For one night, Chicagoans got a chance to return to the past and relive the fashion trends of the ’60s, popularized by the pop culture craze “Mad Men.” From the Playboy bunnies to the Kennedys, it was a night of nostalgia.
Eleven selected local designers created garments inspired by AMC’s award-winning series “Mad Men.” Each garment, constructed from interior design materials, debuted on a deconstructed runway last Tuesday at the historic Blackstone Hotel ballroom, as a part of Chicago’s unofficial fashion week Fashion Focus Chicago.
The city of Chicago is home to more than 400 local designers and 300 independent boutiques, making Chicago fashion the intersection where commerce meets creativity. Fashion Focus Chicago, the week-long celebration of Chicago’s thriving fashion industry, showcases the city’s designer talent through featured runway shows in Millennium Park and various fashion events throughout the city.
Christy Collins, the senior interior designer of Collins Designs & Co. and manager of hospitality projects in Chicago for over 10 years, said she looks to many outlets of inspiration but has lived following one motto: “Interiors follow fashion.” Fashion Follows Interiors’ “A Mad Men Event,” produced by Collins and Laura Elvis Productions, reverses this trend, making designers use interior fabrics from the Chicago Merchandise Mart to create 1960’s-inspired garments. For one night, fashion followed interiors.
Earlier this year, “Mad Men” caused a lot of craze in the fashion and interior design industries – everything from apparel to home decor shifted to the cool American midcentury style featured on the TV series. The 1960’s retro style dominated the runway at New York’s Fashion Week in February, and major designers followed the retro trend, placing retro designs in stores nationwide.
While the drama series centers on a man, Donald Draper and his unique sense of style, the fashion presentation centered on what designers could do for retro women’s clothing.
The 1960’s stands as a decade that broke many fashion traditions, much like the social movements that occurred during the decade that transformed social norms and broke social barriers. The runway show moved through many of the trends that women flocked to during this period in fashion.
The first look featured a simple, two-tone geometric dress, paired with a rounded jacket with oversized buttons, mirroring the elegance of the early ’60s. The next look featured a print leotard accessorized with print bunny ears and a choker bowtie that played on the more flirt and sexy style of the 1960s that emerged with the prominence of Playboy and Playboy bunnies. Another look, a full-skirted evening gown made of velvet fabric, proved to be another popular style among on-lookers.
The best look of the night featured a must-have ’60s accessory that reflected the elegance of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy who made it popular: the pillbox hat. The model shined in a heather gray shift, a popular retro dress with no defined waistline, designed to fit close and comfy through a woman’s shoulders and bust, then glide down over her hips. The dress looked amazing in terms of construction, but it was the ruffle-layered removable skirt addition that really brought the energy of the “Mad Men” era to life.
