1970s–80s touchstones, late-2010s onwards as aesthetic

Vacation Dadcore

Tropical-holiday-dad uniform — Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, white trainers, aviators, Panama hat and the Magnum-PI moustache energy of the 1980s American tourist.

Palette: white tropical print khaki tan navy flamingo pink
Signature garments: Hawaiian shirt cargo shorts white sneakers Panama hat aviator sunglasses leather sandals
Canonical brands: Tommy Bahama Reyn Spooner Sun Surf vintage Hawaiian shirts

About

Vacation Dadcore is the lifestyle-and-fashion aesthetic centred on a nostalgic, kitschy portrayal of the father-on-a-tropical-vacation — rooted in 1970s and 80s American resort imagery (Miami, Hawaii) and visual touchstones like Tom Selleck's Magnum P.I. (1980–88). The quintessential garment is the bright Hawaiian shirt — flowers, palm trees, flamingos — paired with cargo shorts or simple jeans, white athletic trainers (sometimes paired controversially with socks), sandals or flip-flops, aviator sunglasses, a Panama or wide-brim straw hat and ideally a moustache. The aesthetic emerged on social media in the late 2010s as users codified the look, and it is explicitly performative: you don't have to be a dad to wear it, you just have to look like one on vacation.

Not Dadcore — Vacation Dadcore is the tropical-holiday subset with Hawaiian shirts and Panama hats; Dadcore is the year-round dad uniform of New Balance, jeans and golf polos.

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