Pitch-Perfect Props: On the Set of Mad Men

Draper apartment (1966, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright): "Don's moving from suburbia—from classical and neoclassical architecture to modern...The sunken living room creates a more dynamic space for the actors. Sometimes they have to step over furniture to get into that lower level. It's fun." —Dan Bishop, set designerAMC
Sterling, Cooper & Partners office (1964, inspired by New York City's Lever House): "The old office was more about wood and mid-tones and was really designed in the ’50s. In the ’60s, people move towards primary colors and bolder graphics. Those stronger colors reflect well against a white background." —Dan BishopAMC
Ginsberg apartment (1966, inspired by Lower East Side tenements): "Those pass-through windows—the one between the kitchen and the parlor—came about because there were fire laws and city codes that declared you must be able to get air into those interior rooms, so people installed them later." —Dan BishopAMC
Tip-Toe Inn (1965, inspired by New York City delis built in the 1920s): "The interior spaces tend to be tiny in New York, and consequently they feel more crowded. So we frequently try to make things small, just to make them feel more like New York…I liked this deli’s degree of clutter." —Dan BishopAMC
Pete's home phone book (1967, replica of a phone book in Connecticut's Cos Cob Library): "We found a book that was the right size and wrapped it in fabric, printed it with the correct advertising, and then built a rubber stamp for the ad on the side. Did you see the detail? Probably not. But the actor did." —Ellen Freund, prop stylistJustin Fantl for TIME
Megan's Andy Award (1967, replica of the 1968 award): "The award lived other lives as other people’s awards in other ad agencies. You see it in Ted Chaough’s office…As long as you don’t see close enough to see that it says Megan Draper, it can show up in the background in someone’s office." —Ellen FreundJustin Fantl for TIME
Betty's wallet (1964, found on Etsy): "We love creating a full portrait of a person. She has all the right store credit cards. She’s a mother, so she’s prepared with a button and a key … On her driver’s license, she would never keep the name Draper when she married Henry Francis." —Ellen FreundJustin Fantl for TIME
Megan's Andy Awards dress (1967, redesigned from tunic): "I wanted to show Megan’s transformation to an actress, and the brocades really spoke to me … The Eastern influence was very fashion forward, and the [fur] stole is about that opulence. Also, Don used to work in the fur business." —Janie Bryant, costume designerJustin Fantl for TIME
Sally’s go-go boots (1967, from vintage store Playclothes): “The outfit shocked Don and the audience. Sally’s growing up with Megan as an influence… It’s very reminiscent of that iconic Twiggy style. Everyone wanted the iconic white go-go boots.” —Janie BryantJustin Fantl for TIME
Roger's Dante's Inferno book and poster (1967, Seymour Chwast poster): "It bookends the season. Don is reading Dante’s Inferno in the first shot, and in the last episode Roger has the poster in his office: ‘The end place.' And it's over his bar, which is the perfect end place." —Claudette Didul, set decoratorJustin Fantl for TIME
Roger's desk (1966, original Knoll desk): "Roger probably didn’t pick this out. Someone came in and helped him do it. We imagined maybe someone Joan knew decorated Roger’s office. Whether Matt [Weiner] knows that or not, it’s something Dan [Bishop] and I thought of." —Claudette DidulJustin Fantl for TIME
Roger's lamp (1967, from eBay): "I just thought it was simple and went well with the desk. It’s linear and brought the wood from the lamp itself and the desk together. It almost seemed like it grew out of the desk in a way. I know John Slattery is hoping to own it at the end of the season." —Claudette DidulJustin Fantl for TIME

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