Abercrombie

In today’s society of brand and image McBride ventures into my realm of Design. The question and thesis he poses, “what is it that Abercrombie is selling that gay men seem so desperate to buy in legion?” is a very complex concept and the answer can be almost as difficult to decode.

Since McBride is writing about a very current subject he is paving a path that some may not understand but once we break down that Abercrombie is elevating a laid back white lifestyle things become clear. As a designer I understand the importance of consistency in a brand and I see how they established that through their clothing, advertising, and the Look Book to create their identity. Normally this would be fine, and respected, but the problem is the image in which Abercrombie attempts to present and they lengths they go for it. In the Look Book it restricts haircuts and personal fashion choices typically associated with blacks or even black culture. The idea becomes that even if your white and dress like this your out because “your with them.”


Another detestable business practice of theirs is that most black employees’ work in the back as stockers. This is limited to Abercrombie though as McBride states that a young black man tried to get a job at Abercrombie, was given an excuse, and then went right across the mall and got a job at a similar store. While there are other brands like Abercrombie none of them limit employees’ like A&F, Buckle only asks employees’ not to wear other prominent brands while on the job.

What I find curious though is why McBride begins and ends his piece incorporating sexuality into the predominantly racial issue. Abercrombie is emphasizing a “white leisure lifestyle” and while normally the “dominant class” is straight white Christian males Abercrombie’s advertising is clearly homosexual despite the incorporation of women. So in order to possibly gain more acceptance gay men would be more inclined to wear this brand if they want to be looked at as part of that “dominant class” because of the cloths they wore instead of actually being those things themselves, (odd sentence I know but that was the best way I knew how to phrase it) I have no idea why they would wear it. I feel the focus was on the racial issue and that he allowed personal interest to come into play, which may also be a result of just how new an issue this is.

I’d like to quickly address a wonderful comment made earlier in the piece. He talks about gay bashing and intolerant morality and in parenthesis states “too often masking itself as Christian.” This comment caused shock to me because I was so grateful that someone in his position understands that those things aren’t really Christian and that others can see how wrong those types of people are.