Dressed for Mad Men

The television show Mad Men has started up again after a 17 month break.  What is it about this show people find interesting?

The main character, Don Draper, is a real scoundrel.  He cheated on his wife (they’re now divorced), he’s lied about everything in his past, he treats women like dirt and to top it all off - he smokes – Yuck!  Yet, he has that certain something.  I suppose it’s a certain something that’s tolerable when you’re only watching from the comfort of your living room couch.  I know if a man like that was in my life, he wouldn’t be for long.

You know what I really like about the show?  The fashion.  There’s something really interesting about the garments women wore in the late 50’s early 60’s.  Women dressed.  They wore hats and gloves.  Everything coordinated.  They dressed when they went out to dinner on a date (you know, they wore clothes, not a dishtowel barely covering their butts that nowadays are suppose to pass as clothing...).  They dressed when they went to church.  They dressed when they had their girlfriends over for tea.  The bottom line is that they made an effort.  Something I think that’s sorely lacking now.  Hey, I’m guilty of this as well.  Sometimes just thinking about the effort it takes to pick the right outfit for something makes me want to crawl back into bed and forget about it.  We have become a society of ‘good enough’ people.  That’s a double edged sword I think.  Yes, it’s nice knowing that whatever I choose (in most cases...) from my closet to wear for an occasion will most likely be fine.  Because there are no real standards anymore left to gage what is or isn’t acceptable.  But on the flipside of this because there are no, or extremely lax, standards, there are no expectations and no consequences for a poor choice so why make an effort at all?  Perhaps I’m too old school.  My mother had expectations of the way I dressed.  There were plenty of times I was sent back to my room to change because I was told jeans are not appropriate for church, bare legs are not acceptable for a dress or skirt and tank tops are not appropriate – EVER.  A little old school goes a long way I think.

So, I’m thinking I might make an ‘ode to Mad Men’ couch throw using all the psycho 60s/70s style fabric I’ve been collecting for no particular reason other than I like the unusual prints.  That way the next  time I’m curled up on the couch watching Don Draper doing another woman wrong, I’ll be appropriately dressed for the occasion.