Fashion trends for men

Fashion and clothing shopping has always beenbumper time for male fashion shopping, a stark
seen to be a women's domain, something in whichcontrast to the views expressed by Acadia as
men until recently have not taken an activeshops reported an increase in takings from their
interest.male departments
However for men, fashion and the pursuit ofIt seemed suddenly there was a rise in the
couture has always flitted in and out of favour.number of males keen to spend their dosh. But
Think of the highly preened men of 17th centurywhy?
Europe with their puffed sleeves, lace collars andThe trend can be attributed to many things
powdered wigs. Today men once again areincluding an increase in men's style magazines and
interested in looking good, with roll models likethe changing patterns in the way designers are
David Beckham who enjoys shopping and has hiscatering to male customers.
own stylist - it is not 'girly' to want to wear coolHomme and GQ are among the biggest selling
clothes and be individual looking.magazines in the UK with FHM alone overtaking
Having said that most men do not lust afterthe sales of many women's monthly magazines.
fashion as obsessively as their femaleAs FHM et al increasingly feature fashion in their
counterparts and this reluctance to hop aboad thepages, they are unintentionally encouraging more
fashion bandwagon has meant that large namemen to adopt an attitude towards fashion,
retailers are having to reconsider their investmentsomething they have not being previously forced
in their range of male clothing lines as men areto do.
simply not spendign enough money on clothes.Designers that originally designed for women only
Towards the end of 2001, 'The Acadia Group' inare beginning to introduce lines for men while high
charge of some of the biggest names on the highstreet giants such as Benetton and Gap now
street, including Topshop and miss selfridge, washave extensive male sections.
to close the male departments of some of theirWho knows how long the trend will last, but for
biggest stores.the time being it seems we have seen an end to
The managing director of Acadia claimed simplythe time when women use to shop and their
that "men are not spending enough". Furthermorepartners had no choice but to stand around. The
"we are unable to cater to a market that justindustry's changing attitude with the help of the
isn't interested" his point was fairly obvious -. Ifmedia means that now while your partner shops,
you don't shop then we will focus on those thatyou can simply nip over to the male section to do
do.some shopping of you own.
However the Christmas holidays of 2001 was a