Consumerism’s Gendered Market Evolution

The evolution of gendered fashion and consumer expression is deeply tied to shifts in economic structures. When looking at how practices like men’s ornamentation, high heels, and non-binary gestures shift from being mainstream cultural staples to societal “problems”—and back again—the driving force is rarely pure morality. Instead, it is often the calculated expansion of capitalist markets.

Here is an analysis of how Western consumerism redefined gender norms to create new markets, and how South Asia navigates this legacy through a post-colonial lens.

1. The Great Masculine Renunciation: Engineering a Binary Market

Historically, high heels, makeup, elaborate embroidery, and expressive gestures were not the exclusive domain of women. In 17th and 18th-century Europe, high heels were symbols of military prowess, aristocratic status, and political power worn predominantly by men (such as King Louis XIV of France).

The shift occurred during the late 18th century in a period historians call The Great Masculine Renunciation. As the Industrial Revolution demanded a distinct, utilitarian labor force, men’s fashion was systematically stripped of ornamentation. Men were repositioned as austere “producers” in somber, uniform suits, while women were designated as the primary “consumers” whose dress displayed the family’s wealth.

[Pre-Industrial Era]               [Industrial Revolution]             [Late 20th/21st Century]
Status-based ornamentation   --->   Strict Binary Division       --->   Subversive Re-branding
(Men wear heels/makeup)             (Men: Producers / Suit)             (Fluidity sold as a 
                                    (Women: Consumers / Dress)           "New Market" segment)

By enforcing a strict, visually distinct gender binary, early industrial capitalism successfully split the market into two predictable halves. Expressions that blurred these lines—such as non-binary gestures or decorative male dress—began to be framed as societal “problems” or deviances because they disrupted the neatly categorized consumer demographics required for mass production.

2. Rebranding Fluidity: Consumerism’s Newest Frontier

When a market becomes saturated, capitalism must innovate to maintain growth. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the strict binary market began to yield diminishing returns.

To solve this, modern consumerism turned to subversion itself. Practices that were once penalized—men using cosmetics, wearing fluid silhouettes, or embracing historically non-binary aesthetics—have been institutionalized under corporate frameworks.

• The “Metrosexual” and “Gender-Fluid” Segments: By rebranding non-traditional male expressions as luxury, high-fashion, or “progressive,” corporations did not dismantle gender barriers out of altruism. Instead, they unlocked a massive, untapped market for men’s cosmetics, skincare, and high-end jewelry.
• The Commodity of Rebellion: Non-binary gestures and fluid identities are lifted from grassroots or historical contexts and packaged as lifestyle choices. Society’s “problem” is transformed into a commercial niche, ensuring that dissent itself becomes something you can buy.

3. The South Asian Context: Post-Colonial Hangover and Imported Materialism

The adoption of these shifting Western paradigms in South Asia represents a complex layer of post-colonial mimicry and market infiltration.

The Erasure of Indigenous Fluidity

Before British colonial intervention, South Asian culture possessed a rich history of fluid gender expression, male ornamentation, and non-binary roles. The intricate jewelry of Mughal emperors, the elaborate traditional attire of regional rulers, and the historically recognized spiritual and social roles of the Hijra and third-gender communities are testaments to a non-rigid social fabric.

The British Empire introduced strict Victorian morality, codified through legal frameworks like Section 377 of the Penal Code and the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. This systematically criminalized non-binary individuals and stigmatized expressive, ornamented male behaviors, imposing a rigid, foreign gender binary onto the region.

The Double Mirror of Modern Ingestion

Today, parts of South Asia experience what scholars describe as a post-colonial hangover, adopting modern Western corporate trends in two contradictory ways:

When South Asian markets blindly adopt Western-engineered market plans, they risk importing a manufactured cycle of crisis and consumption. Local identities are caught between a lingering colonial shame regarding their own historical traditions and a pressure to conform to modern, globalized consumer profiles designed in the West.

Ultimately, whether society labels these shifting expressions as a “problem” or a “trend” depends entirely on who stands to profit from the packaging of the identity.