I'VE GOT THE LOOK: Model Hrishikesh Pandey at Ixtapa

If you were to walk into Ixtapa, a club-wear store at Mumbai's Juhu, you wouldn't be able to tell whether you were in the men's section or the women's. Men are picking up the shocking pink pants, the green jeans and the capris ending four inches above the ankle too. Owner Pradeep Hirani says some of his male customers even don plunging V-necks and let broad belts hang loose on their waists.

At Nalini and Yasmin's, a premier Mumbai beauty salon, men queue up with the girls for services ranging from hair-styling and luxurious body massages to treatment with face packs made of caviar. The upmarket salon, which claims a 40 per cent increase in male clientele in the past four years, lets on that it's not just the well-to-do who're trooping in but also the middle classes.

So is a growing tribe of Indian males turning effeminate? Not quite. It's just that male attitude towards looks and carriage has changed dramatically in the past few years. Today's men are turning on its head the stereotyped image of a woman taking hours to dress up. And the process of pampering the preening man has led to a boom in the cosmetics and clothes market. Fitness centres, awareness and etiquette classes are not far behind. After all, appeal is as much about looks as it is about being informed.

What's in the head can be matched with what's on it. Hairstyle experts like Dilshad say a hair cut is no longer just that. It is symbolic of who you are. According to Jawed Habib of the salon Habibs, hair-styling today is all about "picking what's super for you and fits your work-and-play style". While short cuts like French, Italian, marine and flat-top are in vogue, he points out that the idea is not to imitate but to arrive at an individual style depending on one's facial contours and personality.

Cosmetic procedures for men, such as threading and waxing, have progressed to the next level. At the Athale Medical Centre in Mumbai, for instance, the number of men coming in for laser hair removal has doubled from 10 in a month to 20 in just two years. Any treatment requires at least four to five sittings, each costing Rs 1,500-2,000, but that doesn't seem to be a deterrent.

If you're wondering why lifestyle stores like Pyramid's in Mumbai have an exclusive men's section of cosmetics, listen to this: a study by the Mumbai-based Media Research Users' Council has found that 68 per cent of the users of fairness products are men. And the Rs 650-crore fairness market is growing by 20 per cent a year. India's Rs 150 crore fragrance market is also growing fast, with men's perfumes and deodorants like Ferrari, XS, Fendi, Jacques Bogart and Chevignon flying off the shelves.

Flush with the success of Fairglow, a unisex fairness cream introduced a year-and-a-half ago, Godrej recently launched ColourGloss, a shampoo for both men and women. Promotions are getting snazzier too. Higher Dior, a men's fragrance from Christian Dior, was launched on November 8 at an all girls' show at the Athena restobar in Mumbai by male models wearing just Christian Dior's white jeans and the perfume.

Men have been lapping it all up. Model Hrishikesh Pandey, who believes it's part of his job to maintain healthy skin and hair, goes for Clinique's Scruffing Lotion and Polo Sport's Face Fitness Moisturiser. But you don't have to be in the beauty business to look good. As marketing executive Lokesh Anand says, "What's important is to look young and happening." The 28-year-old sometimes spends about Rs 3,500 a month on hair-styling and glitter creams.

For global beauty houses like L'Oreal, Wella, tigi, Joico, Burberry and the House of Azzaro, men like Anand are a godsend. Their male product segment, which includes perfumes and skincare products, has cornered about half of the cosmetics market in India. "It will see a 30 per cent growth annually,'' says a spokesperson from Baccarose, which distributes international cosmetics in India. The spurt is easily explained. According to sociologist Kalyani Mitra, the proliferation of cable TV, foreign films and the Internet has made Indian men more open to global images of beauty and this has coincided with the greater availability of foreign products.

The same argument holds for clothes and accessories. With greater exposure has come a willingness to experiment with fabrics. Designers like Tarun Tahiliani, Aki Narula, Rohit Khosla and Rocky S. have introduced soft fabrics like fine voils, knits, lycra, linen and silk for men. Besides woven, Jacquard and mercerised-treated shirts, there's the option of a fusion garment-kurtas in hi-tech cotton by Lacoste.