Slate: In the premiere I was interested to see a lot of shorter skirts and noticeably more cleavage. Everything just seemed groovier and more polyester than seasons past.Were you thinking about a more mod aesthetic for this season than we’ve seen before?
Janie Bryant: Definitely. Specifically, one of the characters that I always thought of as being very modern is Megan. So we see her in a lot of the newer styles.
AMC.
Megan's Accordion Sleeves
Slate: I was particularly in love with Megan’s bat-wing accordion-sleeved mini dress for the party. Did you pick a dress that moved in that particular way because you knew that she’d be doing a provocative dance?
Bryant: Just from reading the script I knew she was going to be singing a song and doing the dance. I wanted her to be in something black because I wanted her to have contrast with the rest of the characters in the scene, and also within the apartment. And also black to me is very European, very French. Her character is from Montreal but still has those French influences. Then I wanted her to have a dress that was very modern and also that she could do the dance in. I rebuilt those sleeves and wanted them to have a lot of movement.
AMC.
Pete's Madras Blazer
Slate: I loved Pete’s blazer and Trudy’s pink floral turtleneck number. Those were particularly amazing because they clashed so horribly, but also so wonderfully.
Bryant: Pete is that very upper class, New York City, Ivy League character, which so many of the guys in the office are. For me that madras coat just reeked of preppiness, and it's also very young, because he still is a young executive in the office. I loved that idea of him wearing the summer madras in that scene.
Slate: Can we expect to see Pete’s blazer in the Banana Republic collection you do? I want to make a plug for Pete’s blazer.
Bryant: Ooh. Well maybe I’ll work on that.Hopefully one day I’ll be doing a menswear line on my own anyway.I’ll design another one of those jackets, and I’ll make it in a girl’s size.
AMC.
Trudy's Pastel Turtleneck Dress
Slate: And what about Trudy?
Bryant: Trudy is the housewife, of course, but she still looks at magazines and still keeps up with fashion. Even if she’s in her shirtwaist dresses at home, she still dresses up for occasions. So I envisioned her going out to buy a new dress for the party and that was the dress that I thought she would buy. It would be something that was fresh and light and of course in her signature colors—the corals and the pinks and the blues—but just a little more modern.
Slate: What were you thinking when you put those two next to each other?
Bryant: I was thinking: That’s fabulous. They are a fabulous couple. And also the colors of the period; they are bright, they are clashing in a way. It’s totally part of the period.
AMC.
Peggy's Elegant Spaghetti Straps
Slate: Peggy’s dress was unusually elegant for her, without any of the little-girl feel she sometimes has.
Bryant: That dress I thought was perfectly Peggy. It was a little old-fashioned; it was very pretty, and modest in a way, even though it had the little spaghetti straps. It’s a little longer than what’s going on in high fashion at that time, and the silhouette is a little more old fashioned too—more nipped at the waist as opposed to a shift or a mini dress.
Slate: To me it was surprising to see so much skin on Peggy! Were you thinking about that? Are you surprised to hear that?
Bryant: Well, yes, only because that silhouette is more old-fashioned. The modern clothing of that period: a lot of the necklines are like the jewel neckline, and the cocktail dresses have sleeves at that point. Peggy’s dress was contrasting from the modern girl. It was more about showing the different silhouettes of the different characters, showing where they were fashion-wise. I don’t think of that dress as being so revealing, I guess. The other thing is that she has a boyfriend, so she can show a little shoulder. That’s ok! She was barely showing knees; I think she can show a little shoulder.
AMC.
A Tradition for Peggy
Slate: Ok I forgive her. Can you compare that dress and the blue dress that she wore in the office? It feels very schoolgirl.
Bryant: Actually I have a tradition for Peggy that when we start each season, she’ll wear a dress from the previous season. So that’s a dress that she wore in Season 4. It’s actually black linen with the white and black grosgrain ribbon down the center. And I always love that tradition for Peggy because I think that this all is really based in reality. That’s what we would do in real life: We repeat our clothes.
Slate: The other thing I liked about that dress was the way it contrasted with the skirt that Megan wore, with the racing stripe down the side. Was that conscious on your part?
Bryant: Yes. The contrast is about Megan and Peggy being such different characters. Peggy’s the ultimate career girl. In contrast with Megan who is the new, the young, the fresh, the modern. The skirt is very mod, if you will, and shorter in length.
