From the first clink of the ice hitting Don Draper’s tumbler, I’ve been fixated – or should I say “mad” for the AMC Emmy-award winning show Mad Men. So much so, that the show served as inspiration for a JDRF benefit fashion show
I styled for Port City Eye Associates as well as the 10-page fall fashion shoot for Focus on the Coast magazine last September. In making premiere party preparations for this Sunday’s 10pm debut of Season Three, you can imagine my utter delight to find the latest issue of Vanity Fair on my doorstep. No fewer than 18 pages of editorial interlaced with photos of Don and Betty in their 1960′s supreme with their detached, self-contained beauty at Port City Eye Fashion Show 2008 its most poignant. Clothing from Island Passage
Hat from aMuse
This 1960′s-era series set on Madison Avenue caused a stir in the fashion world last fall advertising the notion that business attire is back with Don Draper, Joan Holloway and the gang in skinny ties, sheath dresses, pencil skirt and pearls. Michael Kors may have moved on but the masses are just getting tuned in or turned on to what might as well be the most stylish show on TV – particularly with their recent collaboration with mass retailer Banana Republic. 
Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant, who was recently interviewed by Canwest News Service, says ” I had no idea how much of an impact the show was going to be, stylistically I mean… I’ve always been into fashion and I’ve always been into dressing up and dressing for every occasion and it’s been quite amazing that the show has had that effect on the public and I think people really watch the show and they do think, ‘Oh, I really want to dress up.’ So if that trend is coming back around you know, I’m really happy about that, too.”
And so are we, right?
See you in the 60′s. 10pm Sunday night. It’s a date. Michael Kors Fall Fashion 2008
WHAT TO WEAR:
1) pencil skirts
2) belted waistlines
3) pearls, pillbox hats and gloves
4) cardigans
5) brooches
5) If you’re a Betty, wear a 1950′s full-skirted frock with a cinched waist.
6) If you’re more like Joan, try a vava-voom body-skimming knit dress a la Marilyn Monroe or Sophia Loren.
7) Don’t forget the bullet bra! Remember, “without foundation, there is no fashion.”
and a current shoe or handbag.
For the guys, think skinny – skinny suits and skinny ties. And for extra measure, add a fedora or a pair of retro specs.
WHAT TO DRINK:
Vodka Gimlet
2 oz. premium Vodka
1/4 oz. Rose’s Lime Juice
combine both over ice in a mixing glass, shake for 30 seconds and strain into a pre-chilled martini glass
Superkiiid Jonathan Guggenheim in Banana Republic at Mad Men
JDRF Fashion Show 2008
garnished with a wedge of fresh lime.
- courtesy of
Mixologist Joel Finsel
