Mad Men inspires surge in clothes with ‘menergy’
Posted on Tuesday, November 6, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Style/206896/
HOLLYWOOD — “There’s something to be said for making an effort. Buttoning your buttons and tying your tie and matching your belt to your shoes,” says Jon Hamm. He shrugs. “Hey, women do it every day, right ?”
Hamm — who is either the next George Clooney or the reincarnation of Gary Cooper, depending on whom you ask — should know. He plays the cryptic but dapper Don Draper on the AMC series Mad Men. And if you have watched the smart and ultra-stylish show, which takes place at a hungry Manhattan advertising agency in 1960, you already know Hamm’s signature flinty squint and his well-tailored suits.
While the first season has just ended, we already miss the show, in part for its attention to visual nuance and fashion. At the Sterling Cooper Agency, men arrive every morning as sleek as dolphins, with their pomaded coifs, clean-shaven cheeks and shiny wingtips.
The women look great, too, although their pencil skirts, sweater sets and tight-as-fists chignons feel more like the contents of a sartorial time capsule. (Never mind the fact that the blatant sexism they endure as secretaries dates them as much as their conical bras. ) And while the men may reek of chauvinism — not to mention Scotch and cigarettes — they also manage to look amazingly modern.
In fact, Draper could do for the three-button glen plaid suit what Paulie Walnuts did for the zip-up velour tracksuit. GQ just ran an article on how to cop the Mad Men style, and retail research firm NPD Group reports that sales of suits and blazers are up more than 50 percent for men ages 18 to 24.
Could it be that such virility is making a comeback ? On the red carpet, we’ve got Clooney, Ryan Gosling and Benicio del Toro sporting enough facial hair to knit a sweater vest. Gucci’s new Pour Homme fragrance has enough cedar for a lumberjack.
Even the term “metrosexual” had better watch its waxed back. A new buzzword — “menergy” — is muscling its way into the cultural lexicon to describe the ultra-masculinity in designer menswear.
“A man’s man wouldn’t care if he got called a metrosexual. He would say, ‘That’s right. I’m wearing French cuffs. So what ?’” says Hamm, 36, who’s decked out in blue pinstriped Paul Smith suit with purple silk lining, sky-blue dress shirt and cap toe oxfords. “I’m not into pampering, but a guy going to a spa isn’t exactly new either. Getting a steam dates back to the Roman days.”
On Mad Men, Draper and his colleague are hyper-masculine, but no apologies are made for their dandy accents: tie tacks, signet rings, skinny ties. Stingy-brim fedoras — lately picked up by pop idols such as Justin Timberlake and worn at an ironic angle — are staples, too.
“Men wore jewelry and dress socks and nobody thought twice about it,” says the show’s costume designer, Katherine Jane Bryant, who won an Emmy in 2005 for her work on Deadwood.
To nail the style of the era, Bryant researched old Look and Life magazines. She also made photo collages for the characters to get a sense of their external essence. On Draper’s picture board, there are shots of a smug, nattily clad David Ogilvy (known as the father of advertising ), a sexy Marcello Mastroianni and a young Stephen Sondheim.
The images add up to the composite Draper, whom she outfits in vintage three-button suit jackets, Brooks Brothers white shirts with French cuffs and wingtip shoes. The show’s creator, Matthew Weiner, who was a writer and producer of The Sopranos, insisted on choosing his gold watch — Draper’s only accessory. Then there are those single-pleat pants with a whopping 12-inch rise.
“‘ Pull your pants up !’ That’s all I ever hear on the set,” says Hamm, of the footlong expanse from his waistband to seam. Most modern suit pants have a rise of 7 inches. “It’s insane, but suits were cut to fit. That precision informs the character and the times back then. It was all about fit.”