The Clothes

Joan, Betty, Megan, Sally and pretty much every other woman on "Mad Men" displayed the wild 60's fashions with aplomb and incredible taste. I remember so many of these fashions and wore similar ones. It was a great time to be young and thin and I was both. The men on "Mad Men" were pretty stylish too but I'll just concentrate on Don here.

SEASON 1

Betty Draper was a vision in white when she wore a sequined dress and a fur stole with elaborate costume jewelry and white opera-length gloves.

Joan Harris was ready for work in a fitted tweed pencil skirt and a red draped blouse. Let's face it everything Joan wore was "fitted".

Betty Draper was dressed playfully in a multicolored romper for a scene at home. Big buttons and a look-at-me belt added to the whimsical feel.

Rachael Katz in exquisite fur hat and gloves was a knockout that Don couldn't resist.

Peggy Olsen donned a conservative pencil skirt and top while enjoying a few drinks after work.

I used to love doing the twist in my pencil skirt with matching sweater. It was a blast.

SEASON 2

Peggy Olson wore a pink-and-nude gingham printed dress. Alabaster-hued gloves and a headpiece made the feminine color combo pop.

Joan Harris showed her darker side in an all-black ensemble complete with a pearl-embellished cardigan that was effortlessly draped over her shoulders.

Betty Draper worked an all-white look from head-to-toe while out with Don Draper.

I hated those bicycle clip headbands...gave me a headache.

Betty Draper in a glamorous blue ensemble ready for a night out on the town in New York. The long earrings complete the look.

SEASON 3

Joan Harris showed off her curves in a black sheath printed with romantic red roses. Elaborate earrings and red nail polish added oomph to her bombshell look.

I remember those border print fabrics...used to use them when I made my own clothes.

Betty Draper showed off her baby bump (though back in the 60's nobody called it that) in a pink and white lace dress complete a pink embellished sash.

Betty Draper looked sweet as can be in a floral printed day dress. A structured handbag, sheer gloves, and white cat eye sunglasses completed her on-the-go style.

Betty Draper was dressed femme fatale-style in a strappy black dress. Pearl jewelry and a sleek (but over-the-top) hair style gave her sexy ensemble a polished look.

I had several black dresses with cutouts...at the top...sexy.

SEASON 4

Sally Draper was dressed for a snow scene in the most charming embellished and embroidered accessories. A warm car coat and scenic-printed sweater were the building blocks to Draper's too-cute look.

Peggy Olson was office-appropriate in a navy blue dress, a single strand of pearls, and stud earrings. This was the most sedate outfit peggy wore. It was from the scene where she had lipstick on her teeth.

Season 5

Megan Draper wore a plum-hued, heathered sweater. A buttoned leather inset added interest to her darling getup.

Joan Harris and Peggy Olson stood side-by-side in equally eye-catching looks. Harris stuck to bright colors while Olson stayed true to her printed ensembles. A detail that tied the two together? Perfectly tied neck bows.

My mother loved the blouses with attached the neck bows.

SEASON 6

Joan Harris' style took a nautical turn for a season six episode. A red, white, and blue silk scarf worn around her head and an anchor-embroidered emblem epitomized the look.

I had a white nautical jacket.

Megan Draper wore a bikini in Hawaii. I remember having lots of bikinis in the 60's and they kept getting smaller and smaller.

I had one almost exactly like this one down to the print and the ties on the sides and bust. Those really were the good old days when I wasn't old and I wasn't good.

Megan Draper was a vision in gold wearing door-knocker earrings and a glistening metallic top. That ratted up hair...wild.

I wore a gold silk sheath dress with a Chinese collar to one of the dances in High School. I thought I was hot stuff.

Joan Harris suited up in a sharp shaped jacket and skirt. A leaf motif brooch and a lace blouse peeking out from her suit jacket added a dose of femininity to her look.

I used to wear lots of pins...sometimes many at once.

SEASON 7

“Megan Draper is a very modern character,” This costume was light, airy, fresh, and new and had flowy sleeves. It was a very mini dress.

I remember having some minis that were so short they had matching panties that came with them - great for dancing to "Wipe Out".

Megan Draper wore this graphic print mini dress at the party she throws in California. The hippie influence is definitely working it way into the show.

