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Fashion File: August 16, 2009 - August 22, 2009

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The Mad Men Fashion File - Nightgowns and Trenchcoats or a Peek at What Lies Beneath

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Did you ever think there'd be so much to say about a nightgown? I didn't, but the beginning of Season 3 proved me wrong. Besides starting with a wrenching set of flashbacks, the first new minutes of Mad Men show four separate women in bedclothes -- Don's mother, Don's adopted mother, Don's midwife and Don's wife. The first three nightgowns are gauzy, faded, and ripped -- a reflection of Don's shredded past and also the fact that, well, this is just a dream. And then comes Betty Draper, who's so bound to the waking world, she can't even sleep.

Betty's nightgown is gorgeous. Embroidered, empire-waisted, expensive, and impressively spotless for a pregnant insomniac. In six years, Sally will steal this nightgown and wear it to a Jefferson Airplane concert as a dress (no bra, no shoes). But now it's radiant and lovely in an earth-goddess way that should reflect the happy state of its owner -- but doesn't.

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Posted by Faran Krentcil
August 19, 2009 12:35pm

Filed under: Fashion File

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