Magim’s Fashion Faux Pas

[K Hale]

Here's a pic of Magnum in short shorts and a pink shirt for illustrative purposes: he still looks great.

[Croix de Lorraine]

Magnum is one cool character, but even the best make mistakes. The short shorts are notorious, of course, but a couple of other fashion choices struck me as odd. Wearing two collared shirts at once, often a polo under a field shirt for one. For another, tucking in Polo and Aloha shirts. What is that about?

You've never seen a polo shirt tucked in? Where do you live, Appalachia? Seriously though, the oddest thing for me is wearing wooly sweaters with short shorts. In Hawai'i.

[Croix de Lorraine]

Not really fashion-related, but what the hell is that with his chest hair?
Seems that they have dreadlocked a chess-pattern with it......

It's just curly.

[Croix de Lorraine]

True. But a secure man also has standards he won't abandon even when societal opinions go against him.

Ironically, your standards were created by societal opinions. Pink was considered a manly color before WWII. It made a come back in the 80s (70s?). Still going strong except for some sections of American society affected by the Great Gay Sartorial Scare. A growth in gay visibility from the 80s on meant some men became paranoid to be mistaken for gay to a ridiculous point, hence the shorts that almost became pants, and the absurdly long short sleeves, almost halfway down the forearm. It reminds me of the Simpsons sideburns sketch.

[Croix de Lorraine]

I forgot one...flip-flops. Totally unacceptable. I've lived near the beach my entire life yet I've managed to do without ever owning a pair these horrible excuses for footwear.

Unacceptable? Why? Living near the beach and being in the water are two different things. My wife was a competitive swimmer in college and still swims daily. Flip-flops are very functional for her. My son plays water polo, surfs, and kayaks and the same is true. My daughter swims too, and we all love snorkeling. We live at a marina and sail regularly. I never wear them on my boat and no competent sailor would (or their guests and crew). When I head out for a set, however, I wear them on the sand and deposit them with my towel for the session. I also wear them to the hot tub for a nice soak after a good paddle on my kayak. I'm not sure how much you're in the water, but do you typically wear shoes and socks onto the sand or out to a pool? I see some people around doing this and they don't seem to get wet much. I guess sandals would work, or slides, but they're basically similar and no more or less convenient. My whole family clearly loves the water, and flip-flops are so convenient, they're piled by our back door. I'm not saying they're fashionable, though I suppose some might disagree. I'm saying it's hard to imagine a water lifestyle in a warm climate like your Ft. Lauderdale or my Long Beach, without them.

A real man walks to the edge of the swimming pool in brogues or combat boots. Are you sure you're not a homosexualist?

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

Ironically, your standards were created by societal opinions. Pink was considered a manly color before WWII.

My grandma who was born in 1916 swore up and down that in her youth pink was for boy babies and blue was for girls. No one believed her (including me)! LOL.

[K Hale]

Ironically, your standards were created by societal opinions. Pink was considered a manly color before WWII.

My grandma who was born in 1916 swore up and down that in her youth pink was for boy babies and blue was for girls. No one believed her (including me)! LOL.

Pink is light red, so it was considered a powerful color. Too powerful for little girls, who might get bad, independent thoughts in their soft little brains from exposure to too much pink. Blue, on the other hand, was a cool, peaceful color, considered to be suitable for girls. That is why the Virgin Mary is so often depicted wearing blue robes.

The whole thing, of course, is ridiculous. Colors are just colors.

[Work The Lock]

I look at it from the other way around. Several of Magnum's fashion choices have held up remarkably well considering the early seasons were nearly 40 years ago.

Any of us can go out now in a Magnum-esque ensemble of blue jeans, field shirt and topsider shoes and look pretty good. Swap out the field shirt for a polo and same result. Yes, the aloha shirts were a lot louder back then, but it's nice to see more muted ones still around.

Another thing I give Magnum's wardrobe department points for was his use of "stubby" socks with his Puma's, which was ahead of it's time considering most guys wore the nerdy tall tube/knee socks with shorts back in those days.