With television series Mad Men returning for a fifth season, The Style Examiner paused to look into one of its stylish sets: Don Draper’s new digs in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The time is June 1966 and, despite being recently married to second wife Megan (played by Jessica Paré) and having his three children from the first marriage visiting every so often, Draper (Jon Hamm) does not let go of his adventurous lifestyle and inhabits what looks like a bachelor pad made for socialising.
The Drapers’ Apartment 17-B, furnished by AMC’s set decorator Claudette Didul revolves around a large living area with a generous terrace with views of the city, and it features typical decoration details of the period, such as a white-carpeted sunken living room, walnut cabinets with a built-in television set, a centrepiece fireplace, and a kitchen with two pass-through windows. Masculine details are incorporated to reflect Don Draper’s sophisticated lifestyle, and include a leather lounge chair, a countertop cocktail bar with a drum-shaped ice bucket, and a dining table set and credenza with lines that reveal the influence of strong Danish design. The colours for the walls and furniture mirror the passing of time in the series: the pastel tones of the 1950s have given way to deeper and earthier tones, such as rich blue, blazing coral, and shades of brown.
