How to dress like Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson, the writer known for his drug-fueled stories of the Hell's Angels and a wacky trip to Las Vegas, was also known for wearing some rather bizarre outfits. Even before his death in 2005, the Hunter S. Thompson costume was becoming popular among college students on Halloween. I'll tell you exactly how to put together the perfect Hunter S. Thompson outfit.

There are a couple trademark HST items we see in the picture to the right. First of all, you've got to have the sunglasses. In the picture Hunter is wearing aviator sunglasses, which he owned many pairs of. You'll be most recognizable as the Good Doctor if you wearing yellow or orange aviators. You may have noticed Johnny Depp wearing orange aviators in the movie version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Another trademark item in the photo is the cigarette filter on the cigarette. I've seen people try to pull off the HST costume with just a cigarette, and it doesn't work. Hunter just didn't smoke that way, so it looks unnatural.

If you really want to pull off the Hunter Thompson look, you'll need to be balding or shave your head so it looks like you are. The one way around this is to have short hair and just wear a hat, which we'll get into below.

If you're balding and want to show off the top of your head, you can wear one very recognizable Hunter Thompson fashion item: the green visor. These visor are very popular in Las Vegas gift shops and can be found on eBay. He didn't wear these all the time, but Johnny Depp does wear one in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and there are pictures of Thompson wearing one when he was in Vegas living out the adventure that he would turn into the book.

In this photo we see Hunter enjoying himself on the beach -- and a few things you should pick up for your costume: short shorts (these were popular in the 1970's, during Hunter's prime), a shirt with a wacky print on it (you can probably get away with a Hawaiian shirt) Converse Chuck Taylor All Star shoes (the low cut, not the high tops), and the leather cuff bracelet.

Hunter wasn't particularly known for his jewelry, but he did sometimes sport things like a necklace made of shark's teeth and stuff like that. I think he was trying to show off the outdoorsman that he was, and also it was a subtle nod to one of his idols, Ernest Hemingway. 

When he wasn't wearing a visor, Hunter could often be seen wearing what's called a safari hat. These hats have a brim that goes all the way around the hat. The shirt that Hunter is wearing in this photo is called a safari shirt, and you can find them at places like The Gap. The shirt isn't really considered a trademark item but it is something he wore a lot, especially later in his life.