Too cool for school

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Whisper it quietly, but John Hughes' definitive guide to American high school cliques has dated pretty badly. That said, it does contain an important message: inside everyone of us is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. And if that means we get to pick and choose from Judd Nelson's grungey denim layering, Emilio Estevez's classic varsity styles and Anthony Michael Hall's normcore basics, we'll take it.

Rushmore (1998)

Unsurprisingly, Wes Anderson's exploration of the rarefied world of Rushmore Academy is a quirkily stylish affair. Precocious student oddball Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) takes the sartorial prize with his blazer, slacks, thick-frame glasses and – on occasion – bright red beret.

Dazed and Confused (1993)

A good chunk of Richard Linklater's 70s-set day-in-the-life masterpiece takes place directly after class has finished for the year, but the best threads are shown before Alice Cooper's School's Out kicks in on the soundtrack. Raglan and slogan tees, light-wash denim, subtly hippie-ish jewellery make for a lesson in wearable, casual 70s style. Best of all are Don Dawson's bang-on-trend dungarees.

Cry-Baby (1990)

Whether it's having the monopoly on prime Sweater Shop gear and hair gel in the mid 90s, or rocking the leather jacket and snotty attitude look in the 50s, the naughty kids at school have often had the strongest style. Johnny Depp's Wade 'Cry-Baby' Walker – leader of the Drapes, a gang of impeccably trash-cool greasers in John Waters' ace Cry-Baby – embodies this enduring dapper-bad-boy archetype with his killer pompadour, black biker and white crew-neck T-shirt.

Dope

It's not even out in the UK yet, but we're still pretty hyped for the fashion treats promised by Dope. Telling the story of three 90s hip-hop-obsessed high-school nerds (with a wardrobe of super-sweet retro garms to match), and featuring some of the rap game's freshest dressers in cameo roles (A$AP Rocky, Tyga, Vince Staples), it's looking like the geek-chic streetwear fest of our dreams.