From thongs to caftans to short-shorts, AH MEN offered gay men the aspirations to lead a fully open, fully sexual life at a time when literally no one else was making such an offer.
But AH MEN was there first, with its first store opening in 1962 as the brainchild of two gay men, Don Cook and Jerry Furlow, who didn’t feel that mainstream men’s clothing outlets were offering them the kinds of clothes that they and their gay brethren wanted. In fact, the AH MEN catalogs were said to have inspired International Male founder Gene Buckard to launch his own gay lifestyle brand. But International Male may as well have been the JC Penney catalog when you compare it to the “AH MEN” catalogs of the ’70s and ’70s, which, despite the earlier time period (some of which takes place before the Stonewall Riots) were a lot less circumspect about what kinds of men make up their customer base. We showed you a gallery of the most eye-popping looks of the International Male catalogue and noted that for many closeted gay men of the ’80s and ’90s, it served as a sort of gateway drug into queerness, as its main demographic mostly comprised gay men and in order to entice them to buy their wares, IM filled every catalog with some of the hottest fitness models and even porn stars of the day.
