| Fashion and clothing shopping has always been | | | | bumper time for male fashion shopping, a stark |
| seen to be a women's domain, something in which | | | | contrast to the views expressed by Acadia as |
| men until recently have not taken an active | | | | shops reported an increase in takings from their |
| interest. | | | | male departments |
| However for men, fashion and the pursuit of | | | | It 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 century | | | | why? |
| Europe with their puffed sleeves, lace collars and | | | | The trend can be attributed to many things |
| powdered wigs. Today men once again are | | | | including an increase in men's style magazines and |
| interested in looking good, with roll models like | | | | the changing patterns in the way designers are |
| David Beckham who enjoys shopping and has his | | | | catering to male customers. |
| own stylist - it is not 'girly' to want to wear cool | | | | Homme 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 after | | | | the sales of many women's monthly magazines. |
| fashion as obsessively as their female | | | | As FHM et al increasingly feature fashion in their |
| counterparts and this reluctance to hop aboad the | | | | pages, they are unintentionally encouraging more |
| fashion bandwagon has meant that large name | | | | men to adopt an attitude towards fashion, |
| retailers are having to reconsider their investment | | | | something they have not being previously forced |
| in their range of male clothing lines as men are | | | | to do. |
| simply not spendign enough money on clothes. | | | | Designers that originally designed for women only |
| Towards the end of 2001, 'The Acadia Group' in | | | | are beginning to introduce lines for men while high |
| charge of some of the biggest names on the high | | | | street giants such as Benetton and Gap now |
| street, including Topshop and miss selfridge, was | | | | have extensive male sections. |
| to close the male departments of some of their | | | | Who 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 simply | | | | the time when women use to shop and their |
| that "men are not spending enough". Furthermore | | | | partners had no choice but to stand around. The |
| "we are unable to cater to a market that just | | | | industry's changing attitude with the help of the |
| isn't interested" his point was fairly obvious -. If | | | | media means that now while your partner shops, |
| you don't shop then we will focus on those that | | | | you can simply nip over to the male section to do |
| do. | | | | some shopping of you own. |
| However the Christmas holidays of 2001 was a | | | | |