The sprit of the '80s was in full swing by 1985, the year that saw the debut of MacGyver and the Golden Girls, "We Are the World" and "Take on Me," The Breakfast Club and Back to the Future. That’s also the year in which the third season of Netflix’s Stranger Things is set, and the costume design was appropriately on point. But in the sea of acid wash, scrunchies, and tipped t-shirts, one garment has been catching fans' eyes: Hopper’s Hawaiian shirt.
David Harbour’s Sheriff Jim Hopper is usually seen in clad in his brown uniform, but seemingly inspired by Magnum, P.I (which he’s shown watching in the season premier), the lawman gets a little more adventurous with his style in season three. And the outfit that he wore for much of the season, a colourful Hawaiian shirt paired with light-wash jeans, seems to have struck a cord with fans who appreciate its bold but casual dad style.
Hopper’s shirt isn’t the only clothing item from the show that fans have zeroed in on—a brightly-coloured romper rocked by a newly-stylish Eleven was also a big hit, with fans noting that it’s available at Target. But Hopper’s instantly-iconic shirt isn’t so easy to track down as it was made specially for the show. Stranger Things costume designer Amy Parris told Fashionista the Hawaiian shirt’s origin story:
To make five multiples of the shirt, Parris bought the last 20 yards of a vintage '80s fabric and custom-printed each one in an original pattern designed by the team. (The graphics even needed to be in the exact same location on each shirt for continuity.) "David liked the idea of being able to roll the sleeves of the shirt up, just so it's a little bit more '80s feeling," she adds.
So while we may not be able to run out and buy Hopper’s ensemble, at least we can properly enshrine it in the pantheon of all-time favourite hot-dad looks.
Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture. She's based (and born and raised) in Brooklyn, New York.
