At-home catalogue shopping was never sexier than the era of International Male.
Gays of a certain age will surely remember the mail-order clothing brand with advertorial “magazines” that were selling a whole lot more than underwear. Now the hilarious, heartfelt, and not-so-secretly-homoerotic history of the catalogue is being told in a colorful new documentary, All Man: The International Male Story.
Founded in the mid-’70s by entrepreneur Gene Burkard, International Male has been credited with forever changing the world of men’s fashion and the public perception of masculinity. Once sold with the tagline “Freedom for the man,” the magazine celebrated male beauty and emboldened its perusers to take comfort in looking fabulous.
And you know what? It worked! International Man became a bona fide hit. At its peak in the ’90s, it’s said that roughly three million copies of each quarterly issue were in circulation, with an annual revenue well over $100 million.
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Though not explicitly gay, the publication was responsible for more than a few sexual awakenings. As All Man reveals, this was (somewhat) by design, as its staff was largely made up of women and gay men. In telling the story of this “band of outsiders,” the doc highlights how their work “changed the way men would look—at themselves, at each other, and how the world would look at them.”
Filmmakers Bryan Darling and Jesse Finley Reed have assembled an eclectic crew of talking heads, everyone from former magazine employees and models (including Madonna‘s ex, Tony Ward), to insightful celebrity commentators like style superstar Carson Kressley, musician Jake Shears, funny man Drew Droege, and designer Simon Doonan.
And though he passed in late 2020, All Man also features interviews with catalogue founder Gene Burkard, who’s rosy recollections of this “fairytale come true” give the doc a heaping dose of sweet nostalgia.
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All Man: The International Male Story has been lighting up the film festival circuit ever since it premiered at Tribeca this past summer. If you’re lucky, it just might be coming to a fest near you. In the next week alone, it will play the Tallgrass Festival in Wichita, KS, Out At The Movies fest in Winston-Salem, NC, and the 35th Annual Out On Film fest in Atlanta, GA—all of which have streaming options for non-local audiences.
Later in October, the feature heads to the Seattle Queer Film Festival, with more screening dates yet to come, so stay tuned!
You can read more about All Man: The International Male Story here, and watch the official trailer below:
abfab
The Sears Catalogue was hotter. Realer (is that even a word)? men with hot hairy bodies for the most part in garments made for men (no clobbering-I’m just rambling here). Not nylon made for anorexic Euro Trash gym bunnies who have been waxed and shaved and put into onesies.
mateo
Sorry, but you ARE clobbering.
Paulie P
seriously have you ever seen an International Male catalogue…..? anorexic gym bunnies is an oxymoron.
those men were prime beef. when muscles were natural and beautiful .
SDR94103
hardly.
abfab
I have…my husband at the time, from Greece, had stacks of them. He coveted them. That was in the middle 80s. I just prefered the Sears Cat…IS THAT SO WRONG? My god, I’m bitter.
bachy
@abfab: I don’t think you’re bitter. Your taste in men and men’s fashion was just different. You preferred the beefy, hairy, All-American SEARS male, while your hubby liked the Kept-Man-Holidaying-on-the-Greek-Islands International Male.
I totally get it.
indulged
@abfab …Nothing wrong with individual taste, at all.
There is something wrong in abrupt about-facing for the sake of tearing down & ridiculing the taste of others. I, too, am more inclined to peer into a SEARS catalogue, but don’t need to disdain or ridicule anyone in the process.
There has never been anything advantageous about eating our own, and the era of that social habit is dying a slow death. Please reconsider maneuvers which take our basic respect–and perceptions of other gay identities/communities—backwards.
LegionKeign
abfab I was a teen in the 80’s and all those mags got me hard and got me off. If it had a guy with any kind of bulge, no matter how small, I’d pop a boner.
Christ, I was so horny all the time. I loved looking at the underwear isle at walmart and pennies.
I was such a horndog. LOL!
PascackJack
The Sears models underwear were stuffed with tissue to avoid revealing the outline of anything in there.
KyleMichelSullivan
I loved getting my IM catalogues, and the Undergear one. Beautiful men of all types. I still have some of them, and used a few of the models as images for characters in my books and screenplays. I even liked going to the store on Santa Monica, in WeHo, and bought a lot of things, back when I was still young and slim. Fond memories.
mateo
The guy at the left in the photo above looks an awful lot like David Knight, a Canadian model who was a perennial in the International Male catalogs, and who at one time in the ’90s was rumored to have gotten hitched to Jason Gould (Barbra’s son). I bought lots of stuff from International Male and their influence on current men’s fashion is unquestionable: just look at the plethora of Chinese companies (e.g., Shein) which push a lot of products geared towards men and which are very similar to those which IM used to sell. I do take issue with the whole “Victoria’s Secret for men” label, though. They sold tons of products, not JUST underwear.
middleagespread
Bought a few suits from IM back in the day along with countless pairs of espadrilles in every color. I loved those shoes so much!!!
linedrive
Oh wow. Yes, this catalog helped me know FOR SURE. And Undergear, which someone has already mentioned. I loved both and placed orders from them too. In fact, I’m certain I have old issues in a box somewhere. I couldn’t bear to throw them all out. I would love to catch this documentary at some point.
Fahd
Abercrombie & Fitch ripped off the IM idea, btw. And I agree that the analogy with Victoria’s Secret is not apropos.
Bromancer7
Brian Buzzini!!!
Miles
So handsome. Who did he marry?
Vellala
Delectable Brian! Swooned over many of them, the hot latino looking ones my wet dreams! Still have my more than twenty years old second-copies of IM.
