Mad about the Girl

I love 'Mad Men', in a kind of obsessive, watch 4 or 5 episodes in a row, watch the seasons over and over again way. It's smart, edgy and oh so stylish. The first season is set in 1959, the second in 1962, which means some really, really great dresses. The kind of dresses that cling to every curve but don't actually show a huge amount of flesh. The show may be called Mad 'Men' and focus around the male executives in an New York advertising agency but it's the woman in those wonderful dresses that steal the show. When the Office Manager, Joan Holloway, struts across the room in one of her slinky little numbers the whole room stops and stares, she is poised, confident, sexy and together. Sure she is trying to impress the boys, because deep down she knows she will never be the one with the corner office but you get the impression that she has worked that out and is happy just to be who she is. Unlike most of the woman in the programme, she doesn't cook dinner or wait up for her man, she just gets on with her life in her own way, all whilst working that wonderful hourglass figure. She manipulates men with her curves. Although she is not the only woman on the show who wears beautiful dresses, she is the most eye-catching and the strongest of the female characters. I think I might be a little bit in love with her.
Anyway I was thinking about the way she dressed and after a long winter of wrapping myself up in ugly clothes in an attempt to stay warm, I decided to try a little experiment. Not for the boys but for myself. I have a reasonably large collection of late 50's style dresses, as it's period that I love and for a long time it was the look I most emulated. Then I stopped, no one else could be bothered to make the effort so I gave up too. But really I enjoy making the effort so I decided to start again. For the last couple of weeks I have been wearing my 50's style dresses to work, everyday. And admittedly it seems to have made me feel more confident. I might not have the Joan curves (I wish), to really, truly fill the dresses but I do somehow feel more professional, more together and much more of a woman. Sure I am just an assistant, just like the ladies in Mad Men actually, (although in my office 3 out of 5 of the managers are woman), but someone I feel more efficient, more like my idol Joan. All I need now is the curves and the fabulous wardrobe.