The publication’s three cover stars signal the comeback of old-fashioned, proud values
Composite: Handout
What does masculinity cruel in 2016? If the cover stars of American GQ’s Men of the Year issue are anything to go by, it sounds to be all about the comeback of traditional alpha-male values.
In fashion, it’s been a year of mixed-gender reveal b stand outs, gladiatorial public nudity and the continued rise of the male shaping industry – beauty products, in particular. But the rise of Donald Trump and “locker live talk” has changed the mainstream dialogue about what it have in views to be a man.
American GQ’s Men of the Year on that return to old-fashioned values. Unlike the magazine’s line-up of the 13 most in style men in the world right now – which included such trend-mixing peacocks as Expected, Harry Styles and Drake – this new list is notable for how by the skin of ones teeth it sees the spectrum of masculinity.
Three different magazine substitutes feature the world’s fastest man (Usain Bolt), a world-famous lothario (Warren Beatty) and the actor Ryan Reynolds, whose 50s pin-up looks nod to a olden era of Hollywood gender norms. Reynolds sports a tux in box-ticking mid-blue; Shock goes shirtless, wearing a D’Angelo-like chain; Beatty, meantime, returns to the Ivy League look he so often sported at the beginning of his speed.
That there’s a such distinct lack of space for deviation or variant approaches in these covers is intriguing on an anthropological level. It appearance ofs that we’ve been moving through different iterations of masculine personality (metrosexuality, spornosexuality) for a while and that now we may have looped retaliation on ourselves.
