Men are finally beefing up their fashion vocabularies with terms like cap sleeves and capris. Once clueless to fashion lingo, today’s man can proudly carry on a dialogue adorned with fashion terms and trends. Finally, men are finding a way to embrace high fashion, and America has Carson to thank for this liberation.
Our favorite member of ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ is doing what Carrie Bradshaw did for millions of women. In 1998, Carrie strutted her stuff, paving the streets of New York into a runway for girls and women tuned into HBO’s ‘Sex and the City.’ Her daring skirts and baring shirts brought the hottest trends from Paris right into our own dull living rooms.
Since Carrie’s risky and unique style hit TVs and magazines nationwide, the word ‘trendy’ has taken on a new meaning for women. Last fall, women traded in their subdued brooches for overgrown fabric flowers, their polite and neatly coordinated work suits for confusing-yet-coordinated works of fashion art, and their long repressed sense of style for a wardrobe of self-expression. The days when only J. Lo could pull off a fedora are over women are (rightfully) sashaying into the fashion world.
While Manolos are clicking underneath Carrie’s heels, Giorgio is clinging to Samantha’s curves and Kate is swinging from Charlotte’s grip, it’s not the clothes that make the girls their personalities make the clothes priceless. Carrie pioneered this trend in women’s lib by doing what designers have been doing for years she defined fashion as personal expression. This fashionista encouraged women to throw a pinch of their own flair into the typical Coco fashion recipe. Her sleek stilettos and tiny dresses accessorize her quick, New York wit and lighthearted look on life. Bringing humor and edge to HBO, this sexy star made high fashion a reality for women in every city … or suburb.
Following Carrie’s lead, TV personality Carson is pulling stylishly repressed men out of their pitiful closets. This fabulous figure brings the trendiest and edgiest new styles to men who didn’t think they had a chance. He doesn’t just make a shy, frumpy keyboardist into a neat, presentable package he transforms him into a hip front man ready for the red carpet.
Like Carrie, his fashion predecessor, Carson uses his sharp wit and strong personality to tease out fashion apprehensions and insecurities, reminding men that fashion is fun for everyone. In fact, this Fab Five member practices what he preaches. Coordinating his bright pinks and reds with off-the-cuff, politically incorrect humor, and matching his distressed leather pants with the confidence of a male model, Carson uses his unique personality as his canvas. His mini fashion shows teach America that you don’t have to be a social extrovert to look like a million bucks. Coordinating each straight guy’s new wardrobe with his personality, Carson tailor fits fashion to each Tom, Dick and Harry.
Of course, not every man is ready to leap into a pair of drawstring linen pants fashion for men is still in its early stage of psychosocial development. But many men will turn their heads for a second look at their newly-made over buddies and think, ‘If he can look like that, I can too.’ The fashion bug spreads quickly.
In a society where we’re constantly fighting for civil rights and equal opportunities, it doesn’t seem suitable that men don’t have an equal right to be fashion heroes. It wasn’t until recently that men’s fashion took leaps and bounds. In 2001, Derek Zoolander, Male Model, focused the nation’s attention to the growing industry of male models. Now and then, TLC’s ‘A Makeover Story’ features male makeovers. Finally, men have Carson to ask, ‘Does this look all right?’
‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ is revolutionary, focusing its gaze on men only. For once, guys are being admired by their wives, girlfriends and mothers for their amazing transformations.