SDR94103
it was exciting.
baggins435
I was going through my storage unit and found a few of my old International Male catalogs from the ’90s. I seldom bought anything but underwear from them as I live in the Bible Belt and those clothes would have been a neon sign screaming “GAY”. Different times for sure. And the model top center was the first Playgirl model with an erection, IIRC, I mean, that’s what I heard…..
bachy
This doc should be good. I dunno, unlike a few of the other commenters I actually feel the “Victoria’s Secret for Men” descriptor is pretty accurate. Like VS, International Male sold what I think of as erotic fantasy clothing and accessories.
But please, some of the clothes were so over-the-top it made me laugh. I would imagine overweight 70 y/o alcoholic recluses feverishly purchasing The International Male Transparent Lace Jockstrap™ in all six colors.
Diplomat
I agree whole heartedly with your statements. The men were drool worthy but much of the clothing was a knee slapping laugh and a slow head shake. I never bought a thing but the mag was soft core porn at its finest.
GlobeTrotter
Picture me, 14 years old, stumbling on my much older, MARRIED cousin’s secret box of IM magazines carefully stashed away in an old closet in the boiler room in the basement. He thought it was safe from prying eyes, that is until a very curious and horny teenage boy came over to spend the summer and went rifling through all the stuff in the basement one hot and lonely summer afternoon. I couldn’t believe my eyes! My cousin is gay???
As I went through the magazines however, one model in particular stopped me dead in my tracks and completely BLEW my mind – BRIAN BUZZINI!!! Oh. My. Gaaawd!!! The things that guy did to my teenage hormones is beyond all attempts at description! I had him in every which way in my teenage fantasies, spilling buckets of “protein” in the process. Brian Buzzini is singularly responsible for sending my hormone production into overdrive, as well as for that one fateful summer of unbridled debauchery during my Grand European Boy Tour (interrailing) a few years later.
I’ve never been the same since…
bachy
When I think of the… er, prodigious talent required of the ideal International Male model, I invariably think of Brian Buzzini.
rand503
I first began seeing the IM when I was deeply closeted. I had several models who were my fav, and I would get the biggest hard ons and jerk off to them constantly. Not only were many of the guys hotter than regular models, but there was often a healthy bulge in the pants, and a come hither look in their eye.
Kept it up until I was out, but I still have a few pages ripped out of my boys!
bachy
Q: Did the Abercrombie & Fitch catalogs have a similar effect on you? Or had your tastes changed by then?
myloginname
I was raised in L.A. there was an International Male shop on Santa Monica Blvd. whereas the catalog gave us some fap materials the store opened up how crappy the clothes really were.
bachy
Yet another similarity to Victoria’s Secret.
Man About Town
These catalogues were a riot; I loved them. Many photos made you wonder, who the hell would wear that? Another issue was, obviously many products were made from cheap material. I once purchased a couple of Henley shirts and the first time I washed them, they came out so threadbare I knew I couldn’t wear them again.
I also found it interesting that their store in WeHo was right next to the Sports Connection, probably the most gigantic gay gym I’d ever experienced.
I’m looking forward to enjoying the documentary.
Flamingo Falls
Back in the ‘80s, one of my besties and I used to strike IM poses: we positioned one foot slightly behind the other and turned our torsos full front, as we gazed off into space. Mind you, neither of us had the bodies to be IM models (although my bestie, a former dancer, stood a far better chance than I). Later on, in the ‘90s, another bestie wore those Seinfeld-style “pirate” shirts from IM. He thought he was so fashion forward. Eager to see the doc; hope it streams.
surfnspy
The importance of IM to me was that it made it clear that I wasn’t the only one who felt the way I did. In a time when being gay was quite possible the worst thing you could be, this was a window into a world where being attracted to me was normal, celebrated, exciting, healthy.
I was too young to buy anything and was petrified to go into the store on Santa Monica Blvd.
Boy have times changed.
scotty
time has changed boys as well.
abfab
And let’s not forget, THE LORD WON’T MIND by Gordon Merrick. Who needed victoria boys when you had great writing? And the along came COLT. Amen.
xtian2020
I jacked off to so many IM/Undergear catalogs as a teen & young adult! I still have some of the clipped images of the especially bulge-tastic model Thom Collins (who was also featured in Playgirl, yum). Looking forward to watching the documentary @ some point and reveling in the camp & carnal memories.
indulged
Late teens/early 20s, my first catalogue buy…a black ‘spider web’ pullover which didn’t arrive as depicted. It was unfitted & loose in all the wrong areas.
The operator (yes, I called customer service…I was that bummed) thoughtfully explained to me it wasn’t defective—schooling me on the joys of a good tailor & personal fitting.
Odd to realize how helpful she was in such a (trivial) matter.
humble charlie
i got it for the exercises contained within. what about playgirl?!
Herman75
I visited the store in LA back then. I believe in San Diego as well.
The documentary is interesting but did not really capture enough of how exciting the catalog was for us baby gays back then. At least we know what happened to it.
Crayonap
I wouldn’t describe it as Victoria’s Secret for men rather it was Frederick’s of Hollywood for men–to go back further.
dbmcvey
Looking forward to this! I loved the catalogue, though the few times I ordered something I could never bring myself to wear it.
radiooutmike
I started getting International Male in 1986.
I had no idea on how I started getting it. I mean I did buy clothes from Chess King at the time and I did have my first credit card. But who knows, maybe someone signed me up a prank or maybe they knew me better than I did…