The beauty industry isn't always a pretty business, but Pierce Mattie is doing his part to make life easier for anyone who wants to look good.

BY CHRISTOPHER LISOTTA

The first male estheti-cian in Florida, Pierce Mattie had been a go-to style consultant for years before forming a PR firm in 2001 that represents beauty and style companies, including Shiseido Professional and Ojon Hair Care. The author of Groomed For Success, a groundbreaking text book on marketing cosmetics to men, Mattie is considered a prognosticator for upcoming trends within the beauty and style industries.

FRONTIERS: Without being a terrible shill for your clients, what are the big trends for 2008?

PIERCE MATTIE: The whole green trend is still going really strong, but it has become an epidemic where it is getting into green hazing, where things that really aren't green are claiming they are green. You're going to see a lot more university studies, clinical research, and people not necessarily bashing green, but really trying to stand out those getting on the green bandwagon. Especially for Los Angeles, reusable energy and renewable resources, that has crossed over into fashion. We are looking at different types of fabrics and material that are not only organic, but they are things that have been refurbished or reused over certain periods of time, and then they have been turned into textiles that are to be worn. Before it was like a thing in the ‘80s where you would ask what's in the skin care product. Now people are asking where are these fabrics coming from, how are they made, and how are they going to better my body or lifestyle?

Is the “I don't what my $300 blouse made by a Chinese child” dynamic still around?

It is still a strong dynamic, unfortunately because of the toy situation that happened this Christmas. There are a lot of very large apparel companies that have taken the heat. Consumers are getting a little bit more sophisticated with looking at other options, but there really aren't that many other options where clothes are assembled unless you're looking at couture or if the clothes are hand made, or an independent clothing manufacturer that caters to a specific clientele. But the price points go up by 500 percent to something you could get at a department store or a large fashion chain.

Is Project Runway changing the industry or is it just a fun show?

It kind of brought back that ‘60s and ‘70s nostalgia of having that Halston-type designer, where in the ‘90s, and the past eight years of the 2000s, we haven't really had that. We've had large apparel production companies producing clothes and we didn't really care who designed it. We're going back to that concept of who made and designed my clothes for me.

How is the writers strike impacting the world of fashion?

If we are no longer going to get that fashion and beauty coverage from television, from the award shows and red carpet, then we are going to look at what the models are doing on the runway. There is not a runway strike, and there is not a fashion strike. We're going back to real models and fashion designers, and going away from celebrities.

Are men becoming more fashion forward? Are we at the stage where straight men are talking about cleanser?

I find that a lot of gay men like to dress like straight guys, and a lot of straight men like to dress like gay guys. And that is a very general, almost ignorant statement to make, but traditionally it has always been that gay men wanted to wear club shirts and wear tight outfits and really come and look the part. If you go to gay retailers and ask what their number one brand is, they say G-Star, and they are not very tight. They are baggy. The shirts don't have darts in the back. A lot of straight men are becoming more savvy with facial cleaners. It is okay for men to cleanse, tone, and moisturize. Men are now using bronzer, and using self tanner, especially with the skin cancer epidemic.

Am I a bad gay if I wear sweat pants around the house?

As long as they are American Apparel or Juicy that's fine—I'm just kidding. The sweatpants thing is very popular, sweatpants now retail for $175-350 per suit. That includes pull-up drawstring pants and a zipper front top. You have everything from Ben Sherman to Juicy coming out with really expensive track suits.

As a gay man, do people expect you should know more than a straight man about fashion and beauty?

I think we have moved beyond the level of taste. I think the one thing everyone looks to is quality. How they are crafted, designed, inspired, and how are they original? With the Internet everything is copied in a matter of minutes. Before, the gays were able to kind of come up with an original idea and they were copied by their peers, but there is no room for that any more.