Here is some potentially good news in follow up to our recent post about the rise of anorexia in men with the advent of the skinny jean: muscular male models with serious washboard abs are no more appealing than average or chubby men in advertisements.

According to a new study, the truth is you don't need them!

Phillippa Diedrichs, the study leader, showed mock jeans, skin care and cologne ads featuring muscular and average men to more than 600 students in their late teens, and the ads with average men were rated no less effective than those with hard bodied men.

If young males are no more drawn to muscular types than average types, perhaps super skinny male mannequins and models will also prove no more alluring or likely to inspire men to be unhealthy.

The Sydney Morning Herald hopes the results will fuel the debate about unrealistic body types in media images.

Diedrichs said some of the participants in her study ”may have attributed the models’ muscularity to vanity or homosexuality, characteristics which they may have found unpleasant or discomforting…The average-size male models [may have seemed] less concerned with their appearance.” {The Sydney Morning Herald}

We think it might just mean that most men are not as concerned with their appearances as previously thought.

Some bloggers noted that for every study there is another that yields opposite results. For example, Deidrichs conducted a 2008 study that found plus size female models were no less effective in selling products than super thin models, but a University of Arizona study discovered plus size models in ads sold fewer products than skinny models, so maybe those concerned with manorexia shouldn’t get too excited just yet. {The Cut}

Our only concern with the results of this study is that the male students rated ads that showed just the product with no model to be most effective. This could show that men prefer not to see any image to which they are bound to compare themselves, meaning young males are still susceptible to body image issues after all.

“I doubt you’re going to see a lot of new stores opening on the full-line side,” said Stephen Sadove, Saks’ Chief Executive. “It’s going to be making the current stores more productive.”

Sadove was speaking about stores that would be closed, which include those that have a lease expiring and those that are losing money. {Wall Street Journal} There’s no specification of which category the Portland Saks stores, announced for closure this year, fall into. But considering both the stand alone men’s store and women’s store are getting the axe, it’s likely they’re in the latter.

Scaling back on extravagant spending is something all too common these days, with some even considering it chic. Online isn’t immune, as wealthy shoppers there turn to mid-market retailers like Macy’s and discounters like Gilt and Bluefly for designer purchases. Other luxury retailers like Neiman Marcus and Tiffany & Co. all saw declines this year in holiday sales, and struggle with clientele affected by the market.

A reflection of this subdued shopping mood is seen on the runways of some of the top designers who are using more basic colors and prints, {All Business} simpler silhouettes and the use of layering and interchangeable pieces to emphasize making the most of what you buy.

Advertising costs may also have something to do with company sales loss. Advertising pages are scarce among the most influential fashion magazines like Vogue, whose ad pages were down 36 percent last year, even though the magazine had a 6.3% increase in circulation during the first half of the year. With luxury fashion houses still so heavily reliant on magazine advertisements as their primary communication method, the decreased exposure there coupled with consumers severely tightening their purse strings make it clear that companies looking to regain momentum still have a long road ahead.