Before I had any
inclination to watch or understand it, I genuinely believed that the new
television sensation ‘Mad Men’ was about fashion. You can’t blame me,
considering that every Sunday my mom raved not about the characters but how
fabulous the costumes that “Don” and “Joan” had worn were, or that each article
I saw in USA Today or Rolling Stone emphasized Betty Draper’s clothes over plot
notes. While I eventually learned the advertising nature of the show, it is
still impossible to deny the sheer power of the clothes in Mad Men- after all,
nothing that Walter White or Dexter Morgan has done has had anywhere near the
impact of what Don Draper and friends WEAR.
The 60s have
come roaring back, and the old look is the new look
A lot of theories have
been generated about why Don Draper and the executives at Sterling Cooper are
what “every man wants to be.” Popular ones include the women, the drinks,
the money, and the status. But money and drinking are cross professional
and generational, and adultery isn’t exactly glamorous anymore. But the
resurgence in 1960s wear that led Banana Republic and Express to create their
whole fall lines after the fashions of ‘Mad Men?’ That can’t be a
coincidence. Clothes are everything that these men embody: the quality of
clothes points to their wealth and position, their style lends to social
situations like drinking, and their exuberant swagger from their fancy fashions
leads to attraction from women. The snugger fits, better ties and
undershirts, and contrasting colors have been ripped off of AMC and put on
every stylish man today. The fashions of women like Joan and Betty are what
makes these characters truly universal- yes, both are beautiful and relatable,
but in very different ways. The thread connecting this admirable appearance is
the 1960s combinations of tight dresses, subtle accessories, and striking
colors that have infiltrated 21st century society after years
of grunge jeans and shiny, post 9/11 era overexuberance.
The
characters of Mad Men exude fashion sense that has crossed into our world.
Swag!
The characters and
plot of Mad Men have certainly become memorable, but not on the sheer level of
something like The Sopranos or The West Wing. The everlasting power of this
show comes when First Lady Michelle Obama spends her time around the
inauguration of her husband wearing one strap dresses inspired by Christina
Hendricks treads on the show. It is when Ask Men models a style guide for
their large readership after the suits in the show. And it is reflected on
a personal level for me, when I went prom suit shopping. I was dismayed
to find that Banana Republic’s Mad Men line of blue suits was far too expensive
for my blood, but when I combined another Mad Men navy blue line from Billy
London with a pink shirt and colored bow tie from my father’s 1960 collection,
I was quickly the best dressed man at the prom. Long gone are the days of
oversized, shiny suits and baggy dresses from the Steve Harvey
collection. The 1960s have come roaring back, and now the entire planet
has become GQ and Vanity Fair. We may never have the drinks, the money, the
lovers, or the ads, but with the clothes, we can all be Mad Men.
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