Mad Men 1964 (The Phun Of Being A Goldwater Girl)... And No, Hillary Is Not In This Picture...

[MADem]

21. Not quite--I think some are designed "BASED ON" vintage clothing--they aren't all "actual" vintage.

The Etsy stuff would be 'reproduction,' not actual old stuff:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/fashion/03REPRO.html?_r=0

There are a few items that are, indeed, vintage, like Joan's drawers...but they aren't stuffing everyone in old clothes--that would be difficult to impossible. They make a lot of the stuff they use, and they use costume suppliers too. Certainly they use some vintage pieces if they find something that fits the bill, but the whole costume shop doesn't come from "used clothes." It would be one helluva trick to outfit all those people in clothing that's fifty years old--even if they raided my closets and attic!

If they buy vintage, it's as likely they are using it as a model for a reproduction as anything else.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8053267/Mad-Men-costume-designer-reveals-secret-to-Joan-Holloway-look.html

Mad Men costume designer reveals secret to Joan Holloway look
Janie Bryant, costume designer of hit show Mad Men, has disclosed how the show’s unique style was created.

...All the actresses except Hendricks wear reproduction vintage bras — hers are originals from the period — as well as girdles, garters, full panties and slips. Hendricks has previously commented on the “war wounds” she has sustained from her period underwear.

http://www.glamour.com/fashion/blogs/dressed/2009/01/tk-questions-for-mad-men-costu.html

If you're as obsessed with Mad Men and its award winning style as I am, you won't want to miss our exclusive interview with the show's costume designer, Janie Bryant. She spills on what inspires her to dress Betty Draper, how she creates 200 costumes per episode, and where she goes for incredible vintage clothes (the answer may surprise you), after the jump...


....JB: It really varies per episode, but Season Two I just had such a great time designing for January Jones. There really is this huge transformation, when she comes to work and I see her in real life, and then see her totally transformed. All of her equestrian stuff, her evening cocktail dresses and gowns, they are just so much fun to create.

...I design and build things from scratch for the principal cast and some of the regulars, and things are also shopped. We have great resources for the costume shops in Los Angeles. I love Palace Costume and I love Western Costume. It's amazing how much more space you have in L.A. to keep a closet full of vintage clothes than you do in New York!

http://racked.com/archives/2014/03/31/mad-men-costumer.php
Bryant makes all the suits for the male principal characters on the show—Don Draper, played by John Hamm, Roger Sterling, played by John Slattery, and Pete Campbell, played by Vincent Kartheiser—and she said she gives each character's suit wardrobe its own little touch. Roger Sterling, for example, only wears three-piece suits, while Don Draper wears two-piece suits.

As someone who was alive in that era, I will say they do a good job. The attention to detail is quite good, though they are "cutting edge" when it comes to their timeline. In the small 'burbs and the countryside, a lot of the stuff that hit the big cities didn't trickle down to the smaller towns for a year or more.