White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercombie and Fitch

 

“White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercombie and Fitch”: the clothing company that turned lookism into discrimination

Netlfix now offers Alison Klayman’s documentary, “White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercombie & Fitch”. The company’s location catches my attention: near Columbus, Ohio (New Albany).

The documentary focuses on the “reign” of controversial CEO Mike Jeffries (hired in 1992), who bowed down to essentially white male gay tastes of the 70s and 80s and insisted that all the “models” (as store employees were called) fit a certain code of personal attractiveness (frankly, sexual attractiveness).

In the 1990s, as the mood of the country in some ways became more libertarian (coming out of the Reagan years, with its AIDS epidemic and conservatism), this sort of public face, insisting that everyone who represented a retail business seem “cool”, could survive.  A company could get away with it. But eventually, as inequity in the economy increased (like after 9/11), social tensions would increase and litigation would start.

The film describes how many of the actual practices inside the stores were blatantly discriminatory against people of color.  In one famous lawsuit, SCOTUS upheld a judgment against a woman rejected for wearing a Muslim hijab, 8-1.

Jeffries had been married (in 1971, about the time of my own heterosexual dating, as Jeffries was born one year after me), with one child, but by 2013 had a male partner (late in life).

The appearance of the young male models in earlier times was strikingly consistent: muscular, lean, and white, but consistently (and suspiciously) with smooth chests.  Indeed, the “cool” culture seemed to be influenced of the lookism prominent in the male gay community particularly in the 90s, and it has become a point of subtle conflict within the LGBTQ “intersections” now as the personal values between the old male “establishment” and non-binary/trans/”queer” today come into conflict.  (The irony of the demographics of COVID today, compared to HIV/AIDS in the past, also comes to mind.)

The company had tried to make amends by hiring a black man a diversity officer (and VP) in the early 2000’s.  But the company was always evasive until Jeffries as forced to leave in 2014.  Then, finally, the culture of the company started to change.

Other companies in the past have attracted notoriety for rabidly enforced conservative dress codes, like IBM and EDS.  Business casual started to become more acceptable in the mid or late 1980s.

Name:   “White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercombie & Fitch”

Director, writer: Alison Klayman

Released:             2022

Format: 1.85:1

When and how viewed: Netflix subscription, 2022-4-22

Length: 88

Rating:  TV-MA (prob PG-13)

Companies:        Netflix

Link:       see Netflix   (Ebert)

Stars:     ****_

(Posted: Friday, April 22, 2022 at 11:30 AM EDT by John W. Boushka)