1980s Movies: The 22 Best Fashion Moments

The blockbuster film become king in the 1980s, as did gratuitous nudity. In addition, more emphasis was placed on generic film franchises in Hollywood, which saw a rapid expansion in the science fiction, horror, and action genres in particular. Contrast this with the prevalence of the teen comedies of the 1980s, and you find yourself in a rather contradictory decade. Nonetheless, the 1980s had a plethora of amazing fashion. Below, we compile some of our favorites from the 1980s. Did we miss something? Let us know in the comments.

1. Desperately Seeking Susan

No list of 1980s style could begin without reference to the material girl herself: Madonna. Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) is the finest example of her exhilarating style. If you have forgotten why Madge is so important as a fashion icon, please do yourself the favor of watching Desperately Seeking Susan to remind yourself. Education for the children!

2. The Breakfast Club

(From left to right) Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, and Anthony Michael Hall helped to define the cinematic style of a generation in John Hughes’s iconic The Breakfast Club (1985).

3. Pretty in Pink

Molly Ringwald appears once again in a John Hughes’s vehicle, Pretty in Pink (1986). It’s Ducky, played by Jon Cryer, who has lasted as the film’s true fashion inspiration.

4. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

John Hughes led the pack in terms of 1980s teen comedies. One of his most beloved films, however, was Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), which featured Matthew Broderick as the titular Ferris Bueller, a bad boy who skips school with his girlfriend, Sloane, and best friend, Cameron, for a day on the town. With his leopard-print vest and denim jeans, Broderick is a total dreamboat.

5. Back to the Future

With his red, puffy vest and classic, white sneakers, Michael J. Fox creates an unforgettable sporty fashion moment as Marty McFly in Back to the Future (1985).

6. Say Anything…

Who would’ve thought that a trench coat and a boom box could be the makings of a signature fashion look? In the 1980s, anything is possible, as proved by John Cusack in Say Anything… (1989).

7. The Lost Boys

The undead and the 1980s meet in The Lost Boys (1987). Featuring Kiefer Sutherland as the head of a gang of vampires, The Lost Boys has a dark, campy appeal to anyone interested in outrageous 1980s fashion.

8. Flashdance

Sometimes it takes little more than a collarless, grey sweater to create history. For Flashdance (1983), Jennifer Beals’ trend-setting costume was purely accidental. The sweatshirt, which Beals brought from home, had shrunk in the wash and she had to cut the collar off in order to get it over her head.

9. Dirty Dancing

Ready to get steamy? Another dance movie on our list (the 1980s were overflowing with them), Dirty Dancing (1987) allows stars Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey to get up close and personal in their dance/workout attire…cause nobody puts baby in a corner, or something.

10. Risky Business

Though the primary appeal of Risky Business (1983) will always be seeing Tom Cruise dance around in his underwear, it’s Cruise’s signature Ray-Ban Wayfarers that help define the film as a fashion milestone.

11. Heathers

With its dark, twisted, and hilarious tone, Heathers (1988) is one of our favorite movies from the 1980s, and with some of the most wonderfully ironic WASPy costuming, it is also a top fashion moment. What’s the up-chuck factor on that?

12. Beetlejuice

Winona Ryder plays up a gothic edge in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice (1988).

13. Liquid Sky

Little known beyond cult circles, Liquid Sky (1982) is a wonderful fashion sci-fi extravaganza. Just lay back and let it wash over you.

14. Weird Science

Two teenage boys create a fantasy-fulfilling woman from a computer in John Hughes’s Weird Science (1985), and as realized by Kelly LeBrock, what a vision she is.

15. The Witches of Eastwick

A powerhouse team of superstars, Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer, alongside Jack Nicholson, are absolute perfection in this 1980s tale of magic, femininity, and desire: The Witches of Eastwick (1987).

16. Overboard

Goldie Hawn will always be on our list of fashion icons, regardless of the decade in question. Behold: Overboard (1987), a mad-cap romantic comedy of errors. Hawn stuns as the cruel, beautiful heiress who gets amnesia. Despite her wiped memory banks, she never forgets to look amazing.

17. Slaves of New York

With costumes designed by Stephen Sprouse, Slaves of New York (1989) was destined to be a 1980s fashion moment. Starring Bernadette Peters as an aspiring hat designer, Slaves of New York follows the lives of struggling artists in New York City during the mid- 1980s.

18. Troop Beverly Hills

Shelley Long’s greatest role, Troop Beverly Hills (1989) features her as Phyllis, a Beverly Hills housewife, trying to rebuild her life by leading her daughter’s Wilderness Girl troop after a divorce.

19. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) is a fashion moment like none other. Featuring the costuming of the legendary Jean-Paul Gaultier, it is not to be missed. This complex and graphic film, starring the always-fabulous Helen Mirren, is about the wife of a restaurant owner becomes bored with her husband and considers an affair with one of the restaurant’s patrons. It’s important to know its impossibly-hard-to-pronounce title by heart because it is so essential in terms of 1980s fashion moments in film.

20. The Shining

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) is probably the best horror film of the 1980s. Shelley Duvall looks amazingly disheveled, but what we really remember is the two creepy twins dressed in blue babydoll dresses.

20. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), the third installment in the Mad Max franchise, is really only worth watching for Tina Turner. And Tina Turner is fabulous. Enough said.

21. Blade Runner

Blade Runner (1982) is one of the best sci-fi films of all time, let alone the 1980s. Set in Los Angeles in a neo-noir dystopian future, Blade Runner features, most notably, Daryl Hannah as a human look-a-like replicant.

22. Blue Velvet

David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1982) was the independent hit of the 1980s. Isabella Rossellini is ravishing as a troubled night lounge singer involved with a very dangerous man. No one was sultrier in the 1980s.

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