Is the "Mad Men" style craze a thing of the past? Furthermore....do I care???

The show Mad Men has been a force in our culture since 2007. When it first hit the airwaves, a stunned crowd was hit squarely in the face with a show the likes of which had never been seen before. I have read several blogs that have touched on the Mad Men phenomenon. Some bloggers love (like Gertie), and some are not-so-much (like Peter). Both are very respected bloggers in the community (if you haven't checked out their respective fashion/sewing blogs, you really need to), and both have valid reasons for feeling the way they do. As for me, I'm more in the Gertie camp (which has absolutely nothing to do with me being a total fan-girl) - when I first saw the show, it took my breath away! I couldn't get enough of the characters, the sets, the acting and most of all....the fashion! I have always been obsessed with 50-60s fashions (I was dying my hair Joan Harris red and teasing it into a bouffant in the 90s!); suddenly here was a show that seemed like it was tailor made for ME! It seems lots of people felt that way as the show became a cultural phenomenon. The cast and crew have received several awards (loads of awards for costume design) over the years. All of a sudden pencil skirts, flowing dresses, cardigan sweaters, and all sorts of other "period-style" clothing, makeup, and accessories came back into fashion. Even pattern manufacturers got in on the craze -  the big names like Simplicity, McCalls, Vogue, Burda and Butterick all started to market either reproductions of vintage patterns from past lines, or vintage inspired clothing (or both!). 

Now, I am not one to generally fall into trends - I'm just a rebel like that. I like to march to the beat of my own drummer - and all that sort of malarkey. However, this was a trend I could really sink my teeth into. Subsequently I have fallen full-force into the gravitational pull of vintage and vintage reproduction patterns. Every time I have wanted to make a new vintage or vintage-inspired garment, I would Google the pattern number to see pictures of fellow seamsters who had already completed the project.  If you are interested in making your own clothes, I highly recommend you do this. You can then see what the garment will look like on someone with a similar build - this will serve to illustrate if the lines will be at all flattering. Also, you can discover any fit/construction issues by reading that person's pattern review/blog. Check out this site: http://sewing.patternreview.com/ if you can get past the terrible 1996 formatting, it is a wonderful treasure trove of information.

That brings me to today. I'm looking for a project to keep me busy until the Next Big Thing comes along. Plus I have some holes in my summer/spring wardrobe I would like to fill.  Mostly I am looking for a fun, comfortable everyday dress I can wear to work, as well as around the house when entertaining casually. I started to go through my stash of patterns, and found a few candidates to investigate.

the stash

My pattern stash may be modest, but it serves me well. keep in mind this is only my commercial patterns - any heavily modified or self-drafted patterns are kept elsewhere.

Here are the candidates - a nice mixture of summery options - some vintage reissue/inspired, some not

Here is the haul from my last thrifting mission (missing - 4 yards of the palest pink satin - more on that later) The two rightmost pieces are actually vintage bedsheets. My grandmother used to use her worn bedsheets for quits and aprons, and I have always heard that sheets were often repurposed into dresses. I don't know how much fabric comes on a standard sheet, but I thought they were both really cute prints. At $1.50 each, they seemed like a good gamble!

And that brings me to this combination - an old sheet, and Simplicity 1459. I bought this pattern recently, and I think it may be a new release. That being said, when I Googled the pattern number, I only found one person who had made and reviewed it. I don't know about you, but this seems like the quintessential 50s-60s dress, so I was surprised there weren't multiple examples of this made up on a variety of blogs. I know they labeled it "1950", but I think it is more early 1960s because of the higher hemline - what do you think? It's a basic shirtwaist, but I love the collar and the really full skirt. When I pulled the pattern from the stash, I immediately thought of this sheet.  How cute would this dress be made up in this fabric? Something about the cut of this dress demands an ultra-feminine fabric, or fun novelty print. The sheet is very old and thin (notice how you can see the roses from the layer underneath), so I will have to fully line the dress.  Anyone who knows me knows I can't be trusted with an all-white dress - so I may have to overdye this sheet. Maybe a pale pink? Or maybe a hot pink layer underneath with help disguise the inevitable light stains?

Like this piece of hot pink in my stash (let's just ignore that ugly white thread hanging out on the right and pretend I took a really beautiful, professional picture - ok?). I have completely forgotten what I originally bought it for, so it can totally be repurposed for this project. There are only 2 1/2 yards of the hot pink, but it is just a broadcloth, so I can easily get more. Funny how with the hot pink fabric you can more clearly see the soft pink polka dots on the white background. Very subtle and pretty.

But now I have a problem...when I was digging that hot pink fabric out of its drawer, I found this - another great vintage bedsheet - wouldn't that look great made up into this dress???

Also works with the hot pink fabric as an accent.

And then there is this....this terrific piece of tropical fabric on the right is from Haberman Fabrics in Royal Oak. The fabric on the left is some muslin I dyed to match the print. This would also be perfect for this dress Aaaaaauuurgh!

Now I have to let this sit on my cutting table for a while until I decide. Which combination do YOU like???? (yes, yes - I like the hot pink with the tropical too. Stop complicating matters!)

  Either way, stay tuned to see this dress come together. I think it will be a great addition to my spring wardrobe.

Yet, I still can't get over the nagging thought that only one person reviewed this pattern.  Is it just too new? Are people burned out from "another shirtwaist" pattern?

Is Mad Men as a fashion craze dead?

Do I care?

(no, because like I said: I'm just a rebel like that!)

What do you think?