We watched tonight the 2022 documentary All Male: The International Male Story.
It was, somewhat unexpectedly, very well laid out and told.
Gene Burkard, the founder, built his business from the lowest of means and resources. He gradually hired a team who became his extended family.
Back in the 70s, non-traditional, offbeat fashions for men were practically nonexistent.
But the International Male fashions, through their catalogs astutely and uncannily tapped into a marketable commodity.
It was thought to be a catalog exclusively geared toward gay men, but Burkard didn't intend that. And straight men also responded positively to the masculine clothes, layouts, and models, who were influential in how they looked - fit and buff. Yet the catalog's main clients were gay, and the staff took great care in their inventory and customer relations.
It was the precursor for men's funkier, more overtly sexual fashions, leading to Calvin Klein ad campaigns, Abercrombie and Fitch, and others.
Yet, most of International Male's staff were gay. We learn that the majority of them were tragically felled by AIDS. The remaining staff, a few of them women, are quite touching in their reminiscences.
A slice of cultural trends over the decades of the 20th century are covered, with terrific newsreels. Interviews with a few of their models are included, many still looking great as older men.
Bought out by Hanover at some point, the catalog folded in the mid-2000s. Retail spaces and other companies that had trendy designs rendered it obsolete.
But the point of this documentary was just how influential and groundbreaking the company was.
I bought several things from International Male. The clothes were of high quality, and lasted for years.
Well worth a look.
