Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 1.05: “5G”).
Vitals
Jon Hamm as Don Draper, mysterious and award-winning Madison Avenue ad man
Series: Mad Men
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Costume Designer: Janie Bryant
Background
Only three days left in 2020! The tradition of gents wearing black tie on New Year’s Eve, popularized in movies like the 1960 Rat Pack classic Ocean’s Eleven, seems to have fallen out of favor among the general population as standards of formality have decreased. However, given how excited many will be to see 2020 come to an end may herald a resurgence in dinner jackets and tuxedoes as many celebrate the new year in private.
On #MadMenMonday, we can take a few style tips from the enigmatic Don Draper on assembling a classic black tie ensemble from his half-dozen screen-worn dinner jackets.
Don’s most creative black tie ensemble, a blue silk plaid dinner jacket evidently worn to celebrate the New Year in 1956, is sadly never seen beyond this slide from his Kodak Carousel pitch in the first season finale.
What’d He Wear?
Jon Hamm and January Jones on Mad Men (Episode 1.05: “5G”)
“5G”
Episode: “5G” (Episode 1.05)
Air Date: August 16, 2007
Director: Lesli Linka Glatter
Set in Ossining, New York, Spring 1960
“5G” begins with Don and Betty Draper returning home tipsy from the NYOC Awards, he in black tie and she in an elegant white gown, establishing what would become an enduring Mad Men pattern of Don in black tie portending potential disaster for his personal life. In this case, the initial disaster seems to be no worse than a hangover… until the well-publicized awards dinner brings his half-brother Adam back into his life. Adam’s return could mean Don’s exposure as Army deserter Dick Whitman… but the titular $5,000 payoff instead leads to a slow burn and a tragic end for the vulnerable Adam.
Long before that, Don dresses to celebrate his role as a rising star in the advertising world. His black tie kit follows the trends of 1960, with some elements still rooted in the ’50s, particularly echoing the slimmer continental styles that emerged in mid-decade rather than the fuller-cut fashions of the immediate post-war era.
Don would exclusively wears shawl-collar dinner jackets throughout the ’60s, though the “5G” jacket in 1960 was the only one to feature silk piping rather than full facings. The wide pleats on Don’s shirt bib would be supplanted going forward by narrower pleats.
- Black single-button dinner jacket with piped-edge shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and ventless back
- White cotton formal shirt with spread collar and wide-pleated bib (with black studs) and double/French cuffs
- Black narrow “batwing”-style bow tie
- Black pleated silk cummerbund
- Black reverse-pleated formal trousers with wide satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Black patent leather oxfords
- White folded cotton pocket square
The drunk Drapers. We almost never see them this happy together.
Read the full BAMF Style post.
Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 2.07: “The Gold Violin”)
Summer White in “The Gold Violin”
Episode: “The Gold Violin” (Episode 2.07)
Air Date: September 7, 2008
Director: Andrew Bernstein
Set in New York City, Summer 1962
Don’s only on-screen variance from his established black tie pattern occurs in the climax of this pivotal second season episode when he and Betty join the Barretts for a summer evening at the famed Stork Club. Having pulled up in his brand-new Cadillac with his beautiful wife on his arm, Don looks every bit the fabled “Mr. Success” in Sinatra’s song of the same name, though his fortune will be short-lived as the obnoxious comedian Jimmy Barrett (Patrick Fischler) all too eagerly divulges to Betty his suspicions regarding Don and his domineering wife Bobbie (Melinda McGraw).
Appropriate for the summer evening, Don arrives in a dashing off-white dinner jacket. From his dinner jacket’s shawl collar to his pleated shirt and straight bow tie, every detail of Don’s outfit is slim and sleek, a trademark of the Camelot years in the early ’60s. Jimmy Barrett dresses similarly and doesn’t look half bad, though I hate giving any credit to the crass comic.
Interestingly, his personal slideshow in “The Carousel” had depicted Don wearing a similar dinner jacket for his marriage to Betty circa 1954. Given the events of “The Gold Violin”, he bookends both the beginning and the end of their marriage wearing the same thing… yes, the two would remain married for another year and a half, but the love was effectively gone after Betty learned about one dalliance too many.
- Ivory single-button dinner jacket with narrow self-faced shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, spaced 2-button cuffs, and single vent
- Off-white cotton formal shirt with semi-spread collar and narrow-pleated front (with gold studs) and double/French cuffs
- Black narrow straight bow tie
- Black formal trousers with satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Black patent leather oxfords
- Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classique wristwatch with a yellow gold rectangular case on a brown alligator leather strap
The Drapers arrive at the Stork Club.