I still have on pair of bell-bottom jeans and a flower print tie-under-the-tits blouse that I used to wear.

A real chinchilla fur coat from a furrier in Los Angeles was borrowed for this intimate scene with Don and a half-naked model.

Joan Harris wore this shimmering royal blue sheath with an embellished neckline for her night out with the millionaire.

My wedding dress was a sheath and fit like a glove. My mother wanted the princess look but I figured since I had the figure for the sheath...why not show it off?

About that Chinchilla Coat

"It’s truly a miracle that the furrier even had a chinchilla coat because it is the most fragile of all furs–they usually don't last long–the crew handled that coat with care and took it from the model in between every single take. She wasn’t allowed to sit in it and she wasn’t allowed the stand around in it. She could only wear the coat when she was shooting the scene.

Overall, it’s safe to say that Don Draper is a well-dressed man. He looks sharp, knows how to dress for the occasion, and enjoys the flexibility of menswear — in scenes at home, we often see him continuing about the house in his work trousers and dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, sometimes with a sweater added to replace the suit jacket.

DON'S LOOK

Don Draper is observing the most symmetrical of collar styles for a dress shirt: he wears a plain point collar that spreads just wide enough for the tips of each side to touch the lapels of his suit. Since he also favors straight ties, this creates a very deliberate, upward-pointing arrow effect on the front of his body, guiding the viewer’s eye directly to his face — not a bad strategy if you look like Jon Hamm.

A look at Don Draper’s cuffs shows another stylistic edge: he frequently wears French cuffs, and is careful to let a half-inch or so of shirt cuff show beyond the ends of his suits. His cufflinks are very small and understated, so this isn’t a flashy gesture — it’s just a detail that sets him apart from his fellow ad men.

However there is the plaid suit episode in Season 5...yikes they rocked those plaids.

The Hats

Mad Men is set in the days when men wore hats, and what we see of Draper’s outerwear is very period. He wears several different fedoras, all of them made from good felt and shaped to a similar peak. Since Jon Hamm’s face is solid and straight-sided, he tops it off with a tapered crown that keeps him from turning his head into an rectangle.

My dad knew how to dress and wore fedoras.

The shape of the hat mirrors the shape of his chin, giving him a very completed effect.

The Suits

The most important thing to notice about Draper’s suits is that they are almost all single-vented. This means that there’s a single slit up the bottom of the back, centered in the middle of his back. This is part of the classic American look that was evolving at the time Mad Men is set, and sets Draper’s suits apart from what were considered “English” and “European” or “Italian” styles in the 1960s, but these days the single vent is generally recognized as the least-flattering option for men’s jackets. Because the vent only allows the cloth of the suit to spread outward, the sides of the suit bunch up any time Don puts his hands in his pockets.

Of course, it may have been production necessity as much as a desire to keep the classic American look — single-vented suits are cheaper and easier to produce than double-vented (one of the reasons they are the most common option available in today’s stores), and Mad Men may well have only been able to outfit Don in single-vented jackets at first. Draper does appear wearing double-vented suits in later seasons, indicating either an improvement in the studio budget or the character’s expanding wardrobe as his position in the firm rises.

Draper is also a little less adventurous than some of his fellow Mad Men, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. His style is very consistent, and therefore very self-confident — the clothes of a man who knows what he wants and what looks good on him. At the same time, his dedication to the single-breasted, two-button jacket with notched collars keeps him from enjoying the extra flash that Sterling’s double-breasted suits or sweeping point lapels he occasionally sport. He’s one of the best-dressed Mad Men, but he’s also one of the least adventurous.

Taken in whole, though, Don Draper is the man’s man of the series hands-down. He wears extremely well-fitted clothing with confidence, uses color and pattern to great effect, and stands out in a crowd without ever pressing the limits of acceptable workplace attire. His accents — cufflinks, hats, etc. — are impeccable and understated.

After my Dad retired, he worked in a very fashionable men's store. I would love to ask him what he thought of Don's clothes as he dressed some very important men in the store. He also wore really great clothes and always looked sharp. He loved the color red for cars and neckties and we buried him in red boxer shorts under his sedate blue suite. He would have had a good laugh about that.

And since he’s a very attractive man, Don sticks to the most important rule in menswear: The clothes are there to draw attention to the face and the body, not to themselves.

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