The Darker Side of Mad Men. Season 5 Parody Dolls by Michael Williams.

As most fans of the TV drama Mad Men know, Mattel came out with a line of Barbie Dolls based on the cast characters a few years ago.


above: Mattel's limited edition Mad Men dolls have long since sold out

Now photographer Michael Williams, who specializes in doll photography, has parodied Season 5 with the following versions- complete with appropriate accessories:







For those custom doll makers and collectors, here are the details of Michael's creations:
For Joan he restyled Dusk to Dawn Silkstone Barbie and she wears a OOAK little black dress from Marirose with a black fur coat from Coquette Cissy, Sindy baby carriage from the UK repainted black (originally blue); 1969 Dramatic New Living Skipper doll wearing Skipper Dreamtime #1909 pajamas with Skipper Me 'N My Doll miniature Barbie; Betty is the Mattel Betty Draper Silkstone wearing Ken Rally Day coat, Barbie & Kelly Children's Doctor scale, Alfred Hitchcock The Birds purse, BFMC New York Yorkie scarf, Fashion Royalty skirt, RE-MENT whip cream and sundaes; Megan is Kate Spade Barbie on a Dynamite Girl body wearing vintage Barbie Lemon Kick minidress Photoshopped (not dyed) black; RE-MENT sherbet and Isha script; Peggy is BFMC Continental Holiday Silkstone Barbie in a Randall Craig cardigan sweater, Something Cool Isha Fashion Royalty convention bodysuit, Tiny Kitty "Perfect Knit" wool skirt, thermos from a Beverly Hillbillies Lunchbox keychain re-covered in custom plaid print; Jason Wu Event III FR Dark Medley Missima Luxury Accessory pack handbag, RE-MENT popcorn, Barbie Generation Girl Lara artist easel, custom-printed story boards.

A huge fan of Mad Men, Michael previously created Mad Men dioramas for Haute Doll magazine using dolls and mini sets based on the show.



See more of Michael's wondeful work at Mylifeinplastic.com and follow him on Twitter (@MyLifeIsPlastic) or visit him on Facebook

The Draper Series. Mad Men Icon As Cuff Links, Tie Bars, Rings and Pendants.

Aaron Saucier’s collection of vintage-inspired jewelry features the iconic image of the falling ad exec from the opening credits of AMC's advertising drama Mad Men. He has turned the iconic toppling man into signet rings, necklaces, cufflinks and tie bars in sterling silver, brass and gold-plate.

Draper Cuff Links:
Sterling Silver Draper cuff links:

Brass and 18k gold-plated brass Draper cufflinks:

detail (cuff link):


Draper Pendants (necklaces):

Sterling silver Draper pendant detail:


Draper Tie Bars:

Sterling Silver Draper tie bar detail:

18k gold-plated brass Draper tie bar detail:


Draper Signet rings:


"In this latest collection, I am exploring the concepts of Pop Art, extracting a meme from its context. My goal was to challenge societal concepts of jewelry through an interpretation of icons of contemporary business and advertising." – Aaron Saucier, Owner/Designer


Visit Saucier Jewelry to purchase the Draper series.
25% off The Draper Series!
For the next two days, the Draper collection is 25% off at Fab with this invite link: http://fab.com/y06r4g


above: The teaser poster for the newest season of AMC's Mad Men

MAD MEN Barbie Doll Diorama From Haute Doll

Much to the glee of advertising folk and doll collectors, todays' New York Times announced the fact that Mattel is soon coming out with MAD MEN Barbie dolls.

The dolls, fashioned after the cast of AMC's MAD MEN, are expected to retail for $75.00 each and a limited number of less than 10,000 dolls of each are to be produced.



above photo courtesy of New York Times



In honor of the release of the upcoming dolls, Haute Doll has created their own versions in an upcoming diorama for the magazine.

I happen to be acquainted with the fabulous photographer, Michael Williams, about who's Barbie Jonathan Adler diorama's I blogged about before.
So, I have a sneak peek at the first images of their own MAD MEN Dolls for you.





This month, for the March/April issue of HauteDoll, Michael collaborated with some One-Of-A-Kind doll artists to create our own custom MAD MEN dolls, wearing fashions directly from the TV show, along with an amazingly detailed miniature diorama of Don Draper's office (COMPLETE with cocktails and cigarettes).


above: I love the mini story boards and the Lucky Strike Cigarettes!



Diorama by Carloyn Allen
Fashions by Natalia Sheppard
Barbie repaints by Vin Trapani
Photos by Michael Williams

The Woman Behind The MadMen Art, Icons, Wallpaper & Illustrations

above: Dyna Moe's August wallpaper honoring MadMen

Seems that AMC's MadMen just keeps growing in popularity- especially with the "MadMen Yourself" promotion, which is why, just before their third Season Premiere, I wanted to rerun this post introducing you to the artist behind the images.


above: The MadMen season 3 cast: Don Draper (Jon Hamm), Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss), Roger Sterling (John Slattery)- Photo by Frank Ockenfels 3

The post below originally ran on October 14th, 2008 and is being run again with an addendum as well as some new images:




AMC's Mad Men is the hot tv show du jour. With multiple Emmy nominations (two wins, including one for Best Drama) and a rapidly growing cult following, it's been the subject of many a water cooler conversation.




Above: Dyna Moe

Graphic designer/illustrator Dyna Moe (hopefully a psuedonym) has done an honor to this show by capturing it in her many whimsical retro styled illustrations that can be downloaded as wallpaper for your computer from flickr or available for purchase here.




So, how did she get into this? She's clearly a talented illustrator and graphic designer and was asked to create a Christmas card for Rich Sommers, who plays character Harry Crane on the show, to give to his office mates. Seems that a passion was born because that was just the beginning.


Above: the Christmas Card she created for Rich Sommers (Harry Crane)

She then began drawing a commemorative image as desktop wallpaper from each episode (sometimes more than one) and has created downloadable icons, iPhone wallpapers, placemats and more. Customizable prints of her most popular illustrations are for sale through zazzle.com.

On flickr, she describes herself as follows:

"I'm a freelance illustrator and designer in New York City, who also does comedy on occasion. Sometimes at the same time.

The bulk of my work is for the alt comedy scene -- flyers, posters, logos, etc. I have been the unofficial official house designer for the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in NY since 1999. I also have done a ton of CDs and 7" designs for local indie pop/punk labels."

Well, she's certainly busy. And funny. I enjoyed reading her commentary on both her blog and flickr as much as I enjoyed her illustrations.


Her blog, "I let My Fists Do The Talkin'" can be viewed here.
Below is a series of downloadable icons, the perfect 'must have' for any Mad Men lover.




She's been so prolific that I can hardly share all her work with you, for that you'll have to visit her set of Mad Men illustrations on flickr or her website.

Here are just a few of her renderings from seasons 1 and 2 of Mad Men:











Buy her prints here.
See her entire portfolio here.



Above: Get your iphone wallpapers here

A generous soul, she writes "Feel free to download and use any of them as wallpapers or write in your blog or website about them. I give everyone blanket permission to do so... you don't even need to ask. Just stop with the incredulous eye-rolls about my name. "

I like her already and don't even know her.

Update: Months later, everyone on social networks and the web are "Mad-Mening" themselves, a fun AMC sponsored Avatar generator. So, who's the artist behind it? You guessed it, Dyna Moe!



The software allows you to customize an icon, a cell phone wallpaper and computer wallpaper, here's mine in all three sizes:


Oh, and then I had to add a laptop and my dog, with the help of photoshop:


Go Mad Men yourself here.