Easy 80s Movie Costumes for Men You Can Wear Again in November

Every October the costume aisle sells the same 80s guy in a bag. A neon windbreaker made of something that squeaks, a mullet wig that looks like it lost a fight, and sunglasses that snap if you look at them too hard. It all goes in the trash on November 1st.

Most of the famous 80s movie characters wore regular clothes. Costume designers bought them off racks, aged them a little and put them on actors. A leather jacket, a pair of aviators, a trench coat. So you can build almost every one of these looks from real clothes, win the party, and still wear the jacket in November.

Real clothes, one prop. The prop is what makes people say the name. Everything else should be something you'd wear to get coffee.

Sonny Crockett (Miami Vice)

Miami Vice hit NBC on September 16, 1984, and executive producer Michael Mann gave the wardrobe team a famous rule: no earth tones. Crockett wore an unstructured pastel linen jacket over a plain crew-neck T-shirt, white linen trousers and loafers with no socks, and he changed clothes five to eight times an episode. His sunglasses switched between Wayfarer-style frames and aviators depending on the day, so if someone at the party corrects you, they're wrong either way.

Build it with a pastel blazer from a thrift store, sleeves shoved to the elbow, a white tee, light trousers and loafers on bare ankles. If it's warm or you hate blazers, a camp collar shirt does the Miami part on its own. The Crockett Shirt 1984 ($69.99) is made for exactly this job.

The prop is the stubble. Two days without a razor and you're done. In November, the shirt goes with jeans and the blazer goes over a hoodie.

Maverick (Top Gun)

Top Gun opened on May 16, 1986 and became the highest-grossing film of the year. Maverick's off-duty uniform was a brown leather flight jacket with a fur collar, a white crew-neck tee, stonewashed jeans and gold aviators with green lenses. The jacket in the movie is covered in patches. Skip them. Some are real Navy insignia and some carry the movie's name, and neither looks right on a Tuesday.

Any brown leather jacket with a shearling or fur-look collar works, with a white tee and straight jeans. For the shades, a squared aviator with a gold brow bar, like our New Fashion Vintage Sunglasses ($24.99), reads right from across a room. One mix-up to drop: Tom Cruise's Wayfarer moment was Risky Business in 1983. The aviators are Top Gun.

The prop is a volleyball under your arm. Nobody will need it explained. In November, a brown leather jacket, a white tee and jeans is just a good outfit.

Marty McFly (Back to the Future)

Back to the Future came out on July 3, 1985. Costume designer Deborah Lynn Scott, who later won an Oscar for Titanic, put Marty in a red puffer vest over a denim jacket, a checked shirt, light stonewash jeans and white sneakers with a red accent. On his wrist was a black digital calculator watch. When he lands in 1955, the soda shop owner takes one look at the vest and assumes it's a life preserver, which is still the most honest review a puffer vest has ever gotten.

The vest is the whole costume. Red or orange puffer vest, any denim jacket underneath, a plaid shirt and white sneakers. Our Retro Denim Jacket 1981 ($69.99) handles the middle layer. For the wrist, a chunky digital like the Black Digital Watch 1982 ($22.99) has the right shape, even if it won't do your math homework. Leave the sneaker logo off, and don't show up in self-lacing shoes. Those belong to Part II's version of 2015, not the 1985 outfit.

The prop is a skateboard. Or just yell "Doc!" at the host every time you walk into a room. In November, vest, denim and plaid is just a normal fall outfit.

The Terminator

The Terminator opened on October 26, 1984, five days before Halloween. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks 17 lines in the whole film. His look is a black motorcycle jacket, a gray tee, olive trousers, black boots and very dark sunglasses. In the story he takes the clothes from a gang of punks, so the outfit is supposed to look borrowed.

Build it with a black leather jacket, a gray tee, cargo pants and boots. The Synthwave Leather Jacket 1984 ($89.99) has the right attitude and the right year on the tag. For sunglasses, go dark and flat across the brow. The originals were Gargoyles, a brand that shut down in 2022, so you'll be improvising like everybody else.

The prop is your face. Keep it blank all night. In November, it's a leather jacket, and you'll wear it until April.

Ferris Bueller (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off came out on June 11, 1986, and Marilyn Vance did the costumes. Ferris gets a two-tone leather jacket said to be inspired by James Dean's red jacket in Rebel Without a Cause, a patterned sweater vest (Vance has said she cut the sleeves off a department store sweater to make it), a white tee, pleated trousers and a black beret, which was Matthew Broderick's own idea. His socks are printed with flags from around the world.

Put a knit vest over a white tee, add a two-tone or letterman-style jacket, pleated pants and white shoes. One correction for people who saw the movie once in 1994: the hockey jersey belongs to Cameron. Ferris never wears it.