AMC.
Joan's Fuchsia Cocktail Dress
Slate: We would be remiss not mention Christina Hendricks’, beautiful magenta dress, which I understand you designed yourself. It was really noticeable to me that she was showing more chest than we’re used to?
Bryant: I know I know. You know the whole point of that costume was that she would go to the office dressed inappropriately. That she was over dressed for an office occasion. I designed that dress to be more of a cocktail dress, so that it would show that she was trying too hard. It would be too dressy for the daytime, but it was all about her putting on that facade that life was grand and don’t I look amazing.
AMC.
An Evening Dress For the Office
Bryant: I wanted to stay with her silhouette, designing a sheath for her. But I wanted the color to be really strong and bright—so she totally stood out within the office. I love designing costumes for Christina, especially with all the pinks and berries and you those bright, bright jewel-tone colors. I was looking for a fabric that would present all those elements. The print itself that I found that looked so vintage to me
Slate: And the neckline: Was that consciously lower?
Bryant: Yes, yes. It was definitely on purpose. Just to show that that dress was more of an evening dress, and not a dress for an office.
Janie Bryant.
The Turtleneck and the Mock Neck
Slate: Speaking of necklines: If we may skip back a couple seasons, I’m very interested in your use of turtlenecks. I really feel that Mad Men has played a part in the return of the turtleneck.
Bryant: Thank god.
Slate: We have that image of Duck Phillips wearing his teal turtleneck, camel blazer, and also that image of Peggy in her mock turtleneck striped shirt. Did people in the ’60s really wear this many turtlenecks?
Bryant: Yes! Oh my god, probably more. Turtlenecks were a staple of 1960s wardrobes, not only for the guys but for the girls too. If it wasn’t a turtleneck, it would be a mock neck. Both were very popular.
AMC.
Betty's Derby Day Beauty
Slate: Our culture editor, John Swansburg, interviewed Matthew Weiner recently and they were talking about how party scenes were this special thing in Mad Men. Which is your favorite party that’s happened so far, costume wise?
Bryant: Well definitely the premiere episode. That is definitely one of my favorites. And Derby Day too.
Slate: Tell us about Betty’s amazing Derby Day maternity dress, which you designed yourself.
Bryant: Matt and I had a lot of discussions about what that scene was for her; that’s when she first met Henry. It had to be not only romantic, but to have a quality of innocence as well. It couldn’t be too provocative—she’s a pregnant woman. You know all these things were going on within the story, so I wanted to pick white for that dress. And then I had the pink lining; it had to be the romantic quality of the dress.
Slate: Her dress and her makeup worked together to make her seem otherworldly. It’s one of those scenes where you realize: oh my god January Jones is like the most beautiful woman in the world.
Bryant: It’s true, it’s true. Even pregnant.
Janie Bryant; AMC.
As anticipation for the season premiere ofAMC’s Mad Men reached a fever pitch in the past few weeks, some discussed what might become of Don Draper's impulsive May-December marriage to Megan or whether Pete Campbell would prove to be a decent father. But fans with a deep and abiding sense of the show's priorities wondered what exactly everyone would be wearing. For many of us, it’s Mad Men’s costumes that keep us enthralled. The show's costumes function as advertisements, projections of aspirational lifestyles behind which repressed characters struggle to confront the actual messiness of life. And it’s the costumes that help us chart the passage of time, and seismic social change, from Season 1's conservative 1960, to Season 5's uncertain 1966.
The mastermind behind Joan’s bodaciously tight skirts, Peggy’s schoolmarmish blouses, Betty’s immaculate jodhpurs, and Don's slim-cut suits and ties is Janie Bryant, Mad Men'smuch-celebrated costume designer. Bryant's reimagining of mid-century style helped bring nipped waists to the runways of major designers, Peter Pan collars to the throats of ingénues, skinny ties to the necks of hipsters, inspired clothing to the racks of Banana Republic (Bryant collaborates with the chain on a MadMen-inspired line), and progressive cuts to the Brooks Brothers suit (she partnered with them, as well).
In Slate’s slide show, Janie Bryant takes us through seminal looks from Sunday's Season 5 premiere, as well as some of the most iconic outfits from the show’s history—including exclusive looks at some gorgeous costume sketches.
