With his hair whipped into a perfect quiff, his shirt buttons undone to show off his collage of tattoos and his blazer stretching out across his broad shoulders, David Beckham looks as he always does on the cover of the latest issue of Love Magazine. Except he’s wearing eyeshadow. Bright unmissable emerald green eyeshadow. In fact its the exact same colour that Kendall Jenner can’t stop wearing. Hers is a touch more fluoro. But, then again, it’s much more acceptable to see a woman in eyeshadow than men. So, baby steps for Beckham.
Some 20-odd years ago, David stepped out in a sarong. ‘[P]eople were shocked,’ he told The Telegraph. ‘It was an outrage; “why are you wearing that? What were you thinking?” Today no-one bats an eyelid if a guy wears a sarong in the street.’ Have we come far enough for the ripple of effects of Beckham’s latest look to pass without an eyelid bat?
Johnny Depp likes eyeliner, Bradley Cooper’s worn bronzer and Harry Styles wears lipstick. But, it’s not just reserved for celebrities as a slew of high-profile cosmetic brands, including Chanel, Clarins, Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs, now cater to the male consumer. With many men already at ease with the uncomfortable aspects of beauty culture - waxing, namely - and the relaxing side, like manicures and massages, this is the natural next stage in catering to our increasingly appearance-focused culture.
Sarongs may not be a mainstay of most men’s wardrobe but two decades ago Beckham was way ahead of these more fluid times. Can be the same said for his eyeshadow experiments? Let's hope the subtext is, 'yes'.