Miami Vice and the 80s

It’s over 25 years since the ground breaking TV show Miami Vice first hit our screens. Remember the clothes, cars and music? Which dress code did you adopt – Crockett or Tubbs?

Gold Coast, as Miami Vice almost came to be known, debuted over twenty five years ago. The series was an immediate smash and pioneered a new era in television, being one of the first shows to be broadcast in stereo. It defined a decade in music and fashion and is widely recognised for its massive influence on the latter.

The two main characters; Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, were played by Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas respectively. In the show, the clothing worn by the detectives was supposed to be part of the ill-gotten gains confiscated from Miami’s drug dealers.

Both actors were draped in the most current designer labels of the day and each sported their own distinct dress code.

Much in the same context as Uma Thurman’s line in Pulp Fiction: “You’re either an Elvis or a Beatles’ man, but never both.” Where dress codes were concerned, you were either a Crockett or Tubbs man. I tried both – the Don Johnson look for smart casual nights and the Phillip Michael Thomas approach for weddings and job interviews!

Miami Vice’s influence on male fashion in the 1980s was unprecedented. The expertise of designers such as Hugo Boss and Gianni Versace was called upon to ensure that the show’s wardrobe department was up to date with the latest European trends.

One newspaper article at the time reported that on a shopping trip to Milan, $80,000 was spent on clothing for the two main characters – Crockett and Tubbs. The article went on to say that by the time Johnson and Thomas had returned from Italy, they’d gained weight and the clothes didn’t fit!

The summer after season one; I decided to sport the Crockett look for a Saturday night out. Wearing a pastel blue jacket (cuffs rolled back), mint green granddad tee, shiny marine blue chinos and loafers – sockless - I followed my friends through the doors of a London nightclub. Security nabbed me!

The bizarre thing was that the guys had walked in before me looking like Swytek and Zito after a 12 hour stakeout and nothing – not a glance. I strolled in like a dedicated follower of fashion and three flat-nosed giants in Tuxedos moved towards me in perfect synchrony. Ok, so I was dressed like an undercover TV cop posing as a Miami drug dealer – but this was Camden Palace, London not the Babylon Club, Florida!

A few weeks later, at a relative’s wedding, I left the venue with two telephone numbers. One note was placed straight into the pocket of the black satin shirt I wore under my light grey double breasted suit. Yep, the smooth Phillip Michael Thomas look worked for me. I was definitely a Tubbs man. Or at least a Tubbs adolescent!