Might metrosexual trend be over?

By Olivia Barker
USA Today

Carson Kressley, left, one of the Fab Five on "Queer Eye," works a fashion makeover for straight guy Andrew Lane. Bravo

It seems a market correction, if not a backlash, is afoot. Guys' guys, the kind who'd rather spend $50 on a pay-per-view boxing match than a back wax, are railing in Web logs against the trend toward fastidious grooming and Rat Pack-refined dressing. They call the foppish fad a "scourge."

"When my grandmother knew what 'metrosexual' meant, I realized how overexposed the term was," says trend tracker Jon Hein, creator of Jumptheshark.com.

Hein says that despite the consistently high ratings of "Queer Eye," the show jumped the shark —- that is, lost its witty novelty — with the unveiling of the theme song's music video last month. "I'm sure you'll be seeing metrosexual breakfast cereals and action figures any day now," Hein grumbles.

The word "metrosexual" actually emerged a decade ago, thanks to a British journalist.

It entered mass consciousness last summer, courtesy of the show's phenomenal success in making slicksters out of shlubs, by playing off of homosexual stereotypes of aesthetic savvy.

Marketers cashed in, too, looking to convince men that they needed to cram their cabinets with as many expensive balms, masks and scrubs as women stockpile. And then in October, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean labeled himself a metrosexual, then admitted he really didn't know what it meant.

"The celebration of the feminine side of the guy has sort of careened out of control into this three-headed monster, the metrosexual, that needs to be slain," says John Henson. He's doing his darnedest as the star of the new Spike TV show "The John Henson Project," where each week he spotlights what's been happening "in the world of men."

The channel has seen a 33 percent ratings rise since the network switched from TNN to Spike's all-male-friendly fare.

In the premiere episode, Henson preyed on overly precise preening as exemplified by the Schick Quattro razor: "What am I, the Wolfman? Do we really need four blades? I think five is a cheese grater."

Last month, "metrosexual" was deemed the most misused, overused and generally useless word by Lake Superior State University's annual "List of Words Banished from the Queen's English," which also includes "punked" and "bling-bling."

On Feb. 17, Comedy Central's "Queer Eye" parody "Straight Plan for the Gay Man" makes its debut.

Vanity Fair sums up the demise of contrived dandyism in its cheeky In & Out column for February: In the category of "metrosexual conundrum," "Are sneakers with a suit OK?" is out; "Am I totally gay?" is in.