He's a Mad Man!

 

Not since Sex and the City have we seen a television show shape the fashion zeitgeist with quite the reach as AMC’s Mad Men. “I saw an ad for Wal-Mart that had a funnel-neck suit, tweed, and a pencil skirt,” says Janie Bryant, the show’s genius costume designer who also won an Emmy for her work on the seminal HBO outlaw series Deadwood. "And I thought, ‘Oh my God! That’s Mad Men!” Bryant talks to ELLE.com from her Los Angeles costume shop, wallpapered with images from the 1960s (see above), about how Mad Men’s proto-feminist heroines—Joan, Betty and Peggy—got their style.

For the ladies and gentlemen at Sterling Cooper, style is everything -- from the way you close a deal to the way you look doing it. The focus in the office is on perfectly crisp suits for the guys and office dresses and separates for the gals. Don Draper and his boss, Roger Sterling, are the quintessential examples of the perfectly dressed '60s male: Don favors simple, clean-checked suits while Roger favors the slightly more showy three-piece style. Never a hair out of place, Betty's often dressed in white for formal occasions -- she is the show's "innocent," sheltered in her charmed life like a little doll. It's the details that make Betty's outfits, like the origami-inspired sash on a white gown. Betty's fashion counterpart on the series, Joan Holloway, is far from conservative. She's forward, aware of her best assets, and most importantly, not afraid to flaunt them. To flatter her eye-catching red hair, she often sports colors like green. This show is truly inspiring and brings the 50s class back into our time. Learn more about Mad Men's fashion at AMC's Mad Men Fashion File Blog.