By: Catherine Wang

What features do you think about when someone asks you to consider what the perfect man should look like? When most people think about the features of a “perfect guy”, they usually think about blue or green eyes, a muscular body, and being tall. These features are what many believe make a guy handsome and perfect. But that’s all in the past. In modern days, places like the fashion, film, and modeling industry have started to welcome more diversity of men.

Throughout the world, the image of an ideal man was never really reflected on an average man. But social media apps such as Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok have started changing these standards by showing men who previously would have been deemed “not perfect”. Ben James, who is a British model and TikTok influencer is trying to change the way we see plus-sized men. Back in 2019, Ben was plus-sized and was able to model for many different brands with other models who didn’t all look the same and were all different and unique in their own way. Ben tells BBC Culture that the purpose of his work was to: “[give] comfort and confidence to boys and men alike, it tells them that they are wanted, and they are worthy.”

While it’s easy to say that many plus sized female stars are widely celebrated and acknowledged. It isn’t too easy to say that plus sized males have been getting the same amount of attention. However, celebrity Rihanna’s lingerie brand has showcased and recognized many men of different shapes and races. Ben also stated, “I’d like to see the industry improved by having different body shapes used in never-before-seen ways. Why can’t we have a ‘dad bod’ in a fragrance campaign, or a lead role in a film? The focus needs to shift from these unnaturally attained physiques that even the actors themselves can’t sustain”.

Alexander Edmonds, who is a professor of anthropology, tells BBC Culture, “Due to the legacy of slavery and colonialism [Western] images of the beautiful man have always been very white and in the past, there were fewer barriers for this to change but this may be happening now.” Nowadays, many black models commonly appear on the covers of famous magazines, unlike magazines of the past. This really shows how the fashion industry has really gotten more diverse and has started to embrace models of different bodies and races.

“Stereotypical male aesthetics and behaviors are changing,” said Edmonds. “They’re no longer the ideal for younger people, Generation Z champion androgyny. This is happening a lot in East Asia, especially in South Korean pop culture”. In fact, South Korea’s beauty standards for men have turned into looking more feminine than masculine. K-Pop boy bands are starting to become more popular. Take boy group BTS, for example, known for their colorful and fun hair and makeup. Although this type of beauty was deemed “not handsome” by traditional and regular western beauty standards, it now is.

Many other ethnicities in East-Asia’s beauty standards are also very diverse. Korean American model Dae Na says, “When I first started there were handful of Asian models, but now you see multiples. Exponentially, it just kind of grew as the industry geared more towards Asian buyers or [the] Asian market”. With high populations and high net worth people in Asia, brands want to take models of different ethnicities to be the face of their way they can create a connection to consumers.

And it seems that male models are finally catching up on attention, money, and success to female models. Model Sean O’ Pry has made his career last 15 years, making him one of the most wealthy and successful supermodels of all time. Since he was chosen to be the love interest of Taylor Swift in her music video Blank Space, “It’s the best-known moment of my career.” Sean told BBC Culture. “My career took a different road after that. It opened more doors for me. I’m very thankful, as I was able to be a part of that.” Since he has been on the covers of many magazines, yet he was still able to maintain his fame and success. He also reveals in the BBC Culture interview how he does it. “You have to maintain humility in the industry. I’m going up against people that are all in casting – dark hair, blue eyes. I’m going up against guys that look exactly like me, and you have to be able to separate yourself. That’s a part of who you are on set and how you act and present yourself. I didn’t try and make my face look a certain way. This job kind of fell in my lap.”

Another beauty standard for men who are from the Mediterranean was “dark, tall, and handsome”. This trope was commonly used in the 1920s to describe Italian Hollywood star Rudolph Valentino. But even after Valentino’s death, it is still a commonly used idiom. Italian actor Michele Morrone is now considered to go with the idiom “dark, tall, and handsome” beauty standard. Michele is commonly known for starring in the hit Netflix show 365 Days. He plays the dark mafia boss, a figure from fantasy for his many fans.

Morrone told BBC Culture, “I can’t deny my looks helped me in getting the role, because I fit the exact characteristics of Massimo; he’s tall with brown hair. But if they chose another actor, would it be the same? You can have the look but if you don’t know how to dance…” Morrone also mentioned, it was challenging for him to get a role in any movie because of his looks. “It’s very difficult for a good-looking guy to get work as a serious actor because people think to be an actor you should not be this good looking. I don’t know why they have this concept. I had a casting every week for 10 years, I did not get the roles.”

Now, the traditional type of a perfect man has been starting to become more diverse. This didn’t just open opportunities for models of different ethnicities to become famous, but models of older ages have also become more famous too. Look at Anthony Verrechia, Wang De Shun, who is known as “China’s Hottest Grandpa” (which I find very hilarious), and Claudia Schiffer. With this new opening of difference in models, these people (or elders should I say) are starting to get more opportunities and becoming more successful.

Male model Orlando Hobechi told the Guardian not too long ago, “About four years ago I noticed and increase in the use of older models suddenly there was interest in older people’s stories.” Hobechi also adds that, “Age isn’t the turn-off it used to be. Over the last 30 years, we’ve seen cool young people age – you can be older now and still cool and relevant… People want to see people who look like themselves represented.”

Some things stay the same and some things change. They could change for the better, or for the worse. We don’t know. But for now, we are in the present, so we’ll just have to wait and see for the future.