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When the Lads Mags came to town.
The 1990’s saw the appearance of a strange figure. Generation X had grown up and emerged from its teenage bedroom into its twenties. The Generation X man was unsure about what he was supposed to be. He couldn’t be like his Baby Boomer Dad from the 60’s and 70’s because there was feminism and HIV/AIDs now and racism was not cool. His music was not as jolly or up beat either and the days of mass employment in a manufacturing or primary industry were pretty much gone. So, what was the modern man’s purpose? The answer came to him, He’d not be a New Man, that was too far, but he would be a New Lad. It was ok to like football and Oasis but there was a certain degree of responsibility that came with it. You also had to care abit about your feelings and others.
He found his outlet through the mind boggling amount of magazines that catered to him at the time. Maxim, Loaded, Jack, FHM and Nuts to name a few. Trying to ride above it all was the more intellectual and sartorial GQ or Gentleman’s Quarterly as it was formerly known. Even it had to stray to the dark side to compete sometimes.
Semi naked shoots of Hollyoaks actress, models and film stars were soon seen and devoured. The internet was still in its infancy and this was the only way a Lad could get his kicks and read about how terrible the Romans were as well as the latest trends from menswear Ireland based experts like EJ Menswear.
