Men who use their bodies professionally to sell fashion are male models. The services of male models are generally employed by sellers of male clothing, underwear, cars, motorcycles, cigarettes and several other male oriented products. Men need to have good physiques and tremendously masculine personalities to succeed in the male modeling industry. Conventional male models generally have heights of 5’11 to 6’2 and weights of 140 to 165 pounds.

Male models cannot be compared with the female counterparts in any way. For one, it is much more difficult for men to become successful models than for women. Female models may become instantly famous and quickly lapped up by big brands – it is not so for the males. Barring a handful, no male model has reached the dizzying heights of superstardom. To top it all, male models – even successful ones – are paid only a fraction of the amount what female models get.

The length of a male model’s career is no more than two to three years. This is basically due to the reason that people always want to see fresh new faces. Male models who have run past their primes on the ramp may take to press modeling or to films. The best examples of such transition are Ashton Kutcher and Chris O’Donnell. Since male modeling careers are unusually short, most male models have back-up careers.

The only male supermodel may be Marcus Schenkenberg. He is the only male model who can claim to be at the pinnacle of the field for over a decade. He has modeled for Calvin Klein, Gianni Versace, Donna Karan and Ungaro, among other brands. Currently he is also a spokesperson for PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals). Other famous male models of contemporary times are Ashton Kutcher, Chris O’Donnell, Tyson Beckford, Steven Hill and Stephen Meisel.

The male modeling industry has undergone a drastic change in recent times. What was the main forte of women – vanity – is now slowly creeping into men. As more and more men are becoming conscious of their looks, the male modeling industry is expected to boom in the future. One more aspect is that male models are becoming more uninhibited. Almost all top male models have done nude or partially nude modeling at some time in their careers. Modern male models are beginning to get better pay than their predecessors, if not as much as their female counterparts.