Business Week Depicts Abercrombie & Fitch as Old Man

[ShiftyNJ]

When I was in my 20s and extremely physically fit I would buy clothes from International Male a lot...they had catalogs (pre-Internet)....I liked the shorts a lot (and I would make more $$$ behind the bar when I wore them LOL)...

I wonder if they are still around?

UPDATE: I just googled them...they are still in business.

I briefly had tenants, a couple in their 60s and 70s and not at all physically fit, who got this catalog in the mail. I did not want to know if and what they were ordering.

[MikeW]

[MENTION=21783]ShiftyNJ[/MENTION] … I agree, Bruce Webber's eye had a lot to do with it.





This romanticization and erotification (and, in a sense, deification) of the youthful male goes all the way back to the ancient Greek and Roman.

[East]

I used to jerk off to International Male catalogs.

My favorite thing I ever bought and the one I wore the most were these lace up style football shorts..sweat pants gray...and the catalog model definitely "sold" them to me LOL

When I put them on...I got a little sick at first ...no way was I gonna leave the house in those ...my cock was outlined to the last detail and it was hard to even keep it in the shorts....

...but I got over it.

[ShiftyNJ]

My favorite thing I ever bought and the one I wore the most were these lace up style football shorts..sweat pants gray...and the catalog model definitely "sold" them to me LOL

When I put them on...I got a little sick at first ...no way was I gonna leave the house in those ...my cock was outlined to the last detail and it was hard to even keep it in the shorts....

...but I got over it.

Awesome. I bet the tips were great.

[ShiftyNJ]

@ShiftyNJ … I agree, Bruce Webber's eye had a lot to do with it.
This romanticization and erotification (and, in a sense, deification) of the youthful male goes all the way back to the ancient Greek and Roman.

I'm not complaining about that part LOL. In a way it was about time guys got their due since women have been subject to this objectification for the last 50 or so years. Some amount of envelope-pushing (like the shirtless greeters which was pretty daring for middle-American suburbia) was interesting in its time.

But I could not get past the nasty element, such as he flat-out said in an interview that if you don't look like our models, we don't want you as a customer. I heard apocryphally from someone who worked there that they were instructed not to be overly helpful to customers who didn't fit the look. By his own rules, he doesn't belong in his own clothes.

[MikeW]

By his own rules, he doesn't belong in his own clothes.

I don't think he knew that. Seriously! I suspect the man was utterly delusional -- which was precisely why he was so good at what he did -- it is all about creating and getting people to buy an ILLUSION.

(People say America is a materialist culture. That is inaccurate; we're a culture of images -- it's all about image, not reality, material or otherwise.)

[East]

I don't think he knew that. Seriously! I suspect the man was utterly delusional -- which was precisely why he was so good at what he did -- it is all about creating and getting people to buy an ILLUSION.

(People say America is a materialist culture. That is inaccurate; we're a culture of images -- it's all about image, not reality, material or otherwise.)

Quoted For Truth.....

My signature for many years at the first website I ever posted on was IMAGES ARE DANGEROUS ...I think images of reality have replaced reality now...and one day...our addiction to images may be the very thing that brings us down.

[Borg69]

My favorite thing I ever bought and the one I wore the most were these lace up style football shorts..sweat pants gray...and the catalog model definitely "sold" them to me LOL

When I put them on...I got a little sick at first ...no way was I gonna leave the house in those ...my cock was outlined to the last detail and it was hard to even keep it in the shorts....

...but I got over it.

I envy you! Even back when I was younger and skinnier, I never had the balls (literally LOL) to wear anything that bold/daring/erotic. Oh... I fell into the trap of buying tons of clothes because it looked HOT on the MODEL, only to get it home and be discouraged because it didn't look anywhere near as good on ME. There were SO many clothes styles I would have loved to dabble in that I thought looked HOT... I just didn't have the body/face/attitude to pull it off. I'm stuck, and now comfortable in frumpy t-shirts and jeans.

[East]

I envy you! Even back when I was younger and skinnier, I never had the balls (literally LOL) to wear anything that bold/daring/erotic. Oh... I fell into the trap of buying tons of clothes because it looked HOT on the MODEL, only to get it home and be discouraged because it didn't look anywhere near as good on ME. There were SO many clothes styles I would have loved to dabble in that I thought looked HOT... I just didn't have the body/face/attitude to pull it off. I'm stuck, and now comfortable in frumpy t-shirts and jeans.

Don't envy me...I really don't have the attitude to pull it off...and though I was physically fit I am not so sure I had the body or face either...but I DID have alcohol ...and if you are gonna make it longer than six months you have to develop a persona when you are working behind the bar or they will eat you up and spit you out for fun....

...and I discovered my persona was fine with the shorts once I wore them...but I left all persona at the door so if I was going to an after hours party or club...I changed....

The other shorts I bought from them...I loved the cut on them...they were way more casual and I felt sexy in them...didn't really feel sexy in the football shorts though (but my wallet did)..

[East]

OH MY!!!! The mailman just a second ago walked into my shop with my mail and I got my latest Bloomberg BusinessWeek mag...and there he is on the cover.

WOW..the cover is VERY GOOD. It makes quite a statement...maybe more now as I already read the article but even if I hadn't...it does get your attention.