When the material world clashes with the realm of desire, the resulting chaos doesn't just affect people, but their wardrobes too. That's especially true in this episode, when behavior and fabric patterns often intertwine. Let's take Harry Crane as our first example, since this was a big week for him. Costume designer Janie Bryant often outfits the TV exec in jangly plaid patterns, and in this episode he wears them like armor. Check him out at the Hare Krishna center, wrapped in a plaid jacket over a plaid scarf over a plaid blazer. When you see him standing up against the equally chaotic mismatched tapestries all over the prayer room it's a real brain bender. The funny thing is, in Harry's final scene -- when he gives Kinsey an envelope full of money and tells him to escape the Krishnas, essentially doing something selfless for the first time in a while -- his coat and his tie, though still patterned, look great together. He's achieved a kind of outer harmony, and maybe some inner peace too.

Continue reading "The Mad Men Fashion File - Can't Buy Me Love" »

This week's Mad Men was all about competition, rivalry, and winning at all costs. Costume designer Janie Bryant's choices for the episode reflected that from the first group shot: When Roger, Cooper, Don and Pete were crammed inside the elevator together, they wore jangling prints and bright colors that fought for visual attention. Pete had green plaid, Don had blue stripes, Cooper had a mustard-colored scarf, and Roger -- of course -- was more flamboyant than them all in a red silk scarf, a red tie, and a red-tipped fedora. Their costumes were more than funny; they were a classic case of "peacocking," when males in an animal community embellish their looks to lure better mates and up their social standing. The peacock theme also turns up in Joan's round golden brooch, which resembles the bird in full display.

Continue reading "The Mad Men Fashion File - Venus in Fur (and Blue Jeans)" »

Move over, Betty -- you're not the only doll-faced and desperate housewife on the block. Enter Beth Dawes, whose blue eyes are the color and shape of a Wonder Bread circle, and whose Plasticine skin is a flawless cover for her seething anger and resentment. Beth is completely stuck in her situation: While other young women in this world have careers and passions, Beth only has her cardboard cut-out of a marriage -- with a real domestic mess hiding behind it. Her costumes reflect that delicate and empty China Doll existence, with stiffly perfect hair, perpetual pearls, and the same kinds of cool color tones that costume designer Janie Bryant often uses on Betty.

Continue reading "The Mad Men Fashion File - Valley of the Dolls" »

"Last night when I was feeding the kids spaghetti, I realized that my mother had made it for me, and that her mother had made it for her. And I got this picture in my head of her becoming me, like with one of those movie dissolves... I realized you could take it all the way back to cave men...and then the future." -- Megan Draper, Mad Men, 1966

Much of this episode was about growing up, and all the cycles (both good and bad) we experience through our parents and pass on to our children. That idea fits the "Generation Gap" theme developing this season, but it also strings the older and younger characters together as part of one complex, volatile circuit. In this episode, there are three grandmothers (Pauline Francis, Marie Calvet, and Katherine Olson), eight mothers (those three, plus Joan, Peggy, Megan, Alice Geiger the Heinz Wife, and Mona Sterling) and six children (Sally, Bobby, Megan, Peggy, Glen, and Cynthia, whose father gives Don a bitter lesson about biting the hand that feeds you -- something children do almost every day.) And let's not forget the moment when Megan plays a reverse role, tucking her own mother into bed and picking her burning cigarette out of her hand as if it were a stray toy.

So what does this have to do with the costumes? A lot, it seems.

Continue reading "The Mad Men Fashion File - Around We Go" »

Five characters landed on their backs this episode: Peggy (asleep on the couch), Don and Megan (tackled on the carpet), and Roger and Jane (acid-tripping on the rug). And when the camera panned down on them, they looked -- for a moment -- like they were each a version of the falling man in the show's opening credits. That visual trick owed much to their costumes -- thanks to Peggy's sideways pussy bow, Don's over-the-shoulder tie, Megan's flyaway bob, and Jane's floaty chiffon nightgown, the characters looked as if they were in motion. In a way, they were, at least emotionally, and in this episode every overhead shot came with a kind of personal reckoning.

