Just under the Lycos 50 this week, you'll find retailer Abercrombie and Fitch. The preppy clothing chain finishes at #52 after searches go up 260 percent from their normal levels. Why all the sudden interest?
Actually, the attention being paid to A&F has less to do with the clothes people wear, and more to do with the clothes people don't wear. A&F is hot on the Web because of a boycott campaign recently started against the company's quarterly catalog/erotic magazine.
The magazine features male and female models both in and out of their Abercrombie clothes, and it is sold only to those 18 or older. Yes, it's probably the only store catalog that requires a legal ID and isn't offered in the back of Penthouse. A&F says it is aiming the magazine at the college-aged shopper, and you'll believe that as soon as you believe that R-rated movies aren't aimed at teenagers either.
Previous editions of A&F Quarterly have included interviews with porn stars (about their clothing choices, no doubt) and an article titled ``Drinking 101'' that incurred the wrath of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Abercrombie & Fitch says its summer catalog is sexy in a wholesome sort of way. They call it "Norman Rockwell of 2001." And I guess underage binge drinking is somewhat sexy and wholesome, if you come from a family of alcoholics and all your family pictures are tastefully photographed in black and white.
Alas, a lot of people seem to disagree with A&F about the wholesome nature of the magazine. Their boycott is spearheaded by Illinois Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood, who says, "Once again, clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch is peddling soft porn in the guise of a clothing catalog." It includes forces as diverse as Concerned Christian Americans and the National Organization for Women.
The "Stop Abercrombie and Fitch" folks have been nice enough to provide us with some photos of the offending material. For example, these two guys clearly have never been to Abercrombie and Fitch, because if they had someone would have talked them into buying some pants.
According to the boycott folks, A&F is increasing the nudity and the sexual content with each catalog it prints, and the summer catalog features 35 percent more nudity than did the spring edition. At this rate, the catalog will consist of nothing but close-ups of genitalia by winter of 2003. That should really move some socks off the shelves.
Perhaps the strangest volley of the Abercrombie boycott war was this article written two weeks ago by celebrated conservative columnist William F. Buckley. First of all, who knew Buckley even wore cargo pants, which he claims to buy at A&F. Second, try to image some poor teenage counter guy telling the stuffy, erudite Buckley that the catalog requires ID because "Well, uh, it's kind of porny inside."
Buckley's meditation on the sexualization of our culture, as he points out, "skirts fuddy-duddyism" but is worth reading because of his attempt to give a play-by-play description of where each photograph does and does not suggest clothing being worn. As he points out, a watch band does shelter the wrist's nudity.
Thank god John Derbyshire didn't get his hands on the catalog.
Finally, this has nothing to do with anything, but Buckley tells a story from a long-ago article in The New Yorker about the days when Abercrombie was a sports equipment store rather than a pornographer. A gardener on Long Island who yearned to buy an A&F barometer, finally saving up the money to do so. He took it back to his little house on the south shore, tapped it a few times impatiently, and stormed back to Manhattan on the next train, complaining that it was defective, its needle stuck at the mark "Hurricane." Abercrombie returned his money, and the plaintiff returned to Islip to find that his house had been blown away.
It's not hard to imagine a similar story about today's Abercrombie, except the gardener would not be wearing pants.
