![Mad Men’s smokin’ fashions costume designer Janie Bryant gives us a guided tour of 16 of the acclaimed series’ best looks.
[left pic] It’s all about the hourglass silhouettes and jewel tones for Joan. “For me her costume always has to have that commanding force” says Bryant. And let’s not forget Joan’s staple gold pen-on-a-chain as a secretarial accessory. “The first necklace we got was a vintage, but then we got multiple ones on the Internet. And the pens actually work, so they’re practical”
[right pic] Betty’s butterfly blouse carries a lot of meaning. “I love having pieces for Betty with birds or butterflies. For one, Don calls her Birdie. And I just love that symbolism of things that fly away because her character is always flying away in her mind. It’s all a part of the fantasy about who Don is, what her life is and the façade she presents to the world” Bryant says.](http://4.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kssxy6PDZf1qz72b4o1_500.jpg)
"Searching for Mr. Mad Man"
“Don Draper was the trickiest role to cast, since the actor would have to not only be credible as a man who essentially lies for a living—and doubles down on those lies at home—but also, as the lead, command sympathy. With extensive television experience on shows such as Providence, The Division, and CSI: Miami but no lead credits, Hamm read for the part early on and survived several further auditions. But according to Alan Taylor, a Sopranos director who directed the Mad Men pilot and was involved in the casting, Weiner and he held off committing to Hamm because of a “reverse prejudice” about the actor’s good looks. “I think Matt and I, coming off Sopranos, both had a kind of bias because we had a wonderful experience with Jim Gandolfini, and there is a kind of superiority that goes along with that kind of casting—you know, Look, we’re not casting a movie star, we’re casting a great actor.” But Weiner and Taylor kept coming back to Hamm. “It was a wonderful turning point when we put him through the process of hair and makeup,” Taylor said, “and the first time we saw him with his haircut and his suit, all the women in the office kind of wilted and fainted when he walked by. He was this wonderful icon of maleness, and it took us almost that long to catch up to the fact that it was perfect to cast sort of the perfect male in this part, because what we were doing [in the show] was basically deconstructing that. I mean, that’s just one layer of what he brought. Obviously the other thing that made us go back to him again and again was this wonderful sadness and lost quality in his eyes. It’s a rare quality for someone who’s a strapping leading man.” (via VF)
