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.