Fuck Yeah '80s Mens' Fashions

Remember Anthony Edwards, the balding bespectacled doctor in ER? Well, once upon a time, he had lots of blond feathered hair.  I admit it, this is a look I actually kind of miss.

Here he is, striking a pose in Cold War thriller/comedy Gotcha (1985). You can’t see much of his clothes— well, apart from his suspiciously shiny leather bomber jacket and super preppy popped collar—  but man, that hair! Classic. 

Gotta love Bruce Boxleitner from Tron, in his feathered hair and gigantic rectangular early ’80s glasses!

(Source: 0rionis)

Apparently in Kushiel’s Dart the big whorehouse is called “Night Court.” Seriously. Of course, I started thinking of the show Night Court and how John Laroquette would make a great pimp. He certainly wore some pimpin’ suits, as in this pic. Look at that pocket square! And those clashing stripes! The ’80s were certainly a great decade for clashing patterns. 

No hot guys here, but I find this photo… sadly funny. It’s Goldie Hawn in the 1984 comedy Protocol, an extremely dated comedy about an innocent airhead who saves an emir’s life and becomes a diplomat. She ends up going to a Fictitious Arab Country with the unlikely name of Otah, and the Emir almost forces her to become his wife, because you know, because she’s a blonde and he’s a Lustful Arab Male.  And then Hijinx Ensue! 

… Yeah.

Anyway, here’s a bunch of nebbishy looking guys in suits. Look, none of them are wearing American flag pins!

And here’s Bruce Boxleitner again in a 1984 promotional shot for Scarecrow & Mrs. King. Hellooo tight jeans! It was so sad, living through the ’90s and the first half of the ’00s, when jeans were universally baggy. I remembered when they were tight and showed off… a great deal.

I like his ’80s sporty parka and turtleneck too, but who’s looking at that? In any case, his cheap stretchy cloth belt amuses me.

Chris Sarandon in Fright Night again, this time in the club scene where he seduces Amanda Bearse’s character. I’m much less crazy about the gray sweater he wears here; it doesn’t seem very… club-appropriate. But this is a great pic, just for the pure ’80s ambiance. Pink and blue lights, yay!

Here’s Chris Sarandon from the original 1985 film of Fright Night, at the zenith of his hotness. Colin Farrell with his unibrow can’t compare with the first (and best) Jerry Dandridge and his horrifying suavity. 

If I thought finding a pic of an older pic of Peter Davison not in costume was hard— that was nothing compared to finding a high-res photo of Chris Sarandon that wasn’t a headshot. Here you can see the texture of his coat, and the interesting rosette pattern on his blue-gray shirt. The colors, with the scarf, ties together surprisingly well, though that pattern is much bolder (or louder) than something you’d see nowadays. Compare to the plain dark gray Henley shirt that Farrell wore in the 2011 Fright Night— I think the costuming in the 1985 movie is more interesting, as the layers and contrast of patterns, colors and textures says a lot more about Jerry’s urbane character. 

It was surprisingly hard finding a 1980s picture of Peter Davison (aka the Fifth Doctor) where he wasn’t in costume. This is apparently a publicity shot from 1982— it depicts the usual early ’80s ‘dressy casual’ look, complete with a collarless black leather bomber jacket and the ubiquitous swiss-dotted dark red tie you saw everywhere back then.

And look! It’s Patrick Swayze from Roadhouse (1989), just as I promised! Ready to kick ass and dispense vigilante justice in… belted, loose-fitting light gray pleated pants.

Awesome.

As a special request from Jessica (from the Readreactreview blog) Here’s Richard Tyson from the Golden Raspberry award-winning sex romp, Two Moon Junction. He’s a bit different from my usual yuppies and preppies; this mulleted specimen of manhood is a musclebound carny who never wears a shirt, opting for stone-washed, straight-legged jeans, accessorized, occasionally, with a duster jacket.

I suppose this means I’ll have to do Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse next, right?