26 Nov Mad Women Jewellery Part 2

The Mad Men series was a great source of information for the ‘mid-century’ fashion. Each female character had her own style and their clothes and jewellery were chosen faithfully to that scenario. That said, they also experimented a little.  

Below from left to right: Peggy almost never wore jewellery throughout the series but at an extravagant office Christmas party thrown for Lucky Strike, the company’s biggest client, she was seen wearing a gold necklace with a Christmas tree brooch. It was an odd moment and she appeared with an equally odd boyfriend. Her friends outside work represented a new generation of young artistic people in the Village, experimenting with drugs and breaking the conventional sexuality mould. Peggy’s link to that free world was this lesbian magazine editor who always wore a boy’s jacket and trousers with this strange turquoise necklace. The sweetest brooch you’ll ever see is Megan’s shell button one with a thread hanging down on both sides. Then fabulous Joan wore this choker.  I can’t tell what it is made of, possibly horn, plastic or wood.

Betty is a complex character.  Her persona changes from an American middle-class gem a la Grace Kelly to a frustrated suburban housewife, then she breaks up with Don and marries an aspiring politician, supposedly the perfect match. However she balloons from size 8 to size 18.  During her psychological and physical transition, she wore, interestingly, only pearls. Consistency in the midst of chaos.

What I have to mention here is the way women wore and coordinated scarves, which was simple but brilliant in this era and not as rigidly stylised as in the preceding decades. We forget how effective a scarf could be. Some of them were incorporated into a dress or ensemble as part of the collar. Here are some gorgeous examples;

Our Mona design is inspired by this great series.  Search for ‘Mona’ to see others including bracelets. There will be more Mad Women designs to come in 2018.