How Abercrombie & Fitch’s image of masculinity affected Asian men

Anthony Ocampo remembers how difficult it was to come of age as a queer, Filipino American man in the early 2000s, an era defined by rigid standards of beauty.

One of the companies that set those very standards was Abercrombie & Fitch, the subject of the new Netflix documentary “White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch.” With the heavy aroma of its cologne wafting from stores and its highly stylized wall-to-ceiling ads featuring muscular, shirtless, white male models, the brand set the bar for what was considered attractive for men at the time, said Ocampo, a 40-year-old former store employee featured in the documentary. At one point, he bought into it, too.

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