The prop is the beret, plus a fake cough whenever someone asks where you've been. In November, the vest works over a tee or a button-down and nobody will ask why.

John Bender (The Breakfast Club)

The Breakfast Club came out on February 15, 1985, and Marilyn Vance dressed this one too. Her trick was to layer every character so pieces could come off as the kids loosen up around each other. Bender wears the most layers: a long oversized overcoat, a denim jacket with pins, a red flannel with the sleeves cut off, a white thermal and work boots. Judd Nelson stayed in character between takes, and John Hughes had to be talked out of firing him.

Thermal, flannel, denim, long coat, boots. Everything can come from a thrift store, and for this character it should.

The prop is one raised fist, at the end of the night, in the parking lot. In November, lose the coat and you're dressed for any bar in the Midwest.

Lloyd Dobler (Say Anything...)

Say Anything... opened April 14, 1989, and one scene outlived the rest of the movie. Lloyd stands outside Diane Court's house in a khaki trench coat, holding a boombox over his head while it plays Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes." The stereo was a Sharp GF-7600, a late-70s model. John Cusack thought the whole idea was too theatrical, so Cameron Crowe rolled the camera once with no film in it to let him get it out of his system, then shot the real take.

Trench coat, plain tee, jeans. Borrow a boombox or buy a cheap vintage one. If you'd rather not hold a stereo over your head all night, wear one instead. The BoomBox Hoodie 1982 ($69.99) puts it on your chest and leaves your hands free for snacks.

The prop is the boombox. Hold it up once, at the right moment, then sit down. In November, the trench coat is just a coat again.

Indiana Jones (Raiders of the Lost Ark)

Raiders opened on June 12, 1981. Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman (now Landis) built the look from older adventure heroes, Humphrey Bogart in Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Charlton Heston in Secret of the Incas. The fedora came from Herbert Johnson on Savile Row, and she aged it herself, then crushed it under a bed so it would read in silhouette. Tom Selleck was cast first and had to turn it down because of Magnum, P.I.

Brown leather jacket, khaki shirt, khaki trousers, boots, a canvas shoulder bag and a brown felt fedora. Swap the whip for a coiled rope clipped to your belt, because a real whip at a house party ends with a drink on the ceiling.

In November, take off the hat and it's a very good weekend outfit.

Tony Montana (Scarface)

Scarface came out December 9, 1983. The look everyone copies is the white three-piece suit with a black shirt open at the collar and gold chains. Patricia Norris designed the costumes, and the film first got an X rating before an appeals board knocked it down to an R.

White or cream suit, black shirt, one gold chain. Keep the props at home. You don't need them and the host doesn't want them. In November, the black shirt goes with jeans and the white suit waits for summer.

Three for when you're already late

A Ghostbuster. A khaki work coverall with lots of pockets and a name tag you wrote yourself. Ghostbusters opened June 8, 1984. Skip anything with the logo. It's trademarked, and it's the part that makes a real coverall look like a rental.

Daniel LaRusso. White tee or a karate gi, a plain white headband, one leg up for photos. The Karate Kid opened June 22, 1984, and Ralph Macchio was 22 when he filmed it, playing a high school kid.

Generic 80s action hero. Black tank top, cargo pants, a headband and a smear of dirt on one cheek. Nobody needs to know which movie.

What to leave at home

Movie logos, patches and toy guns. Logos turn real clothes back into a costume, and toy guns make hosts nervous. You don't need a wig either. None of the characters above need one, which is half the reason we picked them.

If you want the 80s without playing anyone in particular, our 80s party outfit guide has looks that don't need a backstory, and the 80s outfits by style tribe post sorts the decade into the kinds of guys who actually lived it.

Questions we get

What is the easiest 80s movie costume for a guy? Marty McFly. The red puffer vest is the costume, and the rest is probably already in your closet: denim jacket, plaid shirt, jeans, white sneakers.

Can I do an 80s costume without a wig? Yes. Every character on this list works with your own hair. Crockett needs stubble, Maverick needs aviators, Lloyd needs a boombox.

What sunglasses did Tom Cruise wear in Top Gun? Gold-framed aviators with green lenses. The Wayfarers were Risky Business, three years earlier. Our sunglasses guide covers which shape suits your face.

What did Sonny Crockett wear? An unstructured pastel linen jacket over a crew-neck tee, white linen trousers and loafers without socks. Michael Mann banned earth tones on the show, so everything looks like sherbet.

Can I wear the costume again after Halloween? If you build it from real clothes, yes. A leather jacket, a denim jacket, a trench coat and a camp collar shirt all have a life after October 31st.

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Costume pieces you keep

Synthwave Leather Jacket 1984 $89.99 Shop Retro Denim Jacket 1981 $89.89 $69.99 Shop Crockett Shirt 1984 $69.99 Shop New Fashion Vintage Sunglasses $24.99 Shop

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