Last year on my LJ I asked what "chav" meant as I'd never heard the term before, let alone imagined the excitement of Burberry.
I was introduced today to the term "metrosexual" after one of my male colleagues was talking about how there was no way he was into grooming products - "just a bit of aftershave". I am familiar with the term "new man", which was a 90s buzz word for a guy that got in touch with his feelings. "Metrosexual" was apparently one of the buzz words of 2003.
I find the definitions interesting:
This is the original one from a book written by British journalist Mark Simpson in 2003
"...a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis - because that's where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Particular professions, such as modeling, waiting tables, media, pop music and, nowadays, sport, seem to attract them but, truth be told, like male vanity products and herpes, they're pretty much everywhere."
(this appears on Wikipedia along with pictures of David Beckham and Brad Pitt.
Here's the American abbreviation of it: "a guy who is definitely straight, but has embraced the worlds of grooming, facials, shopping with women and ... their feminine side"
So it would seem that the metrosexual has replaced the new man. In this new century, it's not enough for a guy to get in touch with his sensitive or "feminine" side, he also has to smell good.
Ah my, are there any self-admitting metrosexuals out there reading this?
On a similar vein, this is quite funny. It fulfills the looking-good requirements (the equivalent of a padded bra ; ) )
http://www.buttforyou.com/