.As the economy continues to wreak havoc on American business, news came this week that the retail clothing chain, Abercrombie & Fitch is closing 110 stores across the country.
.
.
A&F was founded in New York City in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie. It became known as an elite store which sold sporting and excursion goods. Think hunting jackets for big game hunters and very expensive wicker picnic baskets. But the store began to struggle financially in the 1960's and was bought by The Limited in 1988. Under new leadership, A&F set out to reinvent itself as a seller of casual sports clothes. But even more importantly for the success of the chain, it began a very savvy campaign to sell the "A&F Lifestyle".
.
.
A&F hired the famous fashion photographer, Bruce Weber, and started to publish its "Quarterly" catalog which featured naked male models with perfect faces, abs and pecs rolling around in the grass or in the surf with equally attractive naked women. The Quarterly was an immediate success, and American youngsters everywhere were drawn to the idea of looking good naked.
.
.
A&F's clothing line, itself, has changed very little over the years. Polo shirts, rugby shirts, tees and knee length shorts became the staple of the store's offering, varying little in color or design over time. A&F's clothing is the equivalant of "comfort food", i.e. nothing challenging or particularly special, but always satisfying.
.
.
But, as mentioned, it wasn't so much the clothing which sold A&F's clothing as it was the lifestyle. Many books will be written in the future on the cultural vein in American youth which A&F tapped so magnificently. For decades, American culture was saturated with the idea that young women wanted to be sex objects, but when it came to young men, they were supposed to be remain in the background of the national cultural sexual identity. Young men, according to popular thought, were not supposed to care about being attractive, or more importantly, not supposed to care about being sexually objectified. But how wrong that thought was.
.
.
Calvin Klein first explored the idea that men could be sexy, too, in his underwear ads which first started appearing in the late 1970's. It took America, and American young men in particular, awhile to catch up with this idea, but once they did, Abercrombie & Fitch was ready to pounce. A&F, through its provocative photography of naked young men, promoted the idea that not only should boys strive for the perfect set of abs and pecs, but they should also want to show off those attributes. The marketing of the perfectly formed male sex object was perfected.
.
.
Unfortunately, the more prudish moral arbiters of American society took note of this new trend as well. Many religious and conservative groups protested against the Quarterly catalog, even managing to have it banned at one point. Throughout this period, we often wondered if the outcry would have been quite so loud if the catalog had only featured scantily-clad young women. America wasn't ready then, and in some ways, is still not ready for the idea of young men being overtly sexual. For many, traditional ideas of masculinity are not congruent with the notion of male vanity and preening male physical beauty.
.
.
But whether the older generation of Americans were ready for it or not, young America ate it up with a spoon. Not only did young men begin to pump their pecs and abs, but suddenly the modeling agencies of New York and Los Angeles were flooded with young men who aspired to be "Abercrombie models".
.
.
.
.
.
.
The company Abercrombie & Fitch quickly became one of the top retailers in American business, rapidly expanding and opening new stores across the country. But now, in late 2010, as A&F struggles financially, we have to wonder if that struggle has more to do with the terrible economy, or more the fact that maybe A&F has finally "jumped the shark". Maybe we've seen enough pecs and abs for awhile, and as a culture, we're looking for something new. American culture never remains stagnent, and selling the same old images and same old sexually exciting lifestyle does start to wear thin after awhile. The question will be whether A&F can reinvent itself in time to keep from going completely under.
.
.
But even if A&F goes out of business, which we doubt will happen, the company will still be noted in the cultural history of this nation. Whether you agree with their brazen marketing strategy or not, one must agree that they pushed boundaries and most decidedly changed the way we view ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment