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continued
Taken for what it is—a marketing tool for a clothing
manufacturer—the A&F Quarterly does a pretty good job of making
money for the company’s stockholders. In late June, it announced that
profits were 27 per cent higher over the same quarter last year. It’s
not a babysitter for America’s youth. It’s not there to give parents a
bogeyman to fight in order to make them feel better about their parenting
skills—or lack of.
Already, the company has in place a solution this hysterical
madness—if only people would open their eyes. Just as in the recording
industry where they occasionally put a “clean” version of a PG-13
compact disc, A&F also produces a secondary catalogue
that shows only the clothing. As always, the fight is over nothing at
all. Granted this version of the catalogue, minus the Bruce Weber photos
and articles, is more boring than listening to a lecture at a paint-drying
convention in the middle of winter; it is the very solution that these
protesters are calling for. Except they are too caught up in getting themselves
on television to see that for themselves.
Within the context of fashion, the catalogue is far
superior to most of the fashion magazines on the newsstand. The photographs
of the delectable boys and girls by photographer Bruce Weber are superb.
The writing is snappy and often outrageously funny, which is more than
I can say about some of the more mainstream publications out there. The
clothes, when not seen on models, are presented in a pretty straightforward
manner. They are also obscenely pricey but that wouldn’t be the case if
consumers weren’t willing to pay it. They are well made and build to last.
I am not for corrupting the impressionable minds of
emerging teenage psyches. I strongly believe that if you do your best
as a parent to pass on the values you deem important, then nothing will
override that. Kids, contrary to popular opinion, retain the lessons learned
early in life. Picking up the A&F Quarterly won’t corrupt their
minds any more that seeing an ad from the Gap. What’s important for a
parent is to have confidence in kids today and just relax and enjoy their
soon-to-be empty-nest years. In the meantime, let’s protest things that
truly matter like global warming, child labour laws in developing countries
and the way in which our economic life is going to hell in a hand basket.
 Phillip D. Johnson
Visit Abercrombie
& Fitch
Phillip D. Johnson is Features’ Editor of Lucire.
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Above:
This is why the controversy is particularly senseless. Abercrombie &
Fitch already publishes a “PG-13” version of the A&F
Quarterly without the controversial imagery. Those who disapprove
can opt for it. There is consumer choice, says author Johnson. Below:
The catalogue is superior to many magazines, according to the author,
with superb photography, as shown here from the summer 2000 issue.
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