the clothes of mad men – in real life

On Wednesday I went with Joyce to see come of the Mad Men clothes in the Icons of Style exhibition at – whoa – Chadstone Shopping Centre.

Yep, I went to a shopping centre. And not just any shopping centre, but the biggest one in the Southern Hemisphere. At least it was a few years ago. I've no idea if that stat is still true and I've no interest in checking it because, well, I don't really care! Shopping centres are not my favourite things.

BUT on with the show. It was really interesting in seeing these clothes, these costumes that are so familiar to me, having watched MM up to just past halfway of the third series before running out of episodes on DVD and then running out of enthusiasm to track more down. I do like the show – and the costumes, of course! – but I think at that point in my life I had reached early 1960's fashions overload!

My favourite of the exhibition is Peggy's black and white check dress with the button details. The print might be a bit too loud/large for me but this is the kind of mid-century vintage dress that is right up my alley. I'm a sucker for button details! On the show, Joan is my favourite character, clothing wise. All the clothes were displayed on standard modern mannequins – you know, very tall, thin limbs, strange proportions, tiny heads – and they just didn't do Joan's dresses, so fabulous on Miss H, any justice. Loose on the bust and hips, it showed just how important the fit of clothing is – and the importance of people, and personalities, to make them come to life.

I didn't shoot much of the men's suits because who cares about them?! Well, that's not strictly true, of course. But on those modern mannequins, the details weren't really shown to their best advantage. Perfectly fitted suits need to fit, well, perfectly, to their wearer's body – that's the point of tailoring!A fedora here, a tie pin there, it's all just stuff without a character making it their own.

What's your favourite dress here? And who's favourite Mad Men character when it comes to clothes? Tell me! I'd love to know.