Guyliner fad: Male celebs wearing eyeliner
Shah Rukh Khan’s kohl-eyed look in Raees is bending the gender norms, converging beauty and the age-old masculine concept of toughness. As Raees, the versatile actor brings the character of a bootlegger to life with that signature charm, his dark eyes rendering a sensuous appeal. It’s no surprise that Shah Rukh’s latest look has become the talk of the town.
Weeks back, the effervescent Ranveer Singh turned heads at the Umang Award in a black draped kurta from Shantanu & Nikhil; his retro look complemented by kohled eyes and long beard. Preened to perfection, the young actor redefined the metrosexual with a dash of desi touch.
Perhaps ‘guyliner’ could be one of the trends for 2017! But we aren’t exactly talking about a radical change in male fashion here; kohl has a long history dating back centuries, before it turned gender specific and acquired a feminine hue at some point in the past.
Kohled-eyes used to be a norm among the ancient Egyptians, not just as means of beauty, but also for health benefits. Surma is an integral part of the Islamic tradition as well.
Before metrosexual got absorbed into the mainstream in the 90s, there had been plenty of other male celebrities who attempted to shatter the stereotypes. Thanks to the rise of counterculture in the latter half of the twentieth century, artists like David Bowie rebelled the norms his own way by experimenting with bold make-up, not just limiting to his signature eyeliner that accentuated his expressive eyes.
Then came the goth subculture, and the punk rock music, popularised by music bands like Green Day, whose frontman Billie Joe Armstrong popularising the smudgy eye look.
Meanwhile in Bollywood, Shah Rukh himself had sported the kohl-eyed look way back in 2001 — in Santosh Sivan’s Aśoka. Several other actors including Salman Khan and Aamir Khan have opted for eye make-up in the past for movie roles, but they failed to set a trend.
With the blurring of the gender lines and eschewing the binaries more than ever before, it wouldn’t be surprising to see kohl becoming all-encompassing soon, a return to the olden days.
