Mad Men Style

So I've recently gone back to work which means I've been watching a lot of Mad Men which might seem a little strange but I watch it for both style ideas and as a way to get myself back into 'work' mode. I don't work in the advertising business but I do work in a male dominated industry which is obviously not as bad since it's 2012 and not the 60s, but I can still emphasize with the female characters in that show as well as see some similarities when it comes to office dynamics.

It's also fairly obvious which character I connect with:

It's the guy on the far right. Can't you see the similarities between us?!!

I'm kidding of course, it's Joan. Duh.
She's strong, independent, professional, and not afraid to be harsh when she needs to be. She also always looks fucking gorgeous, I mean....wowza.

So who better to take inspiration from when I found myself going out for an evening of cocktails and live music? I based the hairstyle on some of her more recent looks in season 4/5 ala this kind of look:

First step of course was to wash my disgustingly greasy hair, blow dry it and then slap some hot rollers in it. As a general rule I don't use hot rollers since the curl falls out far too quickly for it look good for long but since this was going to be a semi-up do I thought it would work.

If you're curious as to the pattern it's basically everything rolled towards the back, using small rollers for the sides and medium ones for the crown.
Step two was to let the rollers sit for about 2 hours, long enough to be totally cool and then I hairsprayed the shit out of it before taking them out.

That's the initial result, look at all those soft curls!

This is after running my hands through it a few times, see what I mean about my hair not holding a curl unless it has been wet set? Damn you hair, DAMN YOU. Ah well.....
Next up I teased the crown, rolled up the back in a series of soft pin curls, and then teased and swept over my bangs.

The back view

All that was needed next was a Joan-esque dress which was exactly what my sister gave me for Christmas, talk about your bizarre coincidences!!

I was pretty happy with the end result, it lasted pretty much all night and didn't need a lot of fussing with. So I'm considering it a win in my books.

I will now leave you with one of my favourite Joan clips.

Gross to Gogo

Dita Von Teese once said “I advocate glamour. Every day. Every minute."

And when you look at the woman you can really only nod your head and agree, she always looks perfect. Be it on the red carpet, getting off a plane, or running everyday errands. Every hair is in place and her make-up is flawless. It's strange to think but as a burlesque performer there is a certain amount of expectation when it comes to being seen 'out and about', not on the level of Dita of course but there are times when I've felt a little bit of pressure to dress up should I go to a show/club where there could be potential clients or connections.

However,  being glamorous "every day, every minute" is fucking exhausting. Hell I could barely do it every day at BHOF, plus part of me doesn't want to do it every day. That isn't to say that I like looking like shit every day because I don't, although I will say that the people at Starbucks and the guy at the 7-11 have seen me at my worst on more than one occasion. We're talking no make-up, freaky hair and bad clothing choices here people...but really, I'm only human right? Besides those random crap days though where I just really want a london fog and a ding dong I take a lot of pride in my appearance at work and in life, but I'm certainly not going to do show level of make-up every day for a few reasons.

One: My skin would hate me and probably explode.
Two: My co-workers would think I'm even weirder than they already do.
And three which is the most important reason: It would take something away from when I get to do show make-up. There's a certain amount of work and creativity that goes into my show look that not only makes me feel more prepared but is enjoyable. I enjoy the ritual of it, it's creation and glamour mixed together on my vanity. I have certain things that I like to do while I'm doing hair and make-up for a show, certain things that allow me to get into the right mind set for the night and if I were to do that every day it would become less special.

And again, it's a lot of work to look so polished and perfect. Don't believe me? I didn't think you would so I decided to document my make-up and hair process tonight so that you can see just how much work goes into all this glamour stuff.

OHMYGODITSAHIDEOUSMONSTERKILLITWITHFIREWUAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!!!

Oh wait, that's just me without make-up on and my hair super greasy. Phew. I thought it was a Deep One or something....
So first we need to cover up that blotchy skin and adjust those eyebrows, so on goes a layer of foundation, powder and orange eye-shadow on my brows.

Okay so that's a little bit better, holy fuck my flash makes me look pale but at least the redness is gone now and my eyebrows match my hair. Woohoo! Okay next up, time to add eye-shadow, liner, mascara, blush and fake lashes.

Ka-Blam! Starting to look a little more human now....

Ooookay maybe not! Check out what three days of not washing your hair when its been pin curled will do!

Lots of back-combing will help right? RIGHT?!!!

Yes, so long as you smooth it out and curl it into something fancier than a fucked up mess. All right, hair and make-up all done.
It's amazing isn't it? We went from THIS:

To THIS:

And all it took was a little make-up, hairspray, and invoking the Dark Lord and sacrificing twenty virgins to him. Wait....I didn't take a picture of that part did I?
Shit.