Recently, genderless trends have been in the spotlight among people in their 20s and 30s in Japan.
There are two main reasons why genderless consumption has increased.
Spreading multiple identity trends within new digital cultures such as social media and metaverse. This is because various videos such as acting away from fixed roles such as gender and age have increased for communication.
In addition, as people have recognized and pointed out various problems related to sexual activity in recent years, more and more people have recently reconsidered gender stereotypes, and more and more people want to express themselves, not women and men.
The beauty and fashion industries are changing significantly due to such changes in trends.
In the past, cosmetics for women and men were divided. Women’s cosmetics had various functions if the number of basic cosmetics varied.
One of the biggest differences is color makeup, even when advertising, most women appear in advertisements, and even if men appear, most of them appear as gifts, but they do not consume themselves.
It was because the idea of women doing makeup was strongly held
Among them, at Cosme, Japan’s largest cosmetics review site, analyzed cosmetics reviews, and the frequency of word-of-mouth such as “share” and “male-to-male” has been increasing, and interest in genderless products as more men are interested in beauty.
In particular, as the genderless trend spreads in the Japanese cosmetics market, the number of men wearing neutral style makeup is increasing.
As genderless makeup, which does not emphasize gender, has gained popularity, information on thin base makeup, shading that adds a three-dimensional effect to the face, and natural eye makeup and lip makeup is drawing attention.
In addition, the increase in media exposure of makeup men such as K-pop male idols and kondouyouji also affected the increase in demand for makeup products centered on young people.
And as various celebrities showed various images of themselves wearing makeup and taking care of themselves in the media, it changed to the perception that it was taking care of themselves as if they were working out.
To target this trend, various genderless brands have recently emerged in the Japanese cosmetics market.
‘FIVEISM×THREE’ is currently the most popular genderless cosmetics brand in Japan and was released in 2018. It has launched men’s makeup products for the first time in the Japanese cosmetics industry and has established various lineups such as hair and nail products.
“Nudo” has become popular as a genderless brand since its launch in the summer of 2019 and has even entered offline channels by opening a flagship store in June this year. The product consists of a moisturizing cream, a cleanser and makeup base, and a starter kit that allows you to try all three products.
In addition, Laka, Korea’s first genderless concept makeup brand, uses both women and men as models, allowing both women and men to use the same product, allowing male consumers to consume less burdensomely.
In addition, it is marketing such as not emphasizing the back beautifully when advertising, but using slogans such as “to make myself shine more,” so that I can express myself more confidently.
In addition, this trend has affected not only the beauty industry but also the fashion industry.
People know Unisex fashion and genderless fashion as the same fashion, but Unisex fashion is simply “public.” It eliminated masculinity and femininity so that everyone could wear it. So there are various sizes for men and women to wear, and the design is mainly overfit. Items are also limited to hooded T-shirts, jeans, etc. And unisex fashion implicitly contains the concept of women copying men’s fashion.Genderless fashion. For this reason, genderless fashion has its direction in removing gender distinction while maintaining the characteristics that were recognized as masculinity or femininity. It does not follow the existing fashion rules of men’s clothes and women’s clothes, but only considers differences in physical characteristics and tastes
One of the biggest reasons this trend became popular in Japan was because of a male student in 2018
At the 31st Junon Superboy Contest held in 2018, he will be in the final 12 players, breaking through a competition ratio of about 17,000 to 1.
On the final stage, he sang “RAIN” by Sekai no Owari.Although he failed to win the Grand Prix (winning), he won the DD Self-Production Award (the award of DD Co., Ltd.), and gained various interests and recognition from various media.
The reason why Idegami Baku became a hot topic was that most boys in Junon Superboy emphasized their existing masculinity, but they were interested in the image of a female student rather than the image of a male student, and he also said in various interviews that his gender identity is genderless. The main message is to live “as I am” regardless of various criteria, including gender, and in Japan, it has been praised as being in the spotlight by the younger generation due to this move When he launched a medical brand based on these values in March 2022, he used various models such as men wearing high heels, not women.
Until recently, most young people in Asia expressed themselves differently by gender, not by themselves. Even though they are women, they like active activities or insist as if they were strangers, but as the value of expressing themselves has spread in various media, they seem to continue to pursue themselves.
SOPHIA KIM
ASIA JOURNAL
