The increasingly popular Abercrombie & Fitch catalog was released earlier this month but the company has announced that it has no plans to make it available in the United States. The catalog made famous for its nude and semi-nude male photography has developed a cult following since it hit the stores of the popular lifestyle clothier five years ago.
Known for it's risque photography, as you might expect and remaining true to form the new book continues to feature images of chiseled young men and women in various suggestive poses taken by master photographer Bruce Weber.
The catalog has remained the center of controversy and it's 2008 edition promised to deliver no less. The bad news is that the company has decided that Americans can’t handle it. Back in February, spurred by citizen complaints the police seized pictures considered obscene by local standards—they featured partial views of male buttocks from a Virginia Beach A&F store.
The store’s manager was initially charged with obscenity, though the charges were later dropped. As a result, the implication of the Europe only release is that Americans aren’t quite sophisticated enough to view a nipple or butt crack without creating an embarrassing controversy.
The new cover depicts a painting of young men rowing in the nude by painter Mark Beard and since you won’t find the new catalog here in America, your options for snagging a copy are limited.
You can follow the advice offered by Weber on his website, which boasts “the beauty of youth in male nude photography”: “Call your college friends from that semester abroad or email those Kensington expats you know to get a copy.”
Recent reports have revealed that copies have been spotted on e-bay, with bids averaging around $400 dollars.
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