Wander through any sizeable thrift shop and you can get a fashion history lesson with every rack. And usually somewhere in the store is a rack filled with collarless jackets, complete with ribbed knit cuffs. Style archeologists will attest that these were once the trendiest outerwear in existence, a style so exclusive, it was reserved for Members Only.

The first, or at least, the most notable members of the club, were Ricky Schroeder of Silver Spoons fame (who had a seemingly endless palette of colors in his arsenal) and David Hasselhoff who preferred his black leather version of the Members Only jacket. Soon everyone wanted to be part of this exclusive clique and these stylish jackets were flying off of store shelves.

Available in many colors, with black being the favorite, a Member’s Only jacket wasn’t simply worn, but had to be worn correctly or the rest of world would be able to instantly ascertain that you weren’t a “real” member. Preferably, they were worn over a trendy Izod polo shirt which played nice with the collarless jacket design. But the true test was how you wore your sleeves. Those in the know were aware that the only way to correctly wear a Member’s Only jacket was to have the sleeves pushed up to the mid-forearm, locked in place by the elastic cuffs. To do otherwise shouted “imposter” to those more fashionably savvy.

A whole array of styles was made available, from ladies athletic jackets to the bomber jacket variety, but it was the collar-free cotton version that most fondly remember as a true Member’s Only jacket.

In the infamous words of Groucho Marx, “I would never be a member of a club that would have me as a member.” Of course, those words were spoken well before Member’s Only jackets hit the scene. Were he around when they became popular, he surely would have had a change of heart and jumped on the bandwagon. They were simply irresistible.