It's easy to dismiss '80s menswear, what with all the parachute pants, headache-inducing patterns and Miami Vice tailoring. It is not, after all, a period that's remembered for its understatement. Which is exactly why Hollywood costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones made it her mission to highlight the era's subtler sartorial side in Ben Affleck’s latest film, Air.
“This is the '80s pre-all the big shoulders, spandex and Prince," she tells me over Zoom from the West Coast of the US, a few days before the premiere. "It's the '80s that's a little bit more subdued, coming off the heels of the '70s.”
The movie begins in 1984. College basketball prodigy Michael Jordan has just signed with the Chicago Bulls, and sportswear giant Nike is looking to partner with a player for its flailing basketball division. Marketing exec Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) puts forward the idea for a footwear collaboration that will fast become the most lucrative and influential of all-time: the Air Jordan. Still, for a film that is named after a sneaker, and features a lot of talking about and selling sneakers, it doesn't feature a lot of... sneakers. Sure, you have Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), who as Nike’s CEO and an ex-professional runner is often repping a pair from the brand in the office. And then there’s the shoe’s designer, Peter Moore (Matthew Maher) who wears sneakers when skateboarding to and from work, mid-life crisis in full swing. But by and large, they weren't part of anyone's everyday uniform.
“The awesome thing about that time is that people weren't wearing sneakers [casually],” says Charlese. “If it wasn't performance-based, they weren't really wearing them to work like that – now, we're wearing sneakers all the time.”
That's not to say that trainer fanatics should be picketing their local cinema. You'll see the Nike Cortez on display behind Knight’s desk, as well as a selection of pieces in Moore’s design studio. Of course, there are the trainers that inspire the film – tracked from pencil drawings to the final red, black and white product. The styles on display are a mix of vintage pieces, sourced via dealers and through eBay, as well as new models (Nike still remakes its most iconic styles from the late ‘70s and ‘80s). As a self-professed “sneakerhead”, Charlese’s decades worth of experience ensured the most accurate, detailed selection. “I got into the sneaker culture in the mid to late '90s, when I was in middle school and high school. I got a job at a sneaker store so I could get a discount and afford to buy my own Jordans.”
But we're here to talk about the clothes. When Charlese was hired onto the project – she worked previously on Judas and the Black Messiah and I Wanna Dance With Somebody – she took a deep dive into what the real figures within the film were wearing back in the day. Then she reimagined their outfits for the big screen. With the help of Nike line sheets and catalogues from that era, Charlese was able to create authentic costumes that steered clear of gaudy pastiche.
“My great grandmother and auntie dressed a lot like Deloris Jordan [Michael's mother], though my family is from North Carolina. A lot of [those clothes] felt very familiar to home. And actually, a friend of mine went to a screening and he called me and he said that Deloris reminded him of his grandmother, and that he's from Mississippi. It brings me so much joy that [people] can see their family or their people in a character like that.”
This tasteful Eighties aesthetic – one that wouldn't be caught dead in a flash mob – comes via lightly printed polos, grandad knits and relaxed suiting. And then there’s Phil Knight’s outfit, the one that features prominently in the trailers and looks like it's been plucked straight from a Jane Fonda workout video: a head-to-toe neon track jacket, shorts and leggings. It lives long in the memory. He even accessorises the look with a metallic purple Porsche. It was inspired by a set Knight wore in news footage that Charlese analysed. Ben Affleck wasn’t put off by the OTT look. In fact, he fully embraced it.
“I showed Ben and he was down, which was amazing, because sometimes you show an actor or director looks and they're like, Oh, that's too crazy. He said, ‘If he wore it, I'll wear it. I got to be accurate, right?’”
But look, not every outfit has to be approached with a pep talk beforehand. The majority of the costumes wouldn’t look out of place in a 21st century setting, boasting enough vintage appeal for added style kudos. Maybe it's worth revisiting? The long '90s are dead; long live the long '80s.
