Parr of Arizona

December 1954 VIM magazine.

In 1954 twenty six year old Ralph Paracheck needed money to put himself through architectural school (he went on to become a fairly well known architect of homes in the Phoenix area). Born in Toledo, Ohio he moved west to go to school. He came up with the idea to sell swimsuits by mail order. His first swimsuit made out of white and red checkered tablecloths (which he got from J.C. Penny) that were cut tight and short light basketball shorts were an instant huge hit. He decided to expand, he came up with a catalog selling menswear and hired some women to come work in his kitchen making the clothes. His home mail-order business was so successful that by 1959 he opened up his first shop. What made Parr of Arizona so successful was that at a time in the 1950s when clothing for men was conservative, Parachek offered an alternative of body hugging clothes and see through bikinis. A definite gay sensibility brought to men's clothing and from the start the community was one of the biggest buyers of his clothes.