I don’t know about you but it feels like the words "Mad Men" have dominated retro fashion parlance for the last thousand years at least. The series began in 2007 and since its very first showing it has been influencing fashion, first with late 50s wiggle dresses and now with its modish 60s vibe.
It is practically impossible to scour the 50s sections of eBay without the descriptor “Mad Men” or “Joan from Mad Men” coming up on every other item – hell – I’ve been guilty of it myself when selling a particularly figure hugging purple wool career dress. Once I stuck those words on the title, bids doubled, and I felt just a little dirty - double win.
Still, I’m starting to feel it is all a bit tired (though to
tell the truth, I’ve felt that from the start...) Perhaps it is just that all these Mad Men
inspired looks are so, well, flat looking.
There is more to the look than a little bouffant to your hair, a tight
dress and cats eye liner, after all. I’m
tired of seeing too short skirts and crispy artificial fibres on items meant to
evoke the era.
Anyway – to the point in had. Banana Republic once again have issued an
official Mad Men Collection – which Janie Bryant – the shows costumier has
collaborated on. this time based around the Beatnik / Mod-ish cool of youngblood Megan Draper. Their 2011 was a riot
of errors – low slung trousers for men and above the knee skirts for women, so I
can only hope they have made some improvements on the design front this time
around.
 |
| the 2011 collection...good lord. |
It does look promising I must
admit but then, having the delectable Coco Rocha fronting the campaign is never
going to hurt – the girl gives good 60s.
I'm tempted to say that this time the skirts are too long, if anything. The three dresses above look great in the 60s styled shoot but the standard photos below they look less than inspiring.
What are your thoughts on this latest range - a la Mod or Modern tat?
I love it that Mad Men has finally hit 1966 - cue psychedelia and French space age styling.
ReplyDeleteStill, this being a US show with characters in their mid 20s to 50s, it will never show off any of the truly amazing clothing that would have been worn by teenage mods in London.
I am totally over 'Mad Men' fashion ranges though, it's just never quite right. The Banana Republic range? Tad all the way...
I agree wholeheartedly with how 'Mad Men' has become a lazy way of describing the era. What the show does so well gets diluted by the high street until we're looking at the equivalent of a faded photocopy. But can we expect any more? The majority of shoppers would find the fits and fabrics hard to adapt to if they were really authentic.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah you're so right on that one. That's why I'm so glad I just quit shopping at the mall all together and exclusively shop online or at vintage clothing shoes.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the best they've come up with, but that's not saying much because the Mad Men collections for Banana Republic usually seem lazy and uninspired.The green and white scooter dress looks especially mod, but then again, it's on a model who's about 9 feet tall so the length will be right on her but probably not on us normal girls. Great patterns, though!
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