Make Up Your Mind

Men’s wariness about wearing makeup is evidence that they are still imprisoned by outdated notions of emasculation.

- Wilson Lim

My earliest memory of a man wearing makeup is Japanese pop idol Takuya Kimura appearing in a Kanebo print advertisement with pink lips and holding a lipstick. That blew many men’s minds out of the water – is Kimura gay? Clearly, the marketing strategy then was to sell lipstick to women as Kimura was the reigning heartthrob then, and everybody wanted a piece of him, even to the extent of “wearing” the same lipstick as him. Twenty-three years later, it is evident that Kimura is undoubtedly heterosexual as his 15-year-old daughter had her successful modeling debut last year. But the correlation between men and makeup has since been set in stone – that relationship should never exist.

Fast forward to the year 2019, and the preceding years, many “indie” brands have created distinct makeup products, from foundation to mascaras, specifically for men but found little success. In case any men reading this is wondering what the above does, foundation layers one’s face with powder for a flawless appearance while mascaras help lengthen and darken eyelashes. These will be the same men who would undoubtedly ask, “Why?”

As we progress towards the next decade, and society is warming up to the term “gender nonconformity”, it still comes as a shock that makeup is regarded in a distinct binary way – for her only. While lesser brands have failed to make an impact with their makeup for men, Tom Ford and Chanel seem poised to succeed at changing the game with the latter even naming its range “Boy de Chanel”.