“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

Everywhere I turned today, there was some visual or written reference to Mad Men, and how it has “changed” fashion. Look, I know how dire things are at retail, but please, that story seems week to me. I am sure that Mad Men is impacting the editorial landscape, which in turn, some people’s fashion  choices. Style is definitely created by the few and worn by the many. Cases in point: Kurt Cobain made “The Grunge Look” a household word and Marlon Brando and James Dean gave new meaning to the white T-shirt, while the Rat Pack, the original mad men…and I mean mad as in really mad, brought life to the Mad Man style that we are all agog about today. And (B) where’s the shout out to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, and Peter Lawford? The Mad Men story is everywhere. The New York Time Style has an article about it, Dressing for Success, Again, complete with vintagey looking reference photos and Bill Cunningham’s On the Streets centered on how dapper men are this season. While Women’s Wear Daily has a thing on how fitted 60’s suits are the big story for next season. Look, is it about time that men stopped buying those ridiculous baggy suits from Men’s Warehouse? Yes. But, let’s see if the real world suit wearing mad men actually taper their bellies so that the 60’s look works beyond the editorial pages on these slim models.

Designer John Bartlett had been doing a sleeker look for men quite some time ago. “I have experimented with many looks from different eras and have touched upon the Mad Men look in the mid 90’s.” His store on Lower Seventh Avenue store is on the short list being recognized by the Fashion Group International’s Rising Star of Retail. His current influence is “a more 40’s, rugged, look that is not as slick or uptight as Mad Men.” OK? Yes, Mad Men is a look. But you just can not tell this committed jeans wearer that I have to copy John Hamm‘s wardrobe stylist in order to be in. In, is a state of mind. And though I have been called a madman, I am still in, whether I am wearing a 60’s inspired suit or not.