Gene Burkard: Last News

For countless gay men of a slightly earlier era, the International Male catalogue provided a portal to fashion… and fantasy. Handsome men with chiseled jaws and muscled bods filled the pages of IM, often clad in no more than a skimpy pair of underwear. Straight dudes could ogle the Victoria’s Secret catalogue bursting with “angels” in lingerie; for gay guys there was International Male.

Manuel Betancourt “Victoria’s Secret for men.” That’s how International Male, the clothing catalogue founded by Gene Burkard is described in the opening moments of Bryan Darling and Jesse Finley Reed’s “All Man: The International Male Story.” Only the description should have an important caveat: This smorgasbord of images of men in the sexy (if aggressively outrageous) outfits that adorned Burkard’s 1976 creation were aimed at a specific subset of men. Telling a straightforward tale about this queer-skewing business, “All Man” opens up inquiries on how masculinity has been packaged for the American consumer, straight and gay alike.The comparison to Victoria’s Secret is an apt one, capturing the way the many talking heads that populate “All Man” speak to and understand Burkard’s goals and ambitions.