"Miami Vice" look
5
For me, Don Johnson as he looked during the first two seasons of the hit 1980's TV cop show Miami Vice is Metrosexual, Sensitive New Age Guy, call it what you like; he's the much needed alternative to the old-fashioned macho muscleman who has a body that is a grotesquely mishapen phantasmagoria of chunky, steroid-plumped, veiny and lumpy overblown fleshiness. But enough of THAT. Back to Don Johnson as he appeared in the first two seasons of Miami Vice which aired in 1984 to 1986. First thing you think when you look at Don is: WONDERFUL FASHIONS!!!! Forget the terrific pulsating pop and rock music, forget the cool, slick and excessively handsome (my one-and-only lifetime hero and idol) Don Johnson's too-quickly-over 1985 sex-symbol status, forget the flashy MTVideographic camera work--the ONLY reason I REALLY tuned into the show in the 1980's was because of Don Johnson's tropical-chic, casually elegant designer menswear ensembles--unconstructed sportjackets thrown over t-shirts and multipleated pants in pastel shades of pink, peach, aqua, lavender, fuschia and white. The show triggered a MAJOR fashion craze in menswear especially around 1985-86, and I was wowed over by the flocks of pastel sportjackets, short-sleeved button down campshirts and multipleated trousers in the department stores. I am a 40-year-old man who has always enjoyed wearing these styles, so when they fell out of fashion circa 1990, I went into a deep depression--solved only by teaching myself to sew my own pastel men's campshirts starting in 1993. I've since acquired (from exclusive menswear boutiques and from mail-order sources) some 60-plus pair of white triple-pleated pants just like the ones Don Johnson wore on Miami Vice, 11 fuschia wet-look velcro-closure sportshirts, 9 turquoise wet-look velcro-closure sportshirts; 22 pairs of pastel bubblegum-pink linen-blend triple-pleated pants, 30 hot-pink single-button lightweight big-shoulder-padded unlined and unconstructed sportcoats; 19 additional unconstructed Vice-like men's sportcoats in various shades of fuschia and pink and in fabrics other than linen; 26 unconstructed men's sportcoats in other hues--shades of white, pastel yellow, peach, teal, gold, plum and more; and over 30 printed woven short-sleeved pajama-collared shirts in bright and pastel splashy prints that I purchased one by one and that I DIDN'T create and sew up myself; and nowadays, in 2007, my typical daily ensemble consists of white triple-pleated pants, sockless white slip-on deck shoes, and pastel short-sleeved button-down straight-hemmed and spread-collared campshirts sewn myself--campshirts with printed paint-splashes, brushstrokes and splatters of vivid pastel Miami Vice color. I love the look, to me it will never go out of style. So what if no one else dresses like me anymore? I love being original, I love being an individual, and I love the self-confidence that Don Johnson's tropical-pastel Miami Vice look has always given me. I also love keeping alive what I consider a gorgeously stylish look, even if I'm the only one wearing it. To me the Miami Vice Look will always live!!!