Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs were just as sexy and hip as their neon Miami backdrop. These well-heeled cops became known for their forward fashion sense and the Miami Vice look quickly became the fabric of men’s style in the eighties.It changed the way men dressed in the world and opened up men’s closets to the possibility of colour and comfort.Jody Chillin was the costume designer for the first season. In her early conversations with executive producer Michael Mann, it was clear fashion would play a critical role in the show and her role was to put into effect Mann’s edgy and forward thinking wardrobe ideas.Johnson’s character Sonny Crockett was a beach bum cop who was more comfortable in a pair of shorts and flip-flops than silk suits. His style was studied casualness fitting for a guy fighting drug lords by day and living on a boat with a pet alligator by night. The wardrobe department would keep his t-shirts in the costume department on a pile on the floor to give a casual wrinkled look. Crockett never wore a belt and he never wore socks. The Vice wardrobe tookpastel-coloured suits and jackets to heart, and espadrille style loafers with no socks. He frequently paired these outfits with a t-shirt or light coloured button-up shirt. He wore Ray-Ban Wayfarers sunglasses. White linen suit with shoulder pads and aqua-marine t-shirt often for smarter evening wear.Ricardo Tubbs, played by Philip Michael Thomas, came with a more sophisticated fashion sense. Tubbs’ character came from New York. He was more self-conscious in his dressing and he chose his tie and his shirt. He would sport designer double-breasted suits whilst sporting a pump action shotgun as his weapon of choice.At the beginning of the show Don Johnson fought against high fashion, wanting more denim and less linen for his character. Wanting to go for a cowboy look. Don wanted the character to wear v-neck sweaters, jeans and leather boots. However, he came round to his new wardrobe after spending a few days shooting in thepunishing Floridian humidity.
Miami vice was soon the fashion show of the season and that meant the wardrobe budget went up exponentially for season 2. The budget they would receive for television was unrivalled at that point.The newdesigner Bambi Breakstone,armed with a literal war-chest for costume,got to work by globe-trotting the fashion capitals of the world. ShetravelledtoMilan, Paris, and London in search of new clothesfresh from the European catwalk. Designers like the late Gianni Versace became friends of the show and he personally styled Don Johnson.As the show settled into prime time and the Vice of colourful blazers and shirts found themselves into men’s closets up and down America. Even the characters adopted the style and accoutrements of the show in their personal lives and Don Johnson even took up offshore power-boating on the pro circuit. Johnson retorted to a question about his lack of socks to a 1985 Today Show appearance by saying that if you are gonna spend 400 bucks on a pair of shoes a twelve dollar pair of socks might dent the look!Crockett’s rough and ready persona even started to impact American grooming habits and it was common for men to start sporting the three day stubble look. Miami Vice was now the trendsetter of style on television in a way that had never been seen before. Even today, forty years on from the show’s conception, Miami Vice is considered amongst the most influential television series ever made and many aspects of the show remain both fashion and pop culture icons. The show’s ground breaking integration of contemporary music to cinematic filming style have become a standard ever since. According to the Ray-Ban’s website. Wayfarerrepresents the most recognisable style in the history of sunglasses. After Six, the American formal wear brand, made a Miami Vice Dinner jacket. Kenneth Cole, made Crockett and Tubb shoes and Macy’s, opened a dedicated Miami Vice section for young men. Merchandising took off from diecast model cars to bed linen.Brands and record labels were hungry to get in on the action. Ridley Scott directed a 1985 Pepsi cola commercial featuring Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett alongside the Eagle’s Glenn Fray.