007 inspo? The inaugural James Bond movie, Dr. No, was still months away from its U.K. premiere, so the fictional secret agent would have had no real impact on Draper’s style. That said, it could be argued that this was Mad Men‘s homage to Sean Connery’s memorable off-white peak-lapeled jacket that he wears as Bond in Goldfinger‘s pre-credits sequence two years later.
Read the full BAMF Style post.
Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 3.10: “The Color Blue”)
“The Color Blue”
Episode: “The Color Blue” (Episode 3.10)
Air Date: October 18, 2009
Director: Michael Uppendahl
Set in New York City, Fall 1963
More than a year after the fateful night at the Stork Club, the Draper marriage is on life support. Betty has discovered Don’s box of secrets detailing his past life as Dick Whitman and has begun constructing a path to her own future life with Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley). Don is oblivious to it all as he embarks on yet another romantic affair, this time a little too close to home in the form of his daughter’s teacher, Suzanne Farrell (Abigail Spencer).
The ad man beams with pride as he’s honored with yet another award, presented to him by his now-estranged friend and colleague Roger Sterling (John Slattery), though there won’t be a night of drunken canoodling with a giggling Betty to follow.
Don has updated his tuxedo for the ’60s, now wearing a black dinner suit with a subdued diamond self-textured print that only shines under the light of the Draper boudoir as he’s dressing for the event, layering the dinner jacket over his usual underpinnings of narrowly pleated shirt, cummerbund, and suspenders.
- Black diamond-textured single-button dinner jacket with silk-faced shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- White cotton formal shirt with semi-spread collar and narrow-pleated front (with gold-trimmed black studs) and double/French cuffs
- Black narrow “batwing”-style bow tie
- Black pleated silk cummerbund
- Black suspenders
- Black reverse-pleated formal trousers with wide satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
- White folded cotton pocket square
- Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Classique wristwatch with a yellow gold rectangular case on a brown alligator leather strap
Don gets an eyeful of Betty before the awards dinner. Note the unique pattern in his suiting.
007 inspo? Draper’s black tie kit generally follows the template that Sean Connery would wear throughout his first four films as James Bond in the early ’60s.
Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 5.07: “At the Codfish Ball”)
“At the Codfish Ball”
Episode: “At the Codfish Ball” (Episode 5.07)
Air Date: April 29, 2012
Director: Michael Uppendahl
Set in New York City, Fall 1966
Don Draper’s year of loneliness saw little cause for celebration, so his black tie wouldn’t emerge back on screen until the fifth season. Now, relatively happy in his marriage to Megan (Jessica Paré), Don escorts his in-laws and his daughter Sally to an American Cancer Society dinner in his honor. What could go wrong here, you ask? Well, Don wears a tuxedo, so we know something won’t go well!
For starters, Don receives the ironic news that his publicly published anti-smoking letter—the very missive that resulted in this evening of awards—has turned companies like Corning Inc. against him, limiting the ceiling for his success. Poor ten-year-old Sally Draper (Kiernan Shipka) also encounters “dirty” disappointment after discovering her grandmother-in-law Marie (Julia Ormond) praising at the altar of Roger Sterling.
Echoing the evolving style of the era as he too grows older, Don’s black tie ensemble takes on more timeless proportions with more body to the jacket’s shawl collar and the thistle-shaped bow tie. This particular tuxedo was auctioned by ScreenBid following the end of the series’ run, where it was described as an Arnold Constabile dinner suit with a size 42R jacket.
- Black single-button dinner jacket with satin-faced shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
- White cotton formal shirt with semi-spread collar and narrow-pleated front (with gold-trimmed black studs) and double/French cuffs
- Black silk thistle/”butterfly”-shaped bow tie
- Black formal trousers with satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Black patent leather oxfords
- White folded cotton pocket square
- Omega Seamaster DeVille wristwatch with stainless 34mm case, textured black crocodile strap, and black dial with date indicator
Don Draper, American Cancer Society honoree and lifetime smoker.
007 inspo? Don continues the example he wore for “The Color Blue”, which also aligns with how Sean Connery was dressing in black tie through the Bond films of the 1960s.
Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 6.05: “The Flood”)
“The Flood”
Episode: “The Flood” (Episode 6.05)
Air Date: April 28, 2013
Director: Christopher Manley
Set in New York City, Spring 1968
Two years after his ACS awards dinner, Don has changed little of his approach to black tie as he’s settled into a pattern rooted in timeless styling appropriate for a man at his age and status. The continuance of the ’60s has hardly affected his dress with only a little more girth to his bow tie signaling the wider fashions that would follow in the next decade.
The major difference noted in “The Flood” is seeing an overcoat over Don’s tuxedo for the first time on Mad Men, an appropriate addition given the chilly weather of New York in April. April 4, 1968, that is… the date of Martin Luther King’s assassination. News of the murder understandably brings the Advertising Club of New York’s annual awards banquet to a halt as the attendees are shaken by the tragedy.
- Black single-button dinner jacket with silk-faced shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single vent
- White cotton formal shirt with point collar and narrow-pleated front (with black studs) and double/French cuffs
- Black silk thistle/”butterfly”-shaped bow tie
- Black pleated silk cummerbund
- Black suspenders
- Black formal trousers with satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Black patent leather oxfords
- Black wool single-breasted overcoat with notch lapels
- White folded cotton pocket square
- Omega Seamaster DeVille wristwatch with stainless 34mm case, textured black crocodile strap, and black dial with date indicator
Draper’s dinner suit, deconstructed. While Megan unwisely phones her father for consolation after Dr. King’s assassination, Don finds more consistent comfort in a roly-poly of Canadian Club.
007 inspo? Bond kept his dinner suit in the closet in You Only Live Twice so, even if the theme song made its way into Mad Men, it would not be influencing any of Don Draper’s evening attire.
Jon Hamm as Don Draper on Mad Men (Episode 7.08: “Severance”)
“Severance”
Episode: “Severance” (Episode 7.08)
Air Date: April 5, 2015
Director: Scott Hornbacher
Set in New York City, Spring 1970
Now in complete control of his identity more than we’ve ever seen him, a once-reticent Don now eagerly regales Roger and a trio of young ingenues with the story of his poor upbringing in rural Pennsylvania during the Depression. We don’t know where they’re coming from, but the long night has landed the group in a roach-infested, hole-in-the-wall diner where Don gets intrigued by their mysterious waitress Diana (Elizabeth Reaser).
Don the bachelor has notably adopted a new dinner jacket for the new decade, partying during the spring of 1970 in a single-breasted dinner jacket cut with peak lapels. Though this traditional style dates back to the earliest days of the black tie dress code at the start of the 20th century, Don’s lapels appropriately skew a little wider—matching the wider wings of his butterfly-shaped bow tie—in accordance with the early ’70s trends.
As with their daily dress, Don doesn’t get as caught up in the fads of fashion as his colleague Roger Sterling, now sporting a white walrus mustache in addition to his crushed velvet dinner jacket and frilly shirt. A ScreenBid auction following the series finale has confirmed Don’s dinner jacket as a genuine vintage piece made by Gingiss Formalwear.
- Black single-button dinner jacket with silk-faced peak lapels with welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, and single vent
- White cotton formal shirt with point collar and narrow-pleated front (with gold-trimmed black studs) and double/French cuffs
- Black silk large thistle/”butterfly”-shaped bow tie
- Black pleated silk cummerbund
- Black suspenders
- Black formal trousers with satin side stripe and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Black calf leather oxfords
- Omega Seamaster DeVille wristwatch with stainless 34mm case, textured black crocodile strap, and black dial with date indicator
Don shares the story of an unwisely gifted toaster in the Whitman family.
007 inspo? After a decade in shawl-collar dinner jackets, Don finally opts for peak lapels as he looks ahead to the 1970s. This follows the example set by ’60s style icon James Bond, as it wasn’t until George Lazenby’s turn the previous year in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service that 007 would wear a dark dinner jacket with peak lapels.
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the entire series, and have a happy New Year!
Roger Sterling and Don Draper wish you a very happy New Year.
(Photo taken during production of season 6’s “The Flood” by Frank Ockenfels/AMC)
I also recommend checking out Bryant Draper, the new menswear line from Inherent Clothier in collaboration with Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant. The classic-inspired collection includes timeless pieces to build a traditional black tie ensemble like the Gable Tuxedo and the Fairbanks Tuxedo Shirt, named in tribute to famously fashionable Hollywood icons.
The post Mad Men: Don Draper’s Decade of Black Tie appeared first on BAMF Style.