Monkey see, monkey do.

As a man the following might sound a bit weird coming from me, but I think that all a man wants to do is to emulate another man.

That’s it. We want to be him: the guy that gets the girls, drinks his whisky, drives fast cars, lives carefree, is idolized by many and looks very sharp while doing it. The style icon.

In male fashion it’s all about emulation – heck, if we had the looks and the charisma we wanted to be Sean Connery, James Dean, Kyle West, Brad Pitt, Steve McQueen, Johnny Depp, Justin Timberlake or Marlon Brando.

Sure we do. We don’t care what the catwalk model is wearing – no, we would very much care for and resemble our icons. And so, in the office and the streets the elements of male fashion don’t change from season to season.

Suits are more or less the same since its invention: a bottom more or less, double breasted, the color of the shirt or width of a tie or trouser leg – we still are wearing coats, jeans and t-shirts. Compared with the female market (a far more dynamic market), the male fashion market is equivalent to only a 50% percentage of its value.

In England a total market value of £ 7,6 billion stood against a £ 14,9 billion in 2003 according to market-researcher Mintel’s report of 2003. I know – it’s a while ago, but get this: in terms of distribution female shoppers had 4x more choice of stores than men! Mintel says this proportion staid pretty much the same over the years. I believe them.

Whatever the figures may look now, the conclusion we can draw from this is familiar. We (men) don’t buy fashion – we buy clothes.

Fashion has always been, and always will be dynamic. But style is timeless. The former is largely concerned with the what is cool, or what trends are at what time, etc. The latter, is not. Few men exhibit times timeless cool and display of good taste, and those that have shone in the public eye deserve mention.

Sinatra embodied an era of men’s style and grace. The hard-drinking, heavy-smoking ‘Rat Pack’ founding member seemed to never lose his cool, even in the midst of his son’s kidnap debacle.

Brando’s take on men’s style would spawn generators of emulators, and his iconic style would only be emboldened by later roles in The Godfather franchise, and breaking the jaws of paparazzi. Interestingly, his grandson, Tuki Brando, is currently the face of Versace.

Busting twice on stage during the issue of the MTV music awards -drunk, proclaiming himself as the next Michael Jackson and having a bald girlfriend doesn’t stop Kanye West from be the ‘hip-hop’ face of Louis Vuitton and even designer of a new range of shoes for the French fashion house. West stands for a fresh wind (or better yet: el Nino) for hip-hop nowadays and is truly an emulators dream.

Steve McQueen was rumored to smoke a pack of cigarettes and consume whiskey, marijuana and cocaine on a daily basis, all while maintaining a 2-hr daily exercise regimen. That’s what we call dedication – both to a serious affinity for vice, as well as to maintaining a well-defined physique. The King of Cool had an effortless and oft-imitated style, which seemed to be just what the world was looking for at the time.

No wonder all brands succeeding the male fashion market offer just a little bit more than fashion. They offer the lifestyle that goes with it: the fast car, the chicks, the booze and the adventure – and we are buying into this when we buy a copy of the latest Esquire or GQ.

Wear/ read it and it’s yours, emulate!

it has been emotional.

Alfredo Silva is one of the founders of Klatergoud.com and freelance advertising strategist. Contact Alfredo?
Mail him at alfredo@klatergoud.com.