The weekend was a total write off thanks to the fact that quasimodo decided to move out of the belfry and onto my eyelid...I have a huge sty which no amount of Golden Eye antibiotics or Jackie O sunglasses can apparently camoflage. Hence, I have had a weekend on the couch with Don and Betty Draper, Joan Holloway and the rest at Stirling Cooper. I have pretty much buried myself in the Mad Men box set, hiding my shameful peeper in a fugue of sixties cigarettes, slips, bourbon and sexism...
For those of you who have never watched the dirty indulgence that is Mad Men basically the show is a slick, sexy depiction of the world of advertising, and linked parts of American society and culture, in the 1960s. It's an education - just how far away is 40 years? At times the opinions and beliefs of the characters seem ridiculously quaint and old fashioned, at others the process of seeing opinions held and defended so long ago, allows you the cathartic realisation that in some aspects we haven't come that far at all.
A while ago I posed the question on my Facebook status (the Magic Eightball of modern times):
Can I be a modern woman and still want Don Draper?
Perhaps an easier question to answer is, can a modern woman still want to look like Joan Holloway?
Played by Christina Hendricks, Joan is a powerhouse of a woman. Perfectly put together, she is not the obvious feminist heroine, and her pandering to the men in the office at times borders on the sycophantic, however there is no doubt that the lady knows how to get what she wants (most of the time). And she is a style icon. Her clothes make me long for a time when dressing was an art. She lived in a time when the roles of gender were easily definable, and when ideas of what each looked like were pretty set in stone too. I can do without the gender stereotyping, thanks very much, but god, what I wouldn't do for those clothes! I am the queen of low maintanence, throw on outfits, however, after a weekend with Joan, I am desperate for a little bit more femme fatale, a little less happy hippy...
My Joan inspired wish list:
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