WHOA. It’s astonishing that such a random old ad — spotted on Dionne Warlock — could tap into such a well of memory. It’s not mental memory, really: I can’t really recall anything about where or when I would have seen this ad. Maybe it was in that one random copy of GQ i bought when I was about 13 or 14, or a catalog we had around the house. It’s kind of an emotional memory, I guess. I just remember this feeling of being utterly fascinated by these handsome men, at a point when I was way too young to make any sense of that. I stared at this picture A LOT.
I had a particular fascination with the guy on the left, who Google reminds me was Jeff Aquilon, a dude who is apparently considered one of the first male supermodels. He’s certainly handsome, but in a way that doesn’t inspire the same vivid reaction it did back when I didn’t quite even know what attraction felt like. It’s so weird to be reminded, in a gut sort of way, what that was like.
Oh! But here’s another ad I similarly recall, with a different guy, from the same source:
I bet I kept these in a scrapbook at one point. I can’t really remember, but I’m sure I must have had something like that when I was a wee lad.
Update: Another! 1983? Sounds about right. These must have all come from the same magazine, and I must have had one from the same time, if not the same magazine. This is really all too vivid.
