The A&F Quarterly and house/staff photographers.

[Brian Wallace]

I know this is sacrilege but why is it that I almost
look forward to a new A&F Quarterly (Abercrombie
and Fitch) as much as I do a new issue of Playboy? 
It's not because of the natural state of the women or
their incredibly toned bodies.

All the pictures in the Quarterly are taken by Bruce
Weber.  Every issue now features at least fifteen to
twenty pages of male and female nudity (No lower
frontal, though).  I mentioned to someone that he is
sort of the photographic Norman Rockwell of our time. 
I mean, sure the pictures portray a lifestyle that
doesn't exist (a world where everyone is between
the ages of 18 and 22, body fat does not exist and
everyone is either skinny dipping or pretending to be
a pirate) but I think there is a "lifestyle sexiness"
that the A&F Quarterly has that maybe Playboy could
take a look at.  IF the magazine is going to go a
semi-nude route then I think the pictures in the 
A&F Quarterly are a type that maybe Playboy could
strive for.  Sometimes I look at the pictures in
the A&F Quarterly and think "Man, I wish I could be
living that life."  That's what I want Playboy to
say to me.

I think it would be great if Playboy started using
some photographers with maybe a different eye.  Weber
did this year's Pirelli calendar as well.  There were
some semi-nude shots in that that would not be out
of place in Playboy.

Often times I look through magazines such as foreign
editions of GQ and see some pictorial and think "Why
isn't this in Playboy?"  (A recent Lucy Liu pictorial
in German Playboy comes to mind).  There was even a
fashion pictorial in American G.Q. about five years
ago that I would have killed to have seen in Playboy.
(It was a young couple going away for a weekend in a
convertible and it ended with both skinny-dipping).

Maybe Playboy doesn't have the budget for this but I
personally, would love to see a Playmate pictorial
shot by David LaCapelle (who did the Naomi Campbell
pictorial) or maybe a Playmate pictorial done by
Sante D'Orazio (did Stephanie Seymour).  Playboy can't
afford to hire top name fashion photographers all the
time but there are some young photographic talents
that are just as good.

The current 50th anniversary feature on the "50 most
important playboy photos" is great.  I can't wait
until all 50 are revealed and I will buy the
accompanying book.

But basically what I'm trying to say (I'm sorry, this
is one long, unfocused email) is that more than FHM
and Maxim stealing Playboy's thunder, I think there
are some fresh sexy photographic presentations that
may want to be looked at for Playboy's next fifty
years.

Brian Wallace