Professional young Singaporean men are racing to catch up with their metrosexual colleagues in other parts of the world as they latch onto the trend of unashamedly buying themselves diamond jewelry, according to reports from jewelers in the city.
There has been a noticeable rise in the number of men treating themselves to jewelry, particularly ear studs, although pendants, bracelets and rings costing many thousands of dollars are also becoming popular.
These new customers are usually in the 20s and self-employed.
The new trend could be a backlash against the authoritarian rule of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who led Singapore to independence and served as Prime Minister from 1959-1990.
Known for instituting extremely tough rules for personal behavior which have continued, Lee Kuan Yew outlawed chewing gum and promoted corporal punishment, such as flogging, for petty offenders.
And it seems the atmosphere of strict discipline that Lee Kuan Yew promoted continues to have a strong influence since many of today's fashion-conscious men are said to only wear their ear studs in after work hours and at the weekend.
This article has really left me perplexed. Is the wearing of an ear ring by a male Singaporean a sign of defiance? Maybe it could be a secret sign to others? What is going on guys?
5 comments:
Being metrosexual is an act of defiance? I thought wearing earings were just signs of stupidly aping western trends. What is David Beckham being defiant about, then?
In this ridiculous country, almost anything can be deviant. In schools (and elsewhere), guys are not allowed to keep their hair long. Yet, if they shave off all their hair, they are considered to have broken the rules as well. If the hair is of acceptable length, but the guy makes some unique marking (e.g. carving out an 'O' shape), his hair would also not be acceptable.
There is an adamant effort to stamp out attempts at individuality. The effect? Uniformity. Compliance. Subservience.
What perplexes me is that the writer seems think that there are hordes of 'fashion police' roaming the streets of Singapore, bashing young men over the head. Are there?
And as for Anon 2 ,the children at school get the same demands from their teachers.
This is a really odd theory. So how about metro men the whole world round? What are they defying?
One of my Uni profs has a earring. And a few guys in the Premier Institution of Social Engineering have longish hair (though not as long as I want to keep mine).
Umm, Men really shouldn't keep long hair... Only tall hunky guys like lads from F4 can look good, and even they do come off as sissy looking at times.
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