Continue reading "The Mad Men Fashion File - The Beautiful Fall" »

We knew it was trouble when Megan asked Don, "Why don't you wear that sport coat I got you?" And wow, we were right. Don Draper wearing a nutty plaid jacket -- and standing next to Ken Cosgrove and Pete Campbell in similar Kentucky Derby getups -- was jarring and sweet all at once. Finally, Don has compromised his ego for love, and he's advertising his choice loud and clear with this ridiculous outfit. Of course, the true Don comes out once the Campbell kitchen starts to flood, and our man of the hour strips down to his trademark T-shirt. "Look!" Cynthia cries. "It's Superman!" Well, sort of -- it's actually Dick Whitman, though much like Clark Kent, he too has an alter-ego capable of extraordinary things. (Ken Cosgrove's double life gets the same kind of allusion in his final shot: We see him writing under a pen name in the exact same getup on his bed at home.)

Continue reading "The Mad Men Fashion File - Fight for Your Right to Fashion" »

This week, an obsession with dead girls wasn't just for The Killing. It seeped into almost every scene of Mad Men's "Mystery Date," too, thanks to the Chicago student nurse murders that haunt this episode. We even begin with the ghost of a dress -- Andrea's lemon yellow shift looks like Megan's dress from last week! The outfit's "been there, seen that" quality, coupled with the slightly aggressive accessories (white gloves, orange shell necklace and matching round earrings), make Andrea seem a little bit over -- and for Don, she is. When she turns up at his apartment wanting sex, it's a bit deja vu; when she ends up "dead," it's almost like the outfit is a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Continue reading "The Mad Men Fashion File - Dying for Style" »

Here's a first: Betty Draper can't fit into her dress. It's quite a shock for fans who held Betty's physical appearance as a given, almost a piece of armor. Sure, she's terribly conflicted and sometimes she makes questionable decisions, but she's always beautiful. (Even when she was pregnant, Betty managed to retain her porcelain neckline and incredible sense of style -- or as Roger Sterling memorably exclaimed, "Grace Kelly swallowed a bowling ball!") Now Betty can't squeeze into a dress that used to fit her perfectly, which seems like a pretty strong metaphor for her current emotional state. Here she is in a Roosevelt-style mansion, with a husband who worships her, a daughter who (finally) appears to be behaving, and what seems like an unlimited supply of Tiffany charm bracelets... and she's still not happy. Betty's fenced-in feeling echoes through almost all of her costumes: Her pink patterned jacket makes little boxes all over her body; her quilted pink robe does the same. Even Betty's lipstick, which matches her various pink outfits perfectly, feels like a bit of a handcuff: She's locked into everything in her life, even her makeup.

Continue reading "The Mad Men Fashion File - A Tale of Two Zippers" »

The Season 5 premiere had enough kids to fill a daycare, from the Draper brood to the tiny Kevin Harris and the watchful little boy pelted by water balloons in the opener. There's also Tammy Campbell, who remains unseen but leaves clues to her colicky existence in her parents' outfits: Pete's suit is covered in spit-up, and Trudy -- once the show's youthful fashion plate -- has traded Pierre Cardin for a giant striped nightie, bed-head, and a face without makeup. (True to Trudy, though, it's still kind of amazing: Her pajamas look like Marimekko, the Finnish textile label made famous in America by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who wore several of their dresses on JFK's campaign trail.)

Continue reading "The Mad Men Fashion File - We Need to Talk About Megan" »

New York Fashion Week runways open in just three days. Eager to strut your stuff? You'd be wise to follow Mad Men's lead, considering the impact the series has had on industry legends like Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton and even Prada. Check out these Mad Men fashion videos, photos and step-by-step style guides for tips on how to up your fashion game.

Multimedia
• Season 4 Fashion Flipbook: A multimedia magazine with video commentary from Mad Men Costume Designer Janie Bryant

Video
• Season 4 Fashion: Janie Bryant's tour of the wardrobe truck of Season 4
• Tour of the Costume Shop With Janie Bryant: Bryant looks at the costumes of Season 3

Continue reading "Prep for Fashion Week With Style Tips From the Mad Men Blog" »