Fitted peekaboo tank tops. Black velvet vampire capes lined in electric-grape charmeuse. Sheer gold lamé button-downs. Mesh codpieces and crotch-padded thongs. High-waisted satin bellbottoms in a color that must be called Cruising Red. If this is what you wore in the 1970s and ‘80s, then you shopped with the International Male catalog. It was the must-have softcore booklet for flamboyant gay men who wanted to step out in style … as well as for closet queens who wanted free non-penetrative porn and tasteful homos who enjoyed a good laugh!
Narrated by Matt Bomer, this peppy doc covers it all! It began as a small startup that tapped into the wild spirit of the 1960s to give gay liberation a fashion-forward look. The company rode the disco-era highs and AIDS-era lows, creating an escapist fantasy and making a fortune! Hear from the company’s staff and creative team, their (mostly hetero) models, and the luminaries who eagerly awaited every issue: Barneys Creative Ambassador Simon Doonan, gay comic Drew Droege, Queer Eye fashionista Carson Keessley, pop icon Jake Shears, and model/Hustler White star Tony Ward.
It’s a celebration of shameless homosexuality, American entrepreneurism, and body-conscious kitsch from an era that was both hornier and more innocent.
— Frank Danay
