Would love to see Betty's nightgown up close. It looked gorgeous in the dim light...

You are quite right on most aspects, but the "Limit your exposure" comment, in my opinion, was directed toward Sal. Don was advising him not to let the others know about his sexual orientation.

I agree that the phrase "limit your exposure" was aimed at Sal. I took it as a warning to Sal to keep his sexual orientation in the closet. And... can't everyone just relax? This is a TV show, after all- even though it's brilliant and dark, it's still entertainment. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions and interpretations or lack thereof.

I agree with Janet. Whatever happened to...subject to interpretation?

Sorry, call me a meathead, but I welcome this kind of breakdown. I am fascinated by the parallels in the show, and would like to get a deeper understanding of all the subtleties. As Pedantry said, "it is impossible to absorb them all despite multiple viewings."

Another take on the pitch to Sal...I thought that Don's pitch involving the woman exposing herself was also a test to see whether Sal would still play along with catering to these types of straight, adolescent minded, male fantasies. Sal's immediate acquiescence was a signal that he still wanted to be a part of the old boy's club.

Advertising in the 60's was obviously influenced by Freud. This episode showed a magazine ad with a man holding a very large bottle near his crotch with some woman fawning over him. Obviously Freudian. Freud was all about interpreting dreams and streams of meandering unconscious thought. I see no need for bloggers like bluebeard to say that certain interpretations are correct to the exclusion of others.

i had really really really hoped that this season AMC would have found someone who knew something about 1960's fashion to write this blog (or at the VERY LEAST someone who likes the show!). but unfortunately, we are stuck with faran krentcil again.

@fashionism.org I agree with you. The writing in this article is more reminiscent of US Weekly, and not the brilliant writing displayed every week in the show. It's a shame. I also find it ironic that Bluebeard's comment was taken down, presumably because it criticized the writing in this article, containing supposed "obscenities" (like mine was). Ironic too when the show is full of what some would consider "obscene" behavior. I agree that blogs can be "catchy" and readable, but they don't need to be pithy and vapid.

Dang people, it's about what the clothes mean, not the actual clothes themselves! The people who do the website don't write for the actual show...they write a catchy website.

I guess we are all looking for something different in this blog and hopefully the writer can deliver this season.

I love the fashion of this era and would love to see more coverage of how it has influenced today's fashions as well as how to create the look today w/out looking too period or costumed. Good classic fashion NEVER goes out of style. I have some excellent pieces from this era that I can wear anywhere today and still look totally modern and sophistocated.

I admit my first draw to this show was that it was about this era and as a HUGE mid-century modern fan, it is a complete blast to see my favororite modern pieces of furniture, art, and fashion all together in an EXCELLENT show with a compelling storyline.

There is a fantastic spread in September Vanity Fair of January Jones and John Hamm looking smoking hot in period dress that seriously would look hot anywhere today.

As for the nightgowns shown in episode 1, I'll have to admit I wasn't paying much attention, other than perhaps that Betty's as usual, was a very nice piece. I have heard women say that it wasn't customary for woman of that era to wear such nice nightgowns all of the time, but that is incorrect for women of Betty's stature. She would have had only the nicest things in fashion, and that would have included beautiful nightgowns w/ matching wraps, robes, and bed jackets. I know that we are of the generation of sweats, T-shirts, and PJ pants to be comfy around the house and when we sleep, but that was not the mentality of most women of this era. My mother would have never been caught dead wearing sweats or PJ pants to bed even well into her 70's.

I'll still take my comfy t-shirts and PJ pants to sleep in at night, but I can appreciate how nice the nightwear of the 1960's era looks.

Sorry-not really about underpinnings/lingerie/infrastructure:

I work in high-end apparel: CHANEL, Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Maxmara, Douglas Hannant, Piazza Sempione, Balenciaga, Marimekko, Burberry, St. John et al. It is amazing how silhouettes from the early Sixties are so pervasive if not predominant in the styles of today. The quintessential "Jackie O.- Oleg Cassini" look: lots of sheath dresses with matching coats, or skirt suits with a rounded sort of stand-up collar with one or two large buttons as fasteners are featured in all of the collections, regardless of the fabric: wool crepe, silks (radzimir,duchess satin,taffeta, shantung), jerseys, knits, cottons (tissue gauge, jacquard, pique), cashmere, angora, camel hair, all furs, and sequinned/beaded!

Michael Kors last Summer even said that he had been greatly influenced by Mad Men and was mining, and obviously mined, the Sixties for inspiration for his Winter 2008 and Spring/Summer 2009 collections. It is a delightfully polished and ladylike look. Neat and crisp yet feminine. By now, as I observe daily in our shop and in the fashion pages that it is a look that most designers are promoting; even if in day-to-day life (I live in a college town) everyone is traipsing around in their jeans and Sundial flip-flops or yoga wear, for the most part.

Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni (Hilary Clinton notsomuch) implement this classic tailored look in their lives and it works beautifully. Perhaps (hopefully) it will get even more contagious as the season and "Season 3" progresses. . .

Last Thursday's "NY Times" STYLE section espouses a lot of Eighties looks seeping back into the "mix" such as extreme shoulder pads, gold buttons, baggy trousers, flashes of neon, and lurex embellishments, and tweeds. Hmmm, we shall see! After all, it is ALL about the SELLING as today's Madison Avenue well knows and it is ALL about the NEW, even if it's not so new.
CHEERS!

Right FancyNancy. Like my Mama told me the only reason fashion changes is so the fashion industry can make money. I like to keep my wardrobe simple. I usually stick with grays, blacks, navy and white. It's cheaper and you can always adjust here and there with belts, pins, shoes and purses. Oh also a dark pair of jeans and go a long, long way too.

Stews in those days were required to wear a girdle, even if they were slim, which, of course, they were or they were fired. The reason for this tortuous garment was so their tushies would not jiggle. The stockingtops were reinforced and hooked onto the girdle by means of "supporters". Shelly is clearly wearing a girdle of the type called "two-way stretch".