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Asia's metrosexuals: Mirror, Mirror...
By Ling Liu (Time)
Updated: 2005-10-28 09:04 TVB took a few more risks—but still hedged its bets. It divided 16 gladiators
into two camps, a "macho" team and a "debonair" team. Contestants were
introduced to the all-female contest judges and the all-female studio audience
with videos showing them leaping out of army jeeps and firing weapons while clad
in camouflage fatigues and war paint. During the talent competition, some
performed martial arts and chin-ups. But one debonair lad roller-skated around
the stage singing a French love song, while another contestant made a dress
onstage using nothing but a black cloth. Ko, the winner—he of the lime green
pants—played a dreamy ballad on the piano.
In the end, the real arbiters of what makes a man beautiful will be those
tyrants, the people who moved the goalposts in the first place: wives and
girlfriends. Some women say they can tell when men have gone too soft. "I think
men should spend one-third of their time and attention on their looks," says
Phoenix Lau, a Hong Kong college student. "But Hong Kong guys spend too much
time this way," she protests, "more than one third!" Japanese flight attendant
Motomi Asano has a higher threshold. "50 to 60% is O.K.," she says
matter-of-factly. Asano has learned to accept her fashion-crazed boyfriend as he
is, even though he spends twice as much money on clothing as she does. But
Asano, too, has her limits. "When I go shopping with him, he is all over the
place looking at everything," she says. "I sometimes think, 'For goodness
sake!'"
Make no mistake. Once you've exfoliated, there's no going back. "We are
living in a day and age when men are supposed to look more attractive," says
Park, the Seoul clothing designer. He makes no excuses for paying attention to
his appearance. "I've got nothing to hide," he says. "The fact is, women today
want men with good skin and good bodies." Guys, remember the old locker-room
adage: No vain, no gain.
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