Badpuppy Gay Today

Monday, 08 December 1997

INTERNATIONAL MALE


Catalog Review by Warren D. Adkins


If you're a newcomer to gay environs, be advised that some of the handsomest—even prettiest—male mugs can be yours regularly if you order from this seasonal catalog, International Male, a favorite in gay households for nearly a half-century.

You must order a clothing item first, however, to be eligible. Then, every so often, you'll get 42 pages of hot-item fashions draped on the men we'd love to boink.

International Male gives good service too. You can trust this time-worn fashion institution to mail your stylish choices pronto. And if you're tired of messing around at the mall, of attempting to find clothes that'll give you that sexy edge you so desire at a reasonable cost, International Male must become your habit in residence.

Believe it or not, there are males-- hip heterosexuals--who appreciate the same fashions that gay men do, and every so often a gratuitous woman accompanies one of the pictured hunks that this fashion mag so graciously grinds out.

Some of the hunks—who appear to be chosen as if by popular acclaim—return again and again to the catalog's pages. One cover-model, described inside as having "lips to die for", surely will return next month, especially if the fashion editor, Donn Wilson, holds his attributes—in this case his mouth-- in such high regard.

The Xmas edition (lets put the X back in Xmas) of the catalog is worth begging for. No matter what kind of clothing you seek, you can find it—from mucho classy to down-dirty horny.

Bathing suits and shorts as well as tank tops and leather—not to mention shoes -- are yours for the ordering. You get color choices too, and size choices, natch.

The catalog celebrates "pin stripes like you've never seen before", "rugged leather," and "holiday shirts with dazzle to spare." You can shop for these items 24-hours a day—just thumbing through pages of bods and faces that so set your imagination to work that you tell yourself you can look just like that model if only it becomes possible to adorn yourself with the very same gear.

Especially entrancing are those models in see-through shirts—like the black spider web shirt advertised by a beaut on page E-2. Such clothing is so unusual, compared to standard Sears or Penney's fare, that you'll hoot and holler with satisfaction when your fingers do the cruising.

Much of the fashion emphasis in International Male is on body contour. If you're tired of looking for jeans that aren't "relaxed"—(i.e. appropriately loose-fitting for persons suffering undue fast-food-body-growth) the fashions in this curvaceously-appropriate catalog offer the right solutions. And if you're unhappy about fabric that rubs you roughly the wrong way, how about that shirtless blond dude jogging the beach in silk animal print jog pants. Even if you don't look just like he does wearing them, he makes the pants look so handsome you won't even feel silly pretending he's your twin.

Like those long undies? No? Well, heaven knows, you'll like the models wearing them. Or, how about a Kodiak fleece snuggler, the ultimate in cozy at-home wear? The model shows it off with a plunging neck-line that screams: sell it to me, baby!

You know those leathery bar vests—the ones bartenders wear when they get tipped for just looking good? Its there, in International Male, and so now you too can get tipped without having to peddle anything such as the bartender does.

For some odd reason, International Male has always had a handle on what it is that both straight and gay men will scramble to the phone to order. You don't believe it?

Then call 1-800-293-9333 and ask that the catalog be sent sooner than immediately. Then, when you inevitably like what you see, order it. Sit back and wait for each new catalog to arrive thereafter. Whatever you buy, just think of it as a down-payment on a lifetime of pretty-faces forever in the mails.

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