canadianbeerandpostmodernism:Wearing dark, formal suits was a nearly century-old tradition by the
canadianbeerandpostmodernism: Wearing dark, formal suits was a nearly century-old tradition by the time “Mad Men” ad men donned identical looks — with highballs — at the Sterling Cooper agency in 1960. Their suits’ slim silhouettes came from the returning WWII soldiers’ athletic figures, said University of Notre Dame history professor and author Linda Przybyszewski. Suits narrowed in the shoulders, torso and legs to fit the new physique. Housewives like Betty Draper were expected to wear cheerful colors in 1960 because they dealt with children and the home, Przybyszewsi said. They also represented life in the suburbs; women working in offices in the city wore darker, muted colors and more formal attire. Black women carried a heavy style burden when their workplaces were run by white people, like Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, Przybyszewski said. Many felt pressure to dress better than anyone else in the workplace, she said, and they still faced judgment — especially of their hair — from white and African-American colleagues alike. Don and Megan Draper show up to the airport in fashionably bright colors in this promotional photo for the seventh season. While researching 1960s fashion, Przybyszewski was surprised to find that women’s dresses in the late 1960s could be even shorter than Megan’s. The money spent on tights and pantyhose worn with these dresses was “mind boggling,” she said. The maternity ensemble Betty wears in the third season represents a social norm about privacy that eroded as the 1960s came to a close. The concealing nature of her outfit maintained the idea that a woman’s body and personal life were only to be clear to intimate relations, Przybyszewski said. Roger Sterling’s three-piece suit in the fourth season represents the division of public and private at the office, Przybyszewski said. Even in 1964, a businessman would keep his jacket on to meet clients, and take it off only in the privacy of his office. What Mad Man teaches you about social mores in the 1960′s from a CNN article http://world-topnews.com/world/its-a-mad-mad-mad-mad-men-world-cnn/ Makes you wonder if the mini skirt was just a way of selling a product that cost less to make (less material) and required the wearer to spend more money on accessories (pantyhose). If you’re in the midst of removing more body hair than me or any of my contemporaries would, think about it for a moment……Those disposables go for 10 bucks a pop. -- source link