Here Come the Lumbersexuals

Respy Fordiz-Aster tries to determine if lumbersexual style is a real trend, just an Internet meme, or maybe both. Don’t expect a lucid answer.

Has your formerly metrosexual partner suddenly begun growing a beard and wearing padded wool shirts? Does he stay up late at night surfing the web for mustache wax and vintage boy scout backpacks? If you answered yes to either question, there’s a good chance that your partner may be a lumbersexual.

A lumbersexual is generally defined as a man with a beard or scruff whose fashion aesthetic recalls lumberjacks, camping, and the outdoors. Lumbersexual fashion often involves wool, flannel, denim, leather suspenders, trapper hats, long underwear, hiking boots, and all-weather gear (even though many lumbersexuals don’t actually enjoy the activities associated with such apparel.) The marked disconnect between form and function seems to be one of the hallmarks of lumbersexual fashion. On the one hand, the lumbersexual aesthetic seems to be a logical reaction to the vanity and narcissism of the metrosexual style that preceded it. But ironically, lumbersexual fashion is equally superficial. Yukon Cornelius, Paul Bunyan, and the Brawny paper towel man all serve as excellent poster men for lumbersexual style, precisely because of the fact that they’re all fictional characters.

During the last decade, many of the key components of lumbersexual style had been gaining in popularity and had begun showing up on store shelves again. It was probably nostalgia that initially inspired designers and consumers to revisit some of these timeless styles. However, it wasn’t until recently that the lumbersexual concept actually went semi-viral and became “a thing.” The Atlantic published an interesting article called Lumbersexuality and Its Discontents, Gawker chimed in with a post called Are You a Lumbersexual?, and by last Christmas MTV had put together a Lumbersexual Gift Guide. There were also related mentions in countless blogs such as The Bold Italic, Gear Junkie, Jezebel, The Good Men Project and Buzz Feed. Something about the lumbersexual look definitely struck a chord with people, because most of the online posts from major sites inspired massive comment threads.

Quite a few social media accounts have popped up to pay tribute to the concept of the lumbersexual, including Instagram and a Pinterest page. At one point, Tyra Banks even tweeted a link to a gallery of lumbersexual images at Pop Sugar. For more, just browse #lumbersexual on Twitter.

Porn tends to follow many of the same fashion trends as the mainstream world, and two of its icons were way ahead of the curve in adopting the lumbersexual look: Colby Keller and Steve Cruz. However, they are far from the only men in gay porn who have been smitten with lumbersexual aesthetics. ColtStudioGroup.com is overflowing with lumbersexuals. Bravo Delta has been known to dress in lumbersexual attire, too – and Men.com once did a photo shoot in which they transformed Jimmy Fanz into a beautiful hunk of mountain man. Some porn industry folks were even joking that there should be a hookup app for lumbersexuals called LOGGR. If you build it, they will come.

ONLINE BONUS MATERIAL

Since this was written, the lumbersexual scene has continued to grow. The whimsical idea for a LOGGR app is actually on its way to becoming a reality in the form of a new hookup app for scruffy bears called Lumberjack that is currently in development. You can learn more about the app at Lumberjack-app.com and then compete to have your photo featured in Lumberjack’s promo materials by visiting Instagram. At last count, the upcoming app’s Instagram page had nearly 22,000 followers and over 3,700 posts.

Another Instagram account that may be of interest to budding lumbersexuals is The Scruffy Homo on Instagram, which has over 37,000 followers. The Instagram account actually belongs to a social networking site of the same name that you can join for free at The Scruffy Homo.

Other sites worth checking out include Hairy Scruffy Homo on Tumblr and Hairy Scruffy Homo on Iconosquare.