Remember “metrosexual”? David Beckham made his name in the world of fashion and entertainment by being both fashion-conscious and a superb football player—seemingly two contradictory traits. He became an icon of the metrosexual trend.

“Metrosexual” felt like a breath of fresh air when it opened the door for men to enhance their appearance without being stigmatized as effeminate or gay. David Beckham’s half-naked billboard ads for men’s underwear barely stirred any moral backlash or accusations of corrupting masculine ideals. Instead, he was hailed as a symbol of the “new man”—someone unafraid to show off his looks. With his signature hairstyle—short on the sides and curled up in the front—Beckham seemed to break the gender barrier that had confined beauty to the feminine sphere, freeing men from the stigma associated with moving beyond traditional masculine ideals to focus on physical aesthetics.

When the metrosexual trend reached Korean shores, it had largely become a fashion trend, with its gender-barrier-breaking impact seeming like a thing of the past. Under the blessing of metrosexual to pursue their ideal body and face, men flocked to gyms, beauty salons, and fashion stores where diverse forms of male identity were on display. Styles like “urban cool,” “traditional English,” “street-smart,” and “hip-hop infusion” competed for the attention of men seeking off-the-rack identities, from alpha male to retro-chic intellectual, or the everyman with a peculiar sense of taste.

With the rise of style-centered men, notable changes in male character portrayals began to appear in TV series like Secret Garden (2010) and Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016).

Both are among the most popular Korean dramas of the 2000s, with significant international followings, and they distinctly depart from traditional portrayals of men whose sense of self is independent of their appearance. In Secret Garden, Ju-won, a young CEO of a luxury department store company, is self-centered, uncompromising, selfish, and childlike in his pursuit of whatever he desires. He frequently dons a high-necked, sequin-covered tracksuit, and his personality and fashion sense are deeply intertwined. He even boasts that his tracksuit is crafted by an Italian master, implying that both his clothing and sense of self are too refined to be understood by less sophisticated eyes.

The association of men and aesthetics such as fashion and grooming somehow result in men being depicted as infantile fixated on interests of young boys, for example, the heroic duties of saving the world.  In Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, two main characters, Kim Shin, an immortal warrior from the ancient Goryeo kingdom, and the Angel of Death, who was once human but has lost all memories of his past life, are both frozen in their early thirties. They share a home filled with delicate items, such as dainty tea sets, and their wardrobes feature distinctive pieces like fedora hats, sailor-inspired coats, and sweaters with geometric patterns. Their purpose on Earth is to maintain the balance between good and evil and to protect a young girl named Eun-tak. Although they are technically deceased, their lifestyle could serve as an aspirational model for pre-adolescent boys, who might dream of creating a self-contained world insulated from parental influence and societal expectations.

The metrosexual trend effectively transformed the notion of men being beautiful from something subversive to widely accepted. The men’s fashion and grooming industry has perhaps been the biggest beneficiary of this unexpected shift, as the pressure to conform to traditional ideals of masculinity gives way to a desire to follow new style trends. However, the social hierarchy among men remains intact, even as traditional markers of masculinity—such as physical strength and authority—have lost some of their relevance. Now, beauty has become a powerful tool for asserting status, with men using appearance and style as markers of their worth. Nowhere is this phenomenon more visible than in online spaces, where men project their carefully curated images, reinforcing new standards of masculinity shaped by aesthetics.