John Lewis has signed model Matthew Avedon as the face of John Lewis’ spring/summer menswear fashion campaign.

The department store group said it chose Avedon for his masculine looks as the retailer taps in to an emerging ‘machosexual’ trend - a reverse of the 'metrosexual' trend which debuted in the mid-1990s.

It follows a strong performance from John Lewis's menswear department, with sales of menswear brand Barbour up 63 per cent on spring/summer last year. Sales of Gant have also grown 12 per cent. John Lewis own brand sales have grown 48 per cent.

John Lewis head of menswear buying Adrian Edwards said: “Around 70 per cent of menswear purchases at John Lewis are at least co-stimulated by women, so it is important that the male image to support our spring/summer menswear campaign resonates with women as well.

“We felt that the changing economy has created a massive shift away from the ‘metrosexual’. We briefed our agency to create a campaign featuring a distinctly ‘machosexual male’ - who like Sean Penn or Clive Owen - exudes a traditional ideal of masculinity as well as that of a style icon.”

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