You heard it here first: I’m not one to say, “I told you so,” okay, I am. Last Tuesday evening when I ran across the Abercrombie Fitch press release announcing that the company was halting the controversial A-F Quarterly and replacing it with an expanded catalog, I titled the post, “Don’t believe them.” And then, on Wednesday, in a post titled, “Faux Finale,” I predicted the company would announce in January the publication’s re-launch. I was wrong. They didn’t wait until January.
The AF Quarterly name may be gone, but some things won’t change: Like the creative team who produced it. According to the NY Times, Abercrombie-Fitch has “revealed plans to shoot the newest edition of the catalog next month using, surprise, the same art director, Sam Shahid; photographer, Bruce Weber; stylists and crew who made the quarterly risqué in the first place.” (Here’s a college newspaper feature story on a photo shoot by Bruce, Sam & the gang last spring.)
So, there you have it. AF Quarterly will no longer be a “racy” customer magalog. It will be a “racy” customer catalog. I’m glad we’ve gotten that cleared up. (via Gawker)
