Betty Draper, Betty Draper

During the past rainy days I’ve been watching Season One of Mad Men on my laptop. After pondering the gleeful antifeminism of the first episode and noting that there were some well placed comeuppances throughout the following ones, I can say that I’m smitten and am going off in search of a boxed set of Season Two, just as soon as this wretched rain breaks.

In terms of style, I was in thrall to the elegant click, click, clicks of the ladies’ heels on the floor, the frame handbags, the gloves!!, the nail lacquer, and the beautifully fitted dresses.

Pencil skirts are an easy “get” to riff on the show’s working girl style, but I have a soft spot for Betty Draper (thanks for the nod to Betty Friedan, series creator!) and her gently draped(!) shirtwaists.

Buttoned up the front, nipped in at the waist, with full, full skirts, these dresses could look like costumes in 2009, but worn with the right smart, edgy shoes, you won’t look like you've just come from an AMC audition.

I’d consider the purple dress above, by J. Peterman. I’d wear it in late August with my mermaid-yellow four-inch heel L.A.M.B. shoes.

Their heel is longer than Don Draper’s cigarette.