Nine 80s Halloween Costumes for Men Nobody Else Will Wear

Every 80s party has three Marty McFlys and a Maverick. Nobody shows up as Snake Plissken. Nobody comes as Axel Foley, even though the whole costume is a grey sweatshirt and a pair of sneakers. And the guy who arrives barefoot in a dirty tank top as John McClane wins the night without spending a dollar.

Below: nine 80s characters a man can build from an ordinary closet, with what they actually wore on screen, the one or two pieces that make the look read, and the mistakes that give you away. If you want the classics instead, we already covered the easy 80s movie costumes everyone knows.

1. John McClane, Die Hard (1988)

It's a white, sleeveless, ribbed tank with a deep neckline, not a T-shirt. Costume designer Marilyn Vance dressed him in charcoal flannel trousers with a brown belt, and he loses his shoes early, which is a plot point. Bruce Willis later donated the blood and sweat stained undershirt to the Smithsonian.

Build it: a white ribbed tank, made grubby with coffee or eyeshadow, dark dress trousers, a brown belt, a tan shoulder holster if you have one, fake blood on the shirt. Skip the bare feet outdoors and go with dirty socks. A strip of grey duct tape on your back is the deep cut: in the finale he pulls a pistol taped there.

Common mistake: khaki chinos. Those are from the 1995 sequel.

2. Thomas Magnum, Magnum, P.I. (1980 to 1988)

Get the mustache, the Hawaiian shirt and the Detroit Tigers cap right and the rest is easy. His most famous shirt was a red "jungle bird" print with purple parrots, worn in at least 27 episodes, and one of his screen worn shirts is in the Smithsonian. The navy Tigers cap with the white Old English "D" was a nod to Tom Selleck's birthplace, Detroit. Add khaki shorts and boat shoes.

Build it: the loudest red tropical shirt you own, a navy ball cap, khaki shorts, boat shoes, sunglasses hanging on a cord. If your closet is short on parrots, a teal floral like our Retro Hawaiian Shirt 1983 ($39.99) is a softer alternative that stays useful in July.

Common mistake: classic aviators. His main pair was Vuarnet Skilynx on a neck cord.

3. Snake Plissken, Escape from New York (1981)

The eyepatch was Kurt Russell's own idea, and it goes over the left eye. Under it: a tight black sleeveless top with two silver zippers running from the neck toward the armpits, urban camo pants and tall buckled boots. A distressed brown leather jacket comes off early. The finishing detail is a big green cobra tattooed on his stomach.

Build it: black sleeveless top, grey camo pants, black boots, a black eyepatch on the left eye, and a cobra drawn on your stomach in eyeliner. If you don't own a brown one, a black racer like our Retro Biker Jacket 1985 ($89.99) still reads right for the entrance.

Common mistake: calling it a vest. It's a zippered sleeveless shirt.

4. Axel Foley, Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

The easiest costume on this list. On his first day in Beverly Hills, Eddie Murphy's Axel wears a light grey, long sleeve crew neck with "MUMFORD PHYS. ED. DEPT" faded across the chest. Mumford High in Detroit is producer Jerry Bruckheimer's old school. Over it goes a charcoal zip hoodie, then dark straight jeans and white Adidas with green stripes and white tube socks.

Build it: grey long sleeve tee, iron-on letters spelling MUMFORD PHYS. ED. DEPT, a dark zip hoodie, straight jeans, white sneakers.

Common mistake: the Detroit Lions jacket. It's tied to the sequel, not the 1984 film.

5. John Rambo: pick a movie

Most Rambo costumes mix two films. In First Blood (1982), he wears an olive M-65 field jacket with a flag patch, light blue jeans tucked into brown boots, dog tags and a big survival knife. His headband is a strip of brown canvas.

The red headband and the bare chest come from Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). He cuts the headband from a dress after a character dies.

Build it: for 1982, a surplus olive field jacket, jeans and boots. For 1985, a black tank or no shirt, a red bandana headband and a toy bow. Leave real knives at home.

6. MacGyver (1985 to 1992)

Richard Dean Anderson once said the Swiss Army knife was MacGyver's "one and only gadget," and it's about the only thing he kept from the show. The character made it into Oxford's online dictionaries in 2015 as a verb: to improvise a fix with whatever is at hand.

Build it: a mullet wig, a brown bomber or suede jacket, jeans, a red pocket knife in one hand and a roll of duct tape in the other.

7. A Ghostbuster (1984)

The first film's uniforms were khaki flight suits with brass zips, the no-ghost logo on the right shoulder and the wearer's last name on the left chest, with pant legs tucked into tall boots. Dan Aykroyd's original concept art had a helmet. His note on it: "Glad we lost the helmet."

Build it: any tan coverall or work jumpsuit, masking tape with your last name on the left chest, a printed logo on the right shoulder, boots. A cardboard proton pack is optional and a lot of work.

8. Daniel LaRusso, The Karate Kid (1984)

In the film, Mr. Miyagi gives Daniel a karate gi as a birthday present before the tournament, and in the final he takes the crane stance and wins with a jumping front kick. The movie cost $8 million and made over $130 million worldwide.

Build it: a white wrap top and white pants, plus a cloth headband. Practice the crane stance once before you leave the house.

9. Joel Goodson, Risky Business (1983)

The underwear dance needs an oversized button-down oxford and white crew socks. In the scene, that's all he wears, so put shorts underneath for the party. Elsewhere in the film he wears a red varsity jacket with off-white leather sleeves, Levi's and boat shoes.

Build it: big oxford shirt, white socks, shorts. Sunglasses are an optional extra from his other scenes, and our California Sunglasses 1981 ($24.99) work for that.

What people actually bought in the 80s

For the record, the real costume aisle of the 80s looked different. AP reports named Hulk Hogan and Elvira the top sellers in 1985, with Nixon and Reagan masks doing well too. In 1986 the headline was ninjas and sexy witches. 1988 was Freddy Krueger, Elvira and, somehow, the California Raisins. In 1989 the official Batman costume cost $275 and the Joker $320, and factories ran around the clock.

Grown-ups were the big change. By 1989 adults were buying about half of all costumes, up from around 10 percent in earlier decades. For more costume history, read the best-known 80s Halloween costumes.

Questions we get

What is the easiest 80s costume for a guy? Axel Foley: a grey long sleeve shirt with MUMFORD PHYS. ED. DEPT ironed on, a dark zip hoodie, jeans and white sneakers. John McClane is a close second.

What did John McClane wear in Die Hard? A white sleeveless ribbed tank, charcoal flannel trousers, a brown belt and a tan shoulder holster, mostly with no shoes.

What did Magnum P.I. wear? Hawaiian shirts, most famously a red parrot print, a navy Detroit Tigers cap, khaki shorts and boat shoes.

Did Rambo wear a headband in First Blood? Yes, but a brown canvas strip. The red headband is from the 1985 sequel.

Which eye does Snake Plissken's eyepatch cover? The left eye.

Explore the collections: 80s Men's Shirts · Jackets · Retro Sunglasses · Masks

For the costume closet

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