Stay in the sun with films hottest Hawaiian shorts

Hawaiian shorts are the easy option for a laid back summer look.

Summer is finally here and as well as firing up the barbeque and chilling the beers, we’ve been looking for some inspiration on the big screen. The hot weather means there’s no need for fancy shirts or smart trousers, so we’ve fallen back on an old classic – Hawaiian shorts. The Hawaiian shirt (or Aloha shirt!) has been popular for years, particularly after World War II when they were brought back as souvenirs. Now mainly associated with surfers and middle-aged men, the shorts have taken over.

It’s hard not to find floral printed board shorts and trunks when looking at TV and film, after all they are go-to outfit for any costume designer dressing a young man in the summer. So we’ve picked our favourite movies featuring Hawaiian shorts, and there’s definitely a mix. First up is sing-a-long rom-com Mamma Mia!, which might seem like a bit of a chick-flick choice. But it works for Dominic Cooper (he manages to get Amanda Seyfried to agree to marry him) so we’ll give his style a try! And since the film takes place on the Greek island of Kalokairi you wouldn’t expect the guys to be wearing much but shorts.

Then we remembered Matthew McConaughey’s laid back style in adventure rom-com Fool’s Gold, in which he spends most of his time on or in the water. Another perfect excuse to rock the loud shorts, although we’re not too sure about the tie dyed t-shirts. But again, he manages to get Kate Hudson to fall for him (twice) so it must be a look that works. If only we spent our days on a yacht searching for treasure.

So far we’ve had a pretty perfect bloke and a slacker treasure hunter, and now we add to the list two guys who can’t even remember what they did last night. Cast your mind back ten years to when the new millennium still seemed cool, and a box-office flop called Dude, Where’s My Car had us laughing. Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott took us on a journey to find their car, and along the way piece together the story of how they lost it. And when not wearing specially tailored suits or admiring each others’ tattoos they choose to wear some floral board shorts.

So, we’ve proved that it doesn’t matter whether you’re chilling on the beach, hunting for treasure or losing your car; Hawaiian shorts are always the best choice for summer.