Mad Men-ners Wiggle Dress

I'll be damned if I am in the advertising industry and never went to a Mad Men theme party. Thankfully, our friend Theo (who is a writer in an agency) and his now-missus Lisa planned a Mad Men wedding dinner, so phew, I won't be damned.

Ah, Mad Men. The fashionable show set in the 60s about an ad agency on Madison Avenue. Gorgeous vintage dresses and curvaceous ladies (or should I say, curvaceous Joan) paired with dapper men in even more dapper suits, PLUS it's about the ad industry. With both my husband and I working in the industry (my husband's a writer, and I consult for an audio production house for tv commercials), naturally we were excited about Mad Men when Season 1 came out. Then er, we kinda got bored. I think it's like doctors watching Grey's Anatomy... hehehehh

ANYHOOT.

I decided I wanted to make a dress for the Mad Men wedding dinner, and I decided to make one of the dresses that the Asian girl wore in one of the episodes of Season 4. You know which Asian girl I'm talking about right? I forget her name... she's the new intern on the show. But seriously-- she's the only Asian in the show, you can't miss her. Wait, what? You don't recall there being an Asian girl on the show? Good gracious, I can't even... gosh. OK, fine, I will google her picture and paste it here, maybe it'll jog your memory. 

Here you go, thank me later:

That's the Asian intern, beside Joan!

You remember her, right?

She's the intern who ALWAYS makes mistakes, remember? The klutzy Asian intern?

No? Maybe you'll remember this promotional poster instead:

Remember her now????

. . . . 

. . .

. .

. . . ok, ok, fine, yeah, that's me.

LOL.

(Love the looks on John Sterling and Don Draper's faces thinking about this crazy Asian intern.)

I drafted this dress, inspired by Butterick 6582 for the bodice.

The fabric is a faux houndstooth/plaid-with-a-houndstooth-mirage that I bought from Singapore when Ayu took me to the fabric market. I had initially bought it to make shorts, but after having drafted the dress I thought hey hey hey!! This would look fab too!

I love it that I had shoes that miraculously goes together with the whole look. Belt from Bangkok, and a vintage brooch that belonged to my husband's late mother.

For the back of the dress I drafted a deep-V (no place for a bra; thank goodness for sew-in bra cups [edit: here's how I did it] ) and a kick pleat for the wiggle skirt. The skirt length hits just below the knee like the sophisticated dresses in the 1960s (I think it also enhances the wiggle shape).

The dress is fully lined-- my first fully lined dress!-- and I love wearing it. It gives the dress a better hold (especially when the main fabric is not as structured), and I don't have to worry about having to wear a slip/whether my slip is showing. I think I really like deep-V backs, and would like to draft more dresses like that. 

Here's a photo of us at the dinner being irresponsible adults:

Tsk tsk tsk...

What about you, have you made a Mad Men inspired dress before? I love the fashion sensibilities of that era, don't you? :D

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