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The Top 7 Cinematic Fashion Trends We're Glad Didn't Set Hollywood Ablaze
Posted by Molly Friedman at 8:38 AM on February 21, 2008
The perfectly coiffed folks over at Men's Vogue decided to put together a very thorough list of the top 50 films that had the "most impact on men's style" when they came out. And their choices (The Graduate and Easy Rider among them) are certainly worthy of mention, but all that superior dressage got us wondering: which style trends should we be most thankful for NOT catching on? From Dante's distressed flannel in Clerks to those infamous white codpieces in A Clockwork Orange, we present a list of our Top 7 least favorite male fashion trends to ever disgrace the silver screen:
7. Skinny Acid-Washed Jeans, Trainspotting, 1996: Sadly, the men-in-skinny-jeans trend has resurfaced and found a permanent spot in post-millenial fashion history, but Mark and his fellow addicts managed to suck all the "chic" out of "heroin chic."
6. Black Leather Trenches, The Matrix, 1999: We never thought one item of clothing could completely destroy Keanu Reeves' sex appeal, but those stiff leather trenches he wore in the future effectively inspired high-school lunatics and killed girl wood on sight.
5. Tighty Whities, Risky Business, 1983: Oh dear. Strange how the singing-in-tighty-whities scene has quiety morphed from a legendary hot moment in movie history to a completely sexless farce now that Tom has laughed maniacally one too many times.
4. Excessively Visible Chest-Hair, Scarface, 1983: Tony's tiny little butt-hugging suits weren't horrendous, but his decision to make them neck-plunging was. With collars unbuttoned down to his heaving bosoms, we felt like we were being cinematically strangled with Cuban chest hair.
3. Flannel Shirts and Pedro 'Staches, Clerks, 1994: There are only two men in history who could pull off the grunge look without looking like homeless hipsters, and they were Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder. However cute and funny you thought Dante was, he still had stains on his faded jeans and holes in his flannels.
2. Codpieces, A Clockwork Orange, 1971: We didn't exactly think Malcolm McDowell and his droogs looked unsexy in their codpieces and top hats, but we're certainly glad men in the 70s waited til Tony Manero danced his way into their closets before picking a solid style icon.
1. Bondage Gear, Edward Scissorhands, 1990: Even Johnny Depp couldn't manage to make Edward's S&M-inspired leather suit a trendy little number. And even though one could argue his cakey make-up and tangled hair led the goth movement into fashion spreads, we're just glad our boyfriends never showed up wearing a patent leather turtleneck.
- 50 FILMS THAT INFLUENCED MEN'S STYLE [Men's Vogue]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
SteamyMcFirecrotch
Posted 11:21 AM 21/2/08
How 'bout that "Mogatu"-inspired outfit Will Ferrell just wore to the Semi-Pro opening?!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let that NOT be at Target for back-to-school!
SteamyMcFirecrotch
SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley
Posted 11:21 AM 21/2/08
see, I was feeling the grunge thing. If one salient item had to resurface from the 90's I would prefer plaid flannels to scrunchies or anything ever worn on Saved by the Bell.
SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley
Ascender
Posted 11:21 AM 21/2/08
I would nominate the large shoulder padded suit with no shirt underneath look of Wesley Snipes in "New Jack City."
Ascender
heidiho
Posted 12:21 PM 21/2/08
@fuddes: Ha, seriously. Clearly Molly wasn't in high school in the early 90s.
heidiho
Benovite
Posted 12:21 PM 21/2/08
I rock skinny jeans/pants and sometimes they're from the women's section and I am proud of fit. Sure people over 50 don't understand it, they feel the need to confirm with me that yes indeed I am in fact buying women's jeans. As if I wasn't aware of that tidbit.
That's when I know that they've been alive too long.
Then again I used to wear huge, baggy pants and jeans and those appear ever so lame to me now.
Soon I'll likely be mocking skinny jeans.
But not right now. =|
Benovite
crackbabyjesus
Posted 12:21 PM 21/2/08
Um, you can purchase a pair of Dante-esque holey jeans by True Religion for a mere $300. Not fashionable? Uh-oh, better go tell Kitson stat.
crackbabyjesus
fuddes
Posted 12:21 PM 21/2/08
Um, when were you born? Everybody wore flannels and dirty jeans in the 90s. I can understand not liking it, but claiming it was never a big thing? Sheesh.
fuddes
Little Mintz Sunshine
Posted 1:41 PM 21/2/08
Hate to break it to some of you young-uns, but grunge was called the "late 70s" in the Upper Midwest and I have the photos to prove it. Sure, I won't get invited to the holidays at my older brother's house but hey, anything to prove that bad lumberjack inspired fashion and derivative social misfit music existed before Cobain is worth the sacrifice.
Little Mintz Sunshine
Trixie from Toronto
Posted 1:41 PM 21/2/08
@Trixie from Toronto: Jesus, I meant I FELL for Ewan McGregor in that film!! Fell for him!!
Trixie from Toronto
Trixie from Toronto
Posted 1:41 PM 21/2/08
I so disagree about Trainspotting. I feel for Ewan McGregor in that film, and don't even get me started about Sick Boy.
Trixie from Toronto
bitchybitch
Posted 1:41 PM 21/2/08
I was in college during the grunge era and found a hot guy in flannel, ripped up shorts and long underwear with those ankle boots very hot.
Don't tell anyone or I'll have to kill you.
bitchybitch
hack-a-rific
Posted 1:41 PM 21/2/08
@heidiho: Lucky girl. I wore a hell of a lot of flannel in H.S. and am just now realizing it is the very reason I didn't have sex until I was 20. Thanks a lot, Eddie!
hack-a-rific
Back in the Habit
Posted 2:41 PM 21/2/08
My Puerto Rican uncle used to tell me that there's nothing wrong with massive amounts of body hair. In fact, the ladies love it.
Back in the Habit
bitchybitch
Posted 2:41 PM 21/2/08
It's all about Bunyan.
bitchybitch
brechtgirl
Posted 4:41 PM 21/2/08
brechtgirl
sundaeg1rl
Posted 12:21 AM 22/2/08
in 1996 young men in Britain started shaving their heads, wearing tight trousers and even tighter Adidas teeshirts. A delicious time!
sundaeg1rl
SugartitsMcFirecrotch
Posted 1:20 AM 22/2/08
Molly, baby doll, the Droogs wore bowler hats, not top hats.
Know your haberdashery history.
SugartitsMcFirecrotch
redreb
Posted 2:18 AM 22/2/08
@Little Mintz Sunshine: The fashion timeline in the Upper Midwest must move at the same speed as a geological one. I swear my brother and his wife still wear their 1978 clothes in the late aught-aughts. (and I write this with love.)
redreb
azi
Posted 2:18 AM 22/2/08
This makes me want to buy a flannel shirt...
azi
moochia
Posted 3:36 AM 22/2/08
The actual article's kinda gay. Just sayin...
moochia
Garrison Dean
Posted 5:46 AM 22/2/08
Haha, yeah Black Trench Coats from the Matrix never took off. Clearly you haven't been to a suburban mall in a while. Just ask some students in Colorado or Virginia... but ask em quick.
Garrison Dean
Molly Friedman
Posted 11:03 AM 25/2/08
@heidiho: I was in high school in the late 90s, unfortunately, and even have baggy carpenter pants and skater-wannabe Vans buried deep in my closet to prove it. But! The point of the piece is that we're glad none of these on-screen trends were deemed "fashionable" in an "Anna Wintour has ordered ten fashion shoots drenched with flannel shirts and acid-washed jeans shot in a drugstore" kind of way.
Sure Marc Jacobs made his debut with the grunge-y collection for Perry Ellis, but can anyone here really agree that the sight of a guy with dirt under his nails, unwashed hair and mothy moles in his tshirts was salivation-worthy? Unless he was Kurt (RIP) and talented with more than pop-wheely skills at the local skate park?
Molly Friedman