With families and family trees being so central to the story this time, it’s not surprising that the two branches springing from the Hofstadt-Draper union are both being defined through their clothing, and that subtle points about the differences in each household are being made. Here,...

We’re thinking that, since the “standing up and announcing tonight’s theme” schtick is by far the worst development in the writing for Mad Men this season (but to be fair, it’s the only thing worth complaining about), it might be more truthful and a little more...

There were some interesting callbacks to earlier episodes and the ghost of Betty Draper loomed large once again. Let’s get to it. This outfit served as a focal point because an actual story point hinged on the audience realizing that she had changed into a cocktail dress. It’s an...

Mad Men has always been very clever about utilizing real products of the time to comment on the very people who are scrambling their asses off to make the public buy those products. In the early days of the show, the characters and the company of Sterling Cooper were dominated and defined by...

We’ll start off slow, with a couple snapshots of 1966 teen and tweenhood, upper middle class-style. This episode was the story of three daughters, and while Sally’s clothes definitely played a part and made an impact in this story, the costuming really worked its ass off telling...

There was a time when Sally Draper would have been appalled to admit it (and that time is probably still happening), but the divorce of her parents has been a good thing for her. She may not love Henry as much as her father, but the relative stability that comes from living with people who...

Let’s go on a trip, shall we? Before we get into the weeds of it all, we want to point out something that’s not strictly style-related, but since we’re all about the visual motifs here, it’s worth noting. Three parallel, overlapping stories were told this episode. Those...

We noted, earlier in the season, that the writing had changed slightly. It seemed to us that the writers wanted to address head on the oft-mentioned complaint about the show that “nothing happens,” and we wondered if perhaps this was a result of the long, sometimes nasty...

Because this episode was dominated by men in suits, it’s a little tougher to pull out any sort of inferences or meaning from the costumes. To our amusement, we found ourselves desperately scanning all the ties, looking for something to present itself. To our surprise, something...

Mad Men landed like a pop culture bomb (even if it’s never achieved a massive audience) in part because it provided a much-needed unromanticized look at a world yet to be changed by social changes like feminism, offering a view of women’s lives   under a patriarchal, consumerist,...

It’s true in every episode, but in this one, color stories really took center stage in the costuming. Walk with us. The staging on this scene was very smart. Don’s coughing caused Megan to move away so that when Andrea entered the elevator she had no idea they were together. The...

The horror of the Richard Speck murders loomed large over the story this week, sending multiple characters scrambling to (or under) their beds after opening the door on a Mystery Date they’d rather not have. Yes, the imagery was perhaps a little obvious and forced (Stan’s stocking...

Zip yourselves up and let’s get to it. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover. Could there possibly have been a more shocking way to reintroduce Betty? Did you gasp like we did? The combination of the bejeweled cuffs and collar (very much in style for the older crowd at this time),...

We thought it was signaled pretty hard last week, what with all the eyeliner and miniskirts, but in case there was any doubt left in the audience, it’s gone now, like a puff of pot smoke backstage at a Stones concert. The sixties are here in the world of Mad Men, in full force, with all...

Part 1 here.   There’s a lot of signalling here that says “British” even if it’s not obvious. Lane has always had a distinctive style that set him apart from the other partners and subtly reinforced a European vibe in opposition their entirely American ways of...

Wake up, children! The SIXTIES are here! Like most viewers, we were struck by Sally’s newly stretched-out body and suddenly deeper voice. And probably like a lot of viewers, we originally figured this was her new house she was waking up in. The scene was designed to be as confusing as...

Everyone in this episode, from the civil rights protestors fighting for a better world, to Pete Campbell angling for a better office, to Joan trying to keep her place in the hierarchy, to Megan Draper putting her foot down in her own unique way, was in the midst of a power struggle. The...

Darlings, it’s been a little while since we could say this with confidence, but HERE’S your pretty for the day.   Are you excited yet? One thing to note: anyone who was hoping for mod ’60s styles entering the picture is going to be sorely disappointed. None...

As we said in the previous installment of Mad Style, we feel like our best work in this series is behind us and we’ve said just about everything there is to say, at least when it comes to the female characters. Because this is the last episode for a distressingly long time, we chose to...

Poor Faye Miller. Never was a character so sorry to be so right. She’s smart and perceptive and trained to read people, so when she told Don back at Christmastime that he’d be remarried within a year, she probably should have stuck with her original instincts and stayed far away...

We have to admit something. For us, it feels like we’ve done our best work with the Mad Style series and now we’re at that brief period after the finals have been graded but before the last day of the school year. With the last few entries, we didn’t feel like we said...

As Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce does a slow-motion implosion right in front of everyone’s eyes, the differences between what’s real and what the world sees took center stage. It’s about the lies everyone seems to be telling in order to get what they want. Blowing smoke. Sally...

Check your teeth for lipstick and put on your metallic dressing gowns, ladies. It’s time once again. When will the American male get over his thighphobia and return to the days of yore when men bared their thighs proudly? Not much to analyze here, just a snapshot of the Scooby...

The walls of SCDP are crumbling down around its principal players and they’re all too busy and stressed to learn the lessons that are staring them right in the face. You can’t have a happy life if all you have is work. Trudy’s having the long-awaited Campbell baby and Pete...

Swinging Sixties, Baby! We weren’t sure we were going to include the screencaps from this scene until we noticed the sewing machine. We just know something like that is going to prompt a dozen “My mom had that!” responses. Notice how Betty and Sally are wearing pretty much...

It seems almost silly to point out that this episode dealt heavily with secrets and how they can weigh a person down. After all, the entire series of Mad Men is largely about secrets and how they can weigh you down. It’s as if this episode is meant to be considered something of a mission...