The Clothing From The Lost Boys Is Worth Sinking Your Teeth Into
If sexy teen vampire films are a genre, then The Lost Boys might be the grandfather of all of them. Joel Schumacher combined 80s surf culture, sexy vampires, Jim Morrison, and a fictitious costal town based on Santa Cruz to create an 80s classic. Enlisting the help of Wardrobe director Susan Becker they made iconic looks for the central vampires and created an 80s Neverland-like costal town full of skateboards and tight spandex.
Susan had this to say about the film: “My view of this film and story from the very start was that these kids were like homeless kids… banded together like creating their own family but no one was taking care of them etc etc. Lost boys… living in a coastal town… almost like townies in a vacation spot. So their costumes were meant to look like ‘ found’ items…”
Susan painted a masterpiece of 80s culture that includes many now-vintage bangers. Let’s take a look at what we found.
1. Surf Nazi Girlfriend’s Levi’s 70506 Type 3 Denim Jacket
Right before the Surf Nazi vs Vampire scuffle we see this gal wearing the 70506. This version was the type 3 after Levi’s added the hand warmers.
2. Surf Nazi’s A Clock Work Orange Ultra Violence Tee
We couldn’t find this exact T-shirt but this one is from the Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange. If you’ve ever seen that movie dressing the surf nazis in this shirt makes a lot of sense.
3. I.O.U Denim Sweater
IOU didn’t last a long time as a brand. But did make a short appearance here in the “People Are Strange” opening montage.
4. Ed Roth Rat Fink T-shirt
Ed Roth was a legendary costal California artist who was the mind behind Rat Fink and all the universe of characters therein. This is my favorite tee in the whole film and we were able to find this design amongst several other dope designs in the Defunkd T-shirt Archive.
5. 80’s Converse Weapon Sneakers
Converse might be better known for their Chuck Taylor All-Stars, but in the 80s they were competitive in the sports sneaker market. Famously, Magic Johnson was once a sponsored athlete.
6. Def Leppard 1983 Pyromania T-shirt
That car, this T-shirt, it just makes sense.
7. Journey Alton Kelly Design T-shirt
Hard to see, but it’s there! Buy it here. There’s a similar one in the Defunkd archive here.
8. Rip Curl Spell Out T-shirt
Rip Curl was in it’s hey-day in the late 80s and particularly in a surf town like Santa Cruz.. Ehem, I mean Santa Carla. Didn’t find the EXACT shirt, but this one should suffice.
8. Santa Cruz Skateboards Alt Logo Hoodie
Bro is totally looking at the camera, but also rocking this dope Santa Cruz Skateboards Hoodie. If you ever find one like this hit me up because they seem to be somewhat rare.
9. Frog Brothers M-16 T-shirt
Why even waltz at all? When was the last time anyone had a good time waltzing?
10. The Who Band T-shirt
Hidden in the dark is this The Who Band T-shirt.
11. Mystery Comic T-shirt
Here is a mystery. I’ve gone as far as to contact this guy (the actual owner of the comic shop in the movie, Joe Ferarra) and even he isn’t sure what t-shirt this is. He remembers wearing a Mage Graphitti tee on the set, but doesn’t recall this design. Anyone out there with more information should hit me up at lootfam1@gmail.com
12. Airborne T-shirt And Colorado AOP Shirt
More military shirts with this Airborne tee, but curious Sam is wearing this interesting Colorado AOP shirt. It took a while to find it, but I finally did. Then I bought it. Turns out it’s from Mallory and Crew and it’s a women’s shirt, but I got a deal so that’s cool. Check out the video at the end of the article to see it.
13. Santa Cruz Skateboards T-shirt
If you didn’t know the movie’s fictional city Santa Carla is actually the real city of Santa Cruz. It also just so happens that the movie features a bunch of Santa Cruz skateboard tees.
14. Transworld Magazine Skateboard T-shirt
This one also took a minute but we found it! Lots of dope tees were sold through these skate magazines in the 80s.
15. Courtland Santa Cruz Sunglasses
Many people have mistaken these sunglasses as Rayban Clubmasters but they are in fact Courtland Santa Cruz Clubman sunglasses. Courtland was a smaller but high quality frames maker. The aluminum finish gleaming in the California sun is just the chef’s kiss on Michaels outfit.
16. The Lost Boys Vampire Costumes
These are the most iconic costumes in the movie, maybe even in 80s cinema. Costume designer Susan Becker worked with each actor to design an outfit with their personality interwoven. Susan had to manufacture several copies of each to account for versions that would need to be used for stunts. These were recently sold in a lot for $118,750. Not sure about you, but if I owned that patchwork jacket it would be hard not to wear it.