greatest star, and perhaps the world’s most famous face and body, is going to be ‘back where I belong’. In England. According to his recent Insta post (336m followers). The striking Portuguese striker Cristiano… Read More »Ronaldo’s Coming Home
We’re all living in Nick Kamen’s Launderette now Another fondly remembered part of the 1980s finished its last cycle last week. Nick Kamen, real name Ivor Neville Kamen, the Essex-born much-gasped-over star of the famous 1985 Levi’s 501 male striptease ‘Launderette’ TV ad, checked out. He was just fifty-nine. Sadly,… Read More »Jeans-Genie – The Lecherous Legacy of Those 80s Levi’s Ads
Back in early March I contributed over the phone to a Slate magazine podcast by Willa Paskin on the history of the metrosexual Stateside. I first wrote about my insufferably pretty offspring in the UK’s Independent newspaper in 1994 – but in 2002 I introduced him to the US on… Read More »Metrosexual Podcastery