AMERICANA

Here's an interesting article on the growing market of men who shop for themselves. It seems that menswear is becoming more prevalent in America from Wall Street to Main Street. Where their Continental and Asian counterparts have been shopping for years, American men are graduating from their usual uniform of t shirts and jeans. Check out this article by Fashion Editor, Debra Bass. ___ Men Have Been Shopping More; Now Do They Want More? By Debra D. Bass St. Louis Post-Dispatch Will men become the new women in shopping malls? Maybe. Maybe not. But most pundits and marketers and the folks who measure such things note that retailers are looking to men as the new consumer frontier. Any business model looking to expand can't rely on its tried-and-true customers (women) to double up their efforts. Instead they have to look at new recruits to boost sales. More men started shopping for themselves within the past decade, and the numbers are holding steady, according to the U.S. Malls shopping pattern report. Male shoppers make up just under 40 percent of mall shoppers, and they spend nearly as much as women per visit ($93 for men; $101 for women). And within the latest period studied 2005-2007, men started making more trips to the mall on average than women. According to the report the average guy made 3.1 visits to the mall each month and women made 2.9 visits. Not a huge difference. Both men and women have been hitting the malls less in recent years, but now that it looks like women are not going to pick up the slack at cash registers, retailers are looking to men to lift the consumer slump. Sure, men aren't skipping lunch to hit a sale with their buddies, high-fiving over a killer find from the clearance rack or pondering the new colors for spring _ yet _ but they are shopping more and ostensibly enjoying it. Jerry Talamantes of Dillard's Midwest division said, "You cannot imagine our menswear efforts this year. We're very excited about it because we're stepping out of the box." WOMEN SHOP, MEN BUY Talamantes said that men shop differently than women, and so stores are experimenting with how far they will go if stores sell appealing products. He said that men don't need any more classic, conventional pieces that look like the items they already own. To that end, Dillard's ( www.dillards.com ) is trying to get men to buy garments that are more fitted because a slimmer silhouette will help them notice the difference in clothing. He said that if they can just get guys to scale down half a size, men will start to appreciate the differences in men's fashion. Talamantes said that getting men to invest in the vest as a wardrobe staple will help. "The vest isn't such a massive departure for guys," Talamantes said. "It's an easy sell, and if it's the right fit, it's very slimming either opened or closed. And men who don't wear fashion vests might look for outerwear versions made of waterproof or corduroy." He said that stores have to find ways to get men excited about new fashion. "They have no choice. The market is saturated with classic clothes," Talamantes explained. "How many plaid shirts can a guy own? There has to be a new vibe. So we have to make sure there are more wide collars and separated collar shirts, more items that add dimension to the male body. That's key." Saks Fifth Avenue is aiming a little higher in its product offerings under a new label of Saks Fifth Avenue Men's Collection. The retailer realized that it was missing a range of products that fit into a moderate upscale price point. A cashmere ribbed zip-front cardigan will still run you about $395, a purple checked shirt can be had for $135 and a wool glen plaid puffer vest will cost about $495. "There's a guy who thinks of Saks as too trendy and too expensive, and we needed a way to reach him," said Eric Jennings, vice president and fashion director of menswear, home, food and gifts. He said, "This is a large undertaking, and we are all holding our breath." HELLO, MANTYHOSE But in the age of the manbags, guyliner (men in black eyeliner) and murdles (guy girdles), men have shown a willingness to experiment. OK, only a few, but a funny thing happens when radical ideas or fashions start to seep into the mainstream, it shifts middle ground and brings acceptance to ideas that would have seemed too outlandish earlier. So I was only a little surprised when our friends overseas decided to expand our outer limits with mantyhose. That's right, men's pantyhose. Selfridges (the British equivalent of a Barney's New York) recently announced that it will sell Mantihose by Unconditional for about $112. And because once you go "mantihose" you might lose all inhibitions, the store will also sell a mini kilt for men, also by Unconditional for about $436. Reactions, as you'd expect, have been mixed. The bloggers at stylelist.com said: "That's it. We are so hibernating this winter. Wake us up when it's over." But nylongene.com, hosted by Steve Newman, a vehement supporter of men's hosiery, said: "Men's legwear (sheer or otherwise) is a completely masculine garment if worn in conjunction with otherwise male attire." Men's tights have been around for quite some time in sports performance enhancement (runners' tights) and cold-weather apparel (long johns). There's even a blog, E-Mancipate ( www.e-mancipate.net ), that preaches the virtues of men's pantyhose with unabashed real-men-wear-tights fervor. And if the crowd at New York Fashion Week can be seen as a harbinger of things to come, there were men in heels, skirts, hosiery and makeup in attendance. But rather than cross-dressing, the men were simply looking for more options than the typical male uniform affords. Men who wore kilts and tights chose dark colors and otherwise dressed in men's suiting. The guys in heels were only obvious because they tended to tower at heights of around 6-foot-5. And the men who chose makeup tended to only enhance their eyes with a subtle smoky treatment or put a little hint of tinted gloss on their lips. Nothing that guys on the fringe haven't been doing for years, but how will it affect the mainstream? Women have been holding up the frivolous shopping, uncomfortable shoes, restrictive garment, time-consuming beauty products, trend-fever consumerism for years. It's about time men joined the fun. ___ (c) 2009, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Visit the Post-Dispatch on the World Wide Web at http://www.stltoday.com / Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.