Men Don't Feel Bad When They See This, They Just Stop Buying.

I've tried twice to compose this entry and each time stopped. This is for the simple reason that anyone reading will take one look at a photograph of a male model and think "Oh, I don't know seven dials was gay". Well, I'm not. But you won't be able to stop yourself thinking it when you page down.

And that's why no-one has ever written anything about the subject of male models. Female models they can hardly stop themselves withering on about. If it isn't about how fabulous the girl is, it's about how she's making every other woman in the country feel fat and less-than. Now, how a grown woman could suppose than she's supposed to look like the cutie above, I have no idea.

Because I don't think I'm supposed to look like these guys. If you told me I was, I'd give you the number of the Tavistock Institute and suggest you sign up for some group therapy. I have no idea if they are straight or gay, but I know what fantasy the stylist and photographer are asking them to project.

I don't know how it works for you, but an ad works for me if I can identify in a good way with the people and the message. I see Chris Cox at easyandelegantlife or Guiseppe at An Affordable Wardrobe wearing or discussing something and I pay attention. This is because they are closer to my age and general bodyshape so what works for them might work for me. I see the ad below and I'd like to be able to pay more attention but that just is never going to be my life again. One reason I pay attention is because he has a slight Orlando Bloom thing going and Orlando is the kind of guy I'd've liked to look like when I was his age.

So who are they selling to? I've always had the suspicion that all those high-end editorial pieces in Vogue and Harpers are aimed at the mistresses of rich men. Here's some more stuff for your sugar daddy to buy for you. Is someone telling me that i-D is aiming at the, ahhh, same-market-different-gender? I would at this point put in a photograph from GQ to prove that other magazines use the same sharp-faced, high-cheekboned look on their boy models, except I won't go near GQ now until they stop using those kinds of models. I'd like to wear some of those clothes, but the idea that someone would think I identified with those models is just plain off-putting.

Here's the thing. I don't feel bad because I see implausible-looking boys in fashion spreads. I just stop buying the magazine. (Unless, like i-D, it has more pictures of implausibly-pretty girls in it.) Are we sure that women don't feel the same way and do the same thing? And that all the fuss about how bad the average female feels on seeing an Abby Lee pictorial is, well, just more self-promotion for the fashion business?