Billy Madison: The Most Influential Menswear Movie Of A Generation

Billy Madison aka exhibit A when trying to convince today's teenagers that Adam Sandler was once funny, will be 20 years old next spring.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Billy Madison aka exhibit A when trying to convince today's teenagers that Adam Sandler was once funny, will be 20 years old next spring. Take that BuzzFeed, Vulture or whoever else was going to write some listicle or think piece on the seminal film's anniversary. We scooped you. But aside from being old enough to date me, and the most quoted film by dudes who were kids in the '90s, Billy Madison is relevant, like most things from the '90s, I guess, as a testament to the cyclical nature of trends. Haven't you learned yet that fashion is cyclical? More specifically than, like, chicks wearing faded mom jeans, Billy was onto some shit that you might actually see your favorite editor rocking tomorrow.

The volume of sports-related garments Billy and Co. rock is telling too. He's 28, but back in elementary school in the '90s. Most of the white dudes writing on this site about trendy sports-inspired gear are in their mid-20s and went to elementary school in the '90s. Both the movie, and the recent trends in menswear, are sentimental. But so is burning bags of shit on old people's porches, so let's not overthink it.

Angelo Spagnolo is a writer living in Portland, Oregon. Read his blog here and follow him on Twitter here.

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L I V I N G

Billy's aesthetic is about utility—moving from the pool to his tent with minimal effort aka the level I'm trying to get to this summer, crushing daqs, reading Drunk Chicks mag and coolin' by the pool. This movie could have skipped the whole triumph over adversity part and just been a celebration of poolside excess and I'd still have been down. Sitting here in the rainy Northwest, the desire to cruise around in a golf cart with my shirt unbuttoned is almost enough to make me call my grandparents and ask if I can come lamp in Palm Springs. Almost.

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Hockey Jerseys

Speaking of mesh, we know from Sandler's next box office smash, Happy Gilmore, that hockey is a core part of his identity. But while baseball jerseys and basketball tanks have gotten the high-end, minimalist treatment, we haven't really seen luxury takes on the Canadian sweater. I wouldn't count on that market absence for long though. Take a fit pic of yourself in a slimmed-up hockey jersey, simple cap, dad jeans and Timbs and I guarantee at least three #menswear struggle Tumblr's will reblog it with the caption "FIRE."

Also, let's give propers to the kid in the back with the teal accented hoop jersey that legitimately looks straight out of an S/S 14 lookbook and let's think about how hard we would ball on kids if we could go back to fifth grade. That very idea is central to why a lot of adults have lately thought it would be a good idea to rock $300 mesh jerseys. It's the nostalgia for when sports were more important than girls—nostalgia for "fuck your polo shirt, mom. I'm just going to wear this football jersey to school because at the 10am recess I’m going to throw a touchdown to Chad Carter after he misdirects behind the girls playing foursquare and emerges unseen in the end zone."

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Eric's Balls

The recurring theme of athletics as the new high fashion blah blah blah. I really just wanted to include this slide of one of the Billy Madison's best moments. Like, really what could be going on with Eric's balls? It's gotta be something pronounced enough so that these dudes could see it from the bench. Chalk it up to one of life's mysteries, man.

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