For many gay males of a certain era (namely mine) the International Male and Undergear catalogs were our entryway into the world of gay erotica. Cloaked in often-campy and always-questionable fashion, it was the lack of clothing options – and underwear-forward photo shoots – that made these catalogs such a hit. Not gonna lie – I was there for the fashion too, and the true shame in my closet wasn’t my sexuality as much as the multitude of lace-up pirate shirts that once constituted the wardrobe, to say nothing of all the gauze… but I disdainfully digress.
One of those male models who personified International Male and the unattainable aspiration they were selling was Brian Buzzini. He will forever be embedded in my teenage fantasies, moodily staring out of those pages clad in a skimpy pair of black bikini briefs, as if he lived his life on the shore, just hanging out in his underwear – and that was most certainly the life for me. Today he looks just as chiseled, with the additional character that a couple of decades imbues into the best of the survivors (and those who have obviously taken care of themselves over the years). For that, he earns this Dazzler of the Day.
