Pity any friend of Park Sung Mok who must wait for him to get ready for work in the morning. Park, a 35-year-old designer with a Seoul clothing manufacturer, has a daily grooming ritual that consists not only of showering, shaving and hair styling, but also includes the careful selection of a sharp outfit to wear and the application of a special skin moisturizer that blocks ultraviolet rays. Preparations can last up to 40 minutes, and it costs Park more than time to look good. He says he spends, on average, $500 a month for new designer clothes. Then there's the gym membership and the $100 a month that goes for cosmetics such as eye creams, facial masks and two kinds of moisturizers, for day and night. None of this strikes Park as unusual. "Some of my female colleagues think it's weird that I use a facial pack once a month and that I moisturize," he says. "But I've got nothing to be ashamed of."

Not anymore, he doesn't. A few years ago, it may have been considered sissy for a guy to be fussy about his clothing and appearance. Real men demanded the world accept them on their own uncouth, unkempt terms. But in Asia nowadays, the definition of masculinity is undergoing a makeover-and narcissism is in, thanks to economic growth, higher disposable incomes, shifting gender roles, and fashion and cosmetics industries eager to expand their customer bases. No longer content to be the drabber sex, Asian males are preening like peacocks, perming, plucking and powdering themselves to perfection in an effort to make themselves more attractive to their bosses, their peers and, of course, to women.

Vanity, thy name is ... man. The ranks of sartorially self-aware males are growing so fast in some Asian countries that they have become an identifiable social subspecies. In China, they are called the aimei nanren (love beauty men), fastidious fellows who are unafraid to spend a few hours in a beauty salon getting pedicures, pore packs and back waxes. Their counterparts in Korea are the kkotminam (flower men), club-hopping packs of primping fops who accessorize with designer bling and faux fur. "You can no longer pick out who's gay and who's straight," says Henry Wan, a Hong Kong clothing designer known for his flamboyant men's styles, "because their dress is no different now."

These flower men are not rare orchids. According to a survey conducted last year by leading South Korean advertising agency Cheil, roughly two out of three South Korean men say they have adopted androgynous characteristics and lifestyles, meaning they practice personal-care routines and indulge in fashions in ways once thought rather unmanly. "If I dressed like this in Toronto, my friends would laugh at me," admits Matthew Ko, a 21-year-old Chinese-Canadian, who on a recent night in Hong Kong was clad in a bright purple blazer over a psychedelic floral shirt offset by lime green pants. Granted, it was a special occasion. Ko was vying for the crown in the Mr. Hong Kong competition, one of several male beauty pageants that have sprung up around the region. And Ko, a doe-eyed, soft-spoken amateur pianist, won! Asked about his retina-searing duds, Ko shrugs. "The fashion trends just change faster in Asia."

Hallelujah, say cosmetics- and clothing-company officials, who help to dictate the pace of change. In fashion-forward Japan, male grooming is booming, so much so that Tokyo's popular Isetan department store devotes an entire sales floor to men's cosmetics. Throughout Asia, men-only spas and salons are popping up in major cities, and big cosmetics companies now offer extensive lines of he-male moisturizers, hair-care products, perfumery and other vanity fare. "Asian men increasingly want to look after their looks, and are prepared to spend to do so," says Carol Sarthou, managing director of Synovate, a Philippine-based market research company.

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