Costume rehearsal
In Mad Men’s season three debut, the critically-acclaimed show — which recently boasted another (its second!) Emmy for Best Drama — went into uncharted territory: the ’60s. Channeling the ’50s with full-skirted ensembles and slinky, figure-hugging boatneck dresses that showed off the characters’ Rubenesque figures (series creator Matthew Weiner, who famously announced during the Emmys that he’s one of the sole producers who can claim complete creative control, bans the cast from hitting the gym to retain the buxom proportions popular during the time) allowed the show to create a completely realistic world. The actresses were made to wear everything from the boned corsetry with iron underpinnings to cone bras in order to get into character.
With the season opener introducing the audience to a new period, the series is slowly transitioning into the ’60s, moving past the New Look and entering sassy new territory.
To commemorate the iconic looks of the ’60s, YStyle turned to designer Chris Diaz who was inspired by “Lee Radziwill channeling a rich boho feel.”
Though Jackie O, Audrey Hepburn, Marissa Berenson and Twiggy are Diaz’s icons of ’60s style, today’s It girls help provide context to the retro glam looks.
“I love the mod-moment look of Sienna Miller, the quirky f’d-up head-to-toe styling of Amy Winehouse and Dita von Teese’s impossibly cinched-waist silhouette,” Diaz explains.
“Classic mod looks and the mod-hippie-artsy vibe”were highlights of the era, according to Diaz. “Valentino and Balenciaga tops my list. I also love what Paco Rabanne and Courreges were doing — and those cheery Pucci prints that were synonymous with the era.”
The ’60s proved to be a promising time for fashion, when Mary Quant decided to shed the long, constricting layers and just snip everything off — resulting in the mini skirt.
Critics and conservatives were stymied. Instead of holding them in with boning and confining silhouettes, the new proportions were unstintingly freeing, permitting movement and, most of all, comfort. A-line mini dresses, loose caftans and fitted — but not gut-wrenchingly tight — shifts left women unencumbered, leaving them able to leap tall buildings, stride purposefully — as they were unimpeded by a narrow pencil skirt — and laze about in comfort.
“It was all about feminine independence,” Diaz notes. “Designers celebrated the freedom of the body, experimenting with silhouette and scale.”
Though plenty of the styles are still appropriate today — although your boss or professor might frown on the micro mini — Diaz advises anyone enamored with the era to go easy before piling on too many retro items. “Try working in key pieces and separates mixed with current styles in new proportions,” he says. “And avoid the head-to-toe look. You might appear as if you walked straight out of a time capsule.”
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E-mail me at jackieoflash@yahoo.com.
