grass cloth without the grass cloth

As you all know I've been dragging my flip flops about a paint color for our bedroom for several weeks. And I know what you are thinking - OMG girl, its paint. What's the hold up? Just pick a color already.<br /><br />Well, one of the reasons it took me so long to pick a color is that I haven't really wanted paint at all. My first choice would be grass cloth. Not only do I love it's texture and color(s)<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBw4b4ipDcWkiA9VbsNRlHNbDvBFe9aXvQIoBzdC6GHmIkcpKYQytjRGQUcWkI0iYCRXYfiJDlkjN3gdVoccGfRSgEhb31hNmfc7XXAaNvSIcHpltcDZBNQQmv9f566x31EEtnAmASTh4j/s1600/tommy-smythe-bedroom.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBw4b4ipDcWkiA9VbsNRlHNbDvBFe9aXvQIoBzdC6GHmIkcpKYQytjRGQUcWkI0iYCRXYfiJDlkjN3gdVoccGfRSgEhb31hNmfc7XXAaNvSIcHpltcDZBNQQmv9f566x31EEtnAmASTh4j/s640/tommy-smythe-bedroom.jpeg" width="530" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via <a href="http://www.styleathome.com/homes/interiors/interior-tommy-smythe-s-stylish-suite/a/34419/2" target="_blank">Style at Home</a> (hand over your heart for Tommy Smythe's bedroom)</td></tr></tbody></table>but I love the warmth it gives. And a bedroom, I think, deserves an extra layer of warmth. There is no room that should give you a bigger hug than your bedroom.<br /><br />My husband/wallpaper hanging partner however, was not hip to the idea. In fact, there was a lot of "no way in hell dude." (dude is a term of endearment. yes it is.)<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4J7z95vxCqOKp-jN-dPd9-40zqAc7IQW0POTuNrJdyH_z3mXYQKK5KB6pFUIRCOmdp_xTJejp7Succ8mZ-pPgvAIYn8V0ZEctWlgJugESlv3PZY2FwDmWi64kiVQ1uEuv_P8v1pggaTK/s1600/grasscloth+everywhere~.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4J7z95vxCqOKp-jN-dPd9-40zqAc7IQW0POTuNrJdyH_z3mXYQKK5KB6pFUIRCOmdp_xTJejp7Succ8mZ-pPgvAIYn8V0ZEctWlgJugESlv3PZY2FwDmWi64kiVQ1uEuv_P8v1pggaTK/s640/grasscloth+everywhere~.jpeg" width="492" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via <a href="http://www.lesueurinteriorsblog.com/" target="_blank">LeSueur Interiors</a></td></tr></tbody></table>My budget was also saying, "no way in hell dude".<br /><br />I know when to take a hint, so I took my lemons and made some lemonade. Or my grass and made some...lol. I'll stop there.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrbJKCFTNsmZ2RNgQv4vVa1XVZyp7Dn-CaQTa2rBDk1DQJWizGiwhUDVxV1f_xBdqaA5MGmC1sCiK1J_o8QcGud5MNen8pWf8igyNU-O6eaFndZ1_Vls1FVvECxfifNavYRdSKNAseuYnp/s1600/194867-8-05Thomas.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrbJKCFTNsmZ2RNgQv4vVa1XVZyp7Dn-CaQTa2rBDk1DQJWizGiwhUDVxV1f_xBdqaA5MGmC1sCiK1J_o8QcGud5MNen8pWf8igyNU-O6eaFndZ1_Vls1FVvECxfifNavYRdSKNAseuYnp/s640/194867-8-05Thomas.jpeg" width="508" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via Lonny Magazine</td></tr></tbody></table>So paint it is. I pulled as many paint chips as I could and laid them out to start narrowing them down. I was starting to go cross-eyed when I (luckily) remembered a <a href="http://blog.effortless-style.com/2011/11/baby-talk-paint-picks/" target="_blank">post Camila had written</a> about a similar situation several months back. She landed on the color Desert Tan, by Benjamin Moore. I went thru my Benjamin Moore stack and there she was - my little <a href="http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/for-your-home/color-gallery?cd=2153-50&col=CP" target="_blank">Desert Tan</a>.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip9uLpHAWa8l9GDAKlzn-Tnbj34J5LuHes5udQCCi2164CyaYN90DXQxaBXyX7PAZ6n32j5D97kia-dXRr0nCk_4L1waxA7YtNbCXQRMJBP2BqO11CqR-cOdOm4hyphenhyphentdfd2yEcE1s2Rfywz/s1600/Screen-shot-2011-11-09-at-9.29.10-PM-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip9uLpHAWa8l9GDAKlzn-Tnbj34J5LuHes5udQCCi2164CyaYN90DXQxaBXyX7PAZ6n32j5D97kia-dXRr0nCk_4L1waxA7YtNbCXQRMJBP2BqO11CqR-cOdOm4hyphenhyphentdfd2yEcE1s2Rfywz/s1600/Screen-shot-2011-11-09-at-9.29.10-PM-3.png" /></a></div><br />Just the right kind of hug. A 'its great to see you old friend' kind of hug. Not a 'lingering, weird guy in a bar' hug. And I've got lots of blue, Morning Star by <a href="http://www.prattandlambert.com/" target="_blank">Pratt & Lambert</a> left over from painting the ceiling in the girls room. So I'll use the rest of that on our ceiling as well.<br /><br />Picked. Decided. Ready for action. I've already started patching the holes. I can now cross 'make progress on bedroom' off my list. What? Like you don't write evasive things on your list so you can have something to cross off?<br /><br />The girls are lucky. If they were a few years older this would be a "let's help mom paint her bedroom" spring break. How early can you start child labor? I'll try to get a first coat on in between trips to the zoo, planting gardens and general merriment.<br /><br />What do you have planned this week? Any big projects? Small projects? Fake projects that you put on the list just so you have something to cross off?

grass cloth without the grass cloth

As you all know I've been dragging my flip flops about a paint color for our bedroom for several weeks. And I know what you are thinking...

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Next Stop: Spain

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-a6ohPVE0-lYquk7l9SehlWyr-jM1ZA1aHp8vIJJx0uxnUxwMsRuaSMwWmPhFGoY6opyvyg2zxSpWfsHWxlsEe7u3X-9blWh0pLDE3IvQiBiyi9z0pX-7yXcVOG7BO8w82WC9upO-xkZM/s1600/4989793513_8c9e35dcbe_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-a6ohPVE0-lYquk7l9SehlWyr-jM1ZA1aHp8vIJJx0uxnUxwMsRuaSMwWmPhFGoY6opyvyg2zxSpWfsHWxlsEe7u3X-9blWh0pLDE3IvQiBiyi9z0pX-7yXcVOG7BO8w82WC9upO-xkZM/s400/4989793513_8c9e35dcbe_z.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SPAIN'S ECONOMY IS LARGER AND MORE INTEGRATED WITH THE REST OF EUROPE THAN GREECE'S ECONOMY AND THUS CAUSES GREATER CONCERN FOR THE EU </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Via Stratfor Global Intelligence </span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SPAIN'S economic and political situation is fragile. The country faces continued economic downturn, high deficits, rising debt and increasing social tensions. Consequently, the newly elected government of SPANISH Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has seen its standing diminish since it took office in December 2011, a trend likely to continue as economic and social conditions worsen in 2012. The deteriorating economic and political situation in SPAIN is of great concern to the rest of EUROPE. SPAIN'S economy is larger and more integrated with the rest of EUROPE than GREECE'S economy, meaning trouble in SPAIN more readily causes trouble elsewhere on the Continent.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SPANISH ECONOMY WILL CONTRACT 1.7 PERCENT THIS YEAR</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Forecasts indicate that the SPANISH economy will contract 1.7 percent in 2012 after growing 0.7 percent during 2011. MADRID'S public debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio is relatively low compared to its fellow EUROPEAN economies at risk -- GREECE, IRELAND, ITALY and PORTUGAL -- but has skyrocketed since the beginning of the crisis, currently standing at 66 percent, up from 40 percent before the crisis of 2008. The real problem for Spain is private sector debt, which is equivalent to 227 percent of GDP. Of that, household debt is equivalent to 82 percent of GDP while corporate debt is equivalent to 145 percent of GDP. Having most of its debt in the private sector places SPAIN in a different category from ITALY or GREECE, where public debt is the major issue.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In normal times, private debt is a necessary instrument of growth for an economy. Steadily decreasing credit ratings and increasing bond yields, however, have led to damagingly low credit availability. Lending volumes have remained at the recessionary low of 2009 for corporations and households, marring domestic consumption and overall economic growth.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">With the bursting of the SPANISH real estate bubble, households saw their net wealth deteriorate. This made borrowing more difficult, leading to even lower consumption as households tried to repay their debt but could not take on new loans. SPAIN currently has the lowest ratio of household savings in relation to government and corporate debt, nearly half that of second-place Italy.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><b style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">AUSTERITY MEASURES AND HARSH BUDGET BALANCING REQUIRED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION WILL DEEPEN THE CREDIT CRUNCH AND LIMITING GROWTH.</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: yellow; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Austerity measures and harsh budget balancing required by the EUROPEAN UNION do little to address private debt problems and could prove less effective as private lending is further restricted, deepening the recession. This partially explains Rajoy's refusal to abide by the EU budget deficit goals, which are perceived in SPAIN as deepening the credit crunch and limiting growth.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">While the situation in Spain has not reached the levels of Ireland, there is no question that the Spanish banking sector is faltering. The global financial downturn and the bursting of the construction sector boom exposed gaping deficits in the complex and bloated SPANISH banking system. Today, just four banks in SPAIN (SANTANDER, BBVA, CAIXABANK AND BASQUE COUNTRY SAVINGS BANK KUTX) can operate independently and cover capital shortages with their own revenue. All others steadily are transferring private debt to SPAIN'S central bank (or to the EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK) through various government help packages. Only 10 lenders are slated to remain in the SPANISH market in 2012, down from 40 before the crisis, following continued emergency mergers and consolidation efforts.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SPAIN'S BIGGEST BANKS SURVIVED THE CRISIS BECAUSE PROFITS IN LATIN AMERICA HAVE OFFSET POOR PERFORMANCE IN SPAIN. </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">To some extent, SPAIN'S biggest banks, SANTANDER and BBVA, have survived the crisis because profits in LATIN AMERICA have offset their poor performance in SPAIN. Half of SANTANDER'S profits come from its LATIN AMERICAN operations, compared to one-third for BBVA. By contrast, smaller regional saving banks, known as "cajas," are in a very precarious financial situation. This largely stems from their high nonperforming loan ratio and from local governments' tendency to use them as financing mechanisms.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SPAIN'S banks have undergone a period of widespread upheaval since the beginning of the crisis, as a binge of lending into an overheated real estate market left many nonperforming loans and repossessed property and land considered by many analysts to be worth far less than the purchase price. According to the Bank of SPAIN, construction companies' debt to banks stands at about 300 billion EUROS ($390 billion).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">According to a December 2011 report by the EUROPEAN BANKING AUTHORITY, SPANISH banks will need 26.17 billion EUROS in recapitalization before July 2012, the deadline established by the banking authority.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In February 2011, Madrid ushered in a new round of banking sector reforms, including an additional 50 billion EUROS in provisions against soured property loans. As a result, a fresh wave of consolidation is expected now that banks have received an incentive to swallow up smaller rivals. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Meanwhile, according to the WORLD BANK, SPANISH exports account for 26 percent of SPANISH GDP. SPAIN'S main export destinations are FRANCE, GERMANY and PORTUGAL. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Spain's exports grew 9.9 percent in 2011. Until 2009, SPAIN was the world's No. 2 importer of capital, second only to the UNITED STATES.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: yellow;">UNEMPLOYMENT IS GROWING QUICKLY, AND SOCIAL UNREST WITH IT</span></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Rajoy's Popular Party (PP) swept November 2011 regional elections, winning 186 parliamentary seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies in the biggest win for the center-right party since the democratic transition. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) suffered the worst defeat in the party's history, losing 59 seats.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The size of the PP parliamentary majority allows the government to pass laws without opposition cooperation. Meanwhile, the PSOE remains in disarray well after former Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called for early elections and former Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba led the party to a historic defeat.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But the new government's political capital is eroding rapidly, both domestically and internationally. Three main factors are weakening Rajoy.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">First, unemployment is growing quickly, and social unrest with it. Between 2008 and 2011, the SPANISH economic crisis did not spark major protests or violence. This changed rapidly in early 2012, leading to expectations of a traumatic year ahead. Several factors explain this. For one thing, SPAIN is suffering the consequences of a lingering crisis with no foreseeable solution. Moreover, recent deficit data shows that PSOE did not apply as much austerity as expected. The possibility of "real" austerity has frightened many. And finally, the conservative party seems less willing to talk with unions and with students.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">MADRID HAS ONLY LIMITED CONTROL OVER THE AUTONOMOUS REGIONS' BUDGETS</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Second, Madrid has only limited control over the autonomous regions' budgets. This is a major factor behind the Spanish economy's instability. The regions account for debt equivalent to 12 percent of Spanish GDP. Regional governments are increasingly unwilling to heed Madrid and tighten their finances. <b>The central government has recently presented a law that would give Madrid oversight of the autonomous regions' budgets and the power to penalize those that miss budget targets.</b> <span style="color: yellow;">(</span><i style="color: #666666;">A move that bears the footprint of the IMF and has not proven successful, when applied</i><span style="color: yellow;">) </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This back-and-forth between the central government and the region poses an existential question for post-FRANCO SPAIN, where the balance between the central government and the regions is delicate. If Madrid hopes to meet budget balancing goals, it increasingly will have to amend the budgetary autonomy policy toward the autonomous regions in place since the return of the democracy in the early 1980s.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Third, Rajoy's relationship with Brussels has deteriorated in recent weeks. In mid-February, Madrid announced that its budget deficit in 2011 had been higher than originally announced. Rajoy blamed the socialist government for this situation and asked for softer 2012 deficit goals, but the European Union at first refused. Brussels suspects Rajoy of manipulating economic numbers for domestic political reasons. While SPAIN and the EUROPEAN UNION finