There’s something wild about how we treat self-care. When a woman takes time to dress up or pamper herself, she’s praised. A diva. Fancy. Put-together. But when a man does the same?
Suddenly, he’s “sassy” or “unmanly.” The double standard is loud. And while guys are usually the loudest critics of each other in this space, women aren’t innocent bystanders. They often sprinkle some salt in too.
Zoom out a bit and you’ll see how society still expects men to tick off an exhausting checklist:
be the breadwinner, be tall, be handsome, be successful, be emotionally intelligent, and the list keeps growing. Now imagine being a man in fashion. If you’re a photographer, that’s macho.
Technical. Man-approved. If you’re a tailor making classic suits and ties? Respect, soldier. Carry on. But the moment you start loving bright colours, bold prints, or flowy fabrics, you are suddenly “too much.” A little “too feminine.” A little “too extra.” Tough crowd.
But the gender divide doesn’t stop at who makes or models the clothes. It’s baked into how we shop too. Stats show women spend 226% more on fashion than men. Meanwhile, toxic masculinity has dudes out here flexing about wearing the same pair of jeans for two years like it is a personality trait. Wake up, guys. Looking good doesn’t make you less of a man. It just means you’ve got taste.
Now here’s the plot twist. Fashion runs on hyper-femininity for its image and sales, but when it comes to power? It’s mostly men holding the reins. Leadership roles, brand ownership, big decision-making seats. Dominated by men. And yet, 82.7% of fashion designers are women. So how is it that men get sidelined at the bottom but dominate the top? Something’s not adding up. Maybe it’s because we’ve been framing it all wrong. It’s not men vs. women. It’s people vs. a system that thrives on division. A cycle that boxes us into roles and expectations. Women wouldn’t have to gatekeep leadership if they were genuinely given the space to rise. And men wouldn’t feel the need to protect their top-floor status if the rest of the industry wasn’t so aggressively coded as “feminine.”
The fix? Simpler than it sounds. Make every role in design, modeling, and merchandising open and appealing to everyone, no matter their gender. Create space for passion without judgment, for talent without labels. And on a bigger level, maybe we all just need to realise that whether you sparkle in sequins or keep it sharp in a suit, style isn’t about gender. It’s about feeling like your best self. Period.
