MATT DILLON

I'll never forget the first time I saw The Outsiders. By that time, all my friends had already seen it, and I'd heard numerous accounts of Sodapop and Ponyboy Curtis -- the dreamy heartthrobs around whom the story was centered. But when I feasted my eyes on Mr. Matt Dillon, my heart nearly stopped. How could my friends have failed to mention Dallas Winston? Were they blind?

As a girl who was raised in a pretty conservative household, Dillon's character represented everything naughty that I'd been taught to avoid: he smoked, drank, stole, swore, carried a knife, and said really inappropriate things to girls. He also had dark hair and deep-set eyes -- a deadly combination that (according to my husband) is my version of catnip.

After I discovered Matt Dillon,  I proceeded to scour the local video store for his movies, only to find that every last one of them had the dreaded PG-13 or R rating, and were thus off-limits to my virgin eyes. As I got older and the ban on rated R movies was slowly lifted, I was able to devour the Matt Dillon catalog. I quickly identified his six signature pieces: a white tank top (please don't make me say "wife beater"), black leather jacket or denim jacket, Levi's, a cigarette and a chain around his neck. In a few of his roles, he threw in the bandana and a little bit of blood for extra street cred. I like to call it the "troubled youth" look.

Simple, but effective.