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Would you like to look as pretty as Betty Draper did during her psychotic breakdown? How about Joan Holloway after she was raped by her fiancé on the floor of her boss’s office? Then you’re in luck, because Estée Lauder has just announced they’re doing a Mad Men themed line of makeup in collaboration with the soon-to-return show. Gee golly gosh!
Via Style.com:
“Quite frankly, we’re crazy for the show,” says Jane Hertzmark Hudis, global brand president of Estée Lauder. “We’ve always felt like there’s a connection between Mad Men and the Estée Lauder brand and Estée herself; the sixties were our heyday as well,” Hertzmark Hudis explains, pointing out that the storied New York beauty brand was interested in collaborating with Weiner because they could do it in “an authentic way. We were there in the sixties—it’s not creating something inspired by the sixties; we have stuff from the sixties!”
“The sixties basically had everything in the way of femininity,” adds Estée Lauder creative director of makeup Tom Pecheux. Well, he’s got that right. The sixties also had sexy, sassy feminine mystique in spades.
In all seriousness, this leaves me a bit ambivalent. On the one hand, I love the cat’s eyes, curvy figures, and red lips of 1960s style. On the other, I’m wary of mindless nostalgia for an era that was actually pretty terrible for women in a lot of ways, ways Mad Men examines with unflinching honesty. Much like the men who see Don Draper and go out and buy a Brooks Brothers suit in an effort to be like him (i.e, tortured and constantly lying?), I worry some women might be taking the utterly wrong message from the show if thinking about Mad Men gets them in a happy, makeup-buying mood and not a gutted, “this shit’s not fair, why won’t they let Joan fulfill her intellectual potential?” mood.
Then again, it’s totally possible to appreciate an era’s aesthetic beauty while acknowledging that said beauty is tied to some very problematic history. I just wish that sentiment had been present anywhere in the press release.
(Via Style.com)
“if thinking about Mad Men gets them in a happy, makeup-buying mood and not a gutted, ‘this shit’s not fair, why won’t they let Joan fulfill her intellectual potential?’ mood.””
Quit bitching and get me another beer.
Thank you for pinpointing this. I found myself irked by the collection but just thought I was being an anti-cross-branding curmudgeon. But what you identify here is exactly it: “Mad Men” is wonderful because it explores these issues with thought and care and doesn’t allow itself to be boiled down to just pretty clothes and stuff. And yes, one can ape the styles and still take the social message away from the show, but as you point out, it’s not like there weren’t ways for Estee Lauder to acknowledge that without undermining the collection. Hell, as they point out, there are parallels between the show’s characters and Ms. Lauder’s actual life; why not explore that angle thoughtfully? /curmudgeon
Mad Men is still just a TV show- artistic and historical liberties taken all over the place. Real life in the 60′s was probably not so bad and if it was women and men didn’t realize it as much as we would today. I am sure many talented, successful women dressed in the same styles as the Mad Men ladies and wore makeup like them too. Why not emulate them with E.L’s line? It’s just fashion, after all. My husband loves the Don Draper look but that doesn’t make him want to be like him, or me all the more attracted to him because he dresses like Don.
My 2 Cents.
I’m sure some women didn’t realize it, as patriarchal culture was so normalized by society. Many others did realize something was incredibly messed up…hence the 60′s feminist movement was born.
Also, I’ve heard from people who were there that Mad Men is a pretty accurate depiction. If anything, it’s too nice.