It’s fair to say that men’s grooming has evolved to the point where a range of male-oriented make-up was set to hit the mainstream eventually, and it seems right that Chanel would be the first major fashion house to take the step into the fold. And they have, announcing that they’re set to launch Boy de Chanel – a range of make-up seemingly intended for but not entirely marketed towards, guys.
The line, named after Coco Chanel’s lover and muse Boy Capel, is designed for the needs and wants of increasing amounts of men who are looking to work a little make-up into their look in a low-key, refined way, and includes a tinted foundation, a matte moisturising lip balm, and four shades of eyebrow pencil.
The thinking behind the product range is fairly sound from a marketing point of view, but reaction online has been mixed. Many have heralded it as a great way of helping to normalise the changing attitudes of many guys towards grooming and beauty, while numerous bloggers and vloggers throughout the beauty world have taken a more cynical approach to the unveiling.
Make-up is, of course, a largely gender-neutral product in terms of its real-world usability, and there’s nothing intrinsic about Boy de Chanel that makes the line any more suitable for use on the skin of either gender than, say, a Kylie Jenner make-up kit or any other female-marketed make up product.
As such, many were left scratching their heads at Chanel taking a gender-exclusive approach to making a product that they themselves literally came out and said “is not a matter of Gender”.
Boy de Chanel will launch initially in the South Korean market on September 1st.
THE LIFESTYLE COLLECTIVE 