Accidental Autumnal Style Icon: Judd Nelson

If you can’t date ’em, dress like ’em. That is my new mantra in love. My old mantra still holds — that you can technically date whoever you’d like because since when does anyone “technically” need to know they are dating you for it to be true? (Just look at Bradley Cooper and Amy Schumer, last week’s prompt winner or my list of boyfriends for further proof). But in the case of retrospective celebrity character-based crushes, sometimes it’s easier to just borrow their stupid blazer. Jeans too.

Take the current object of my affection: Judd Nelson in St. Elmo’s Fire, Making the Grade, The Breakfast Club and Blue City. It would be exhausting to date four fictionalized versions of the same man even more so than it would be logistically impossible without a time machine. My thing for Judd Nelson is frozen in the 1980s.

Unfortunately, Judd Nelson is age 55 as of this tenth month in the year 2015.

Just as he’s doing in the GIF above, I tried to disregard that truth.

But it was impossible. This photo kept haunting me. People change, and he had changed, and his glasses had changed from clear to amber (as transitional lenses are wont to do). So rather than mourn the loss of that which never was, I celebrated his wardrobe and took notes.

First: A Lesson in Layering.

(Don’t mind him, he’s moody.) Observe as Judd teaches us the beauty of a white tee under a plaid flannel topped with a denim jacket and a great chevron tweed coat. The red scarf around his neck adds further texture and pops against the brown, but just when you think he’s gone too apple-picking literal, he surprises us all with a few pins on his lapel. A nice personal touch.

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Next: The Banker $hirt, Deconstructed.

^^^Talk about St. Elmo’s fire, am I right? Here, Hunk Nelson proves that an unbuttoned collar and a rolled sleeve can transform a stuffy shirt into a wow, you’re so spontaneous and romantic and sexy shirt.

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Third: Popped Collars Aren’t Just for Preppies

They’re for badasses. But you know how you avoid the Danny Zucko references, right?

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You follow style tip #4, and add a tie.

(But don’t smoke!)

The hardest part about this relationship, of course, is that crisp Judd Nelson movie stills are hard to come by. But when you really love someone, aren’t you supposed to see them and their full outfits in full clarity when you close your eyes? Let’s try it.

Shut your peepers and picture Judd in a pink cashmere sweater worn over his shoulders a la Making the Grade (you can wear yours on-shoulder with an A-line mini skirt), or in that great suede Blue City bomber (the only thing that fits over a chunky knit), and think how perfect his wardrobe is for the rest of fall.

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Close ’em, and count to ten.

Nine. Eight. Seven.

Sex.

Six. Five. Four.

Three. Two.

One.

Peek-a-boo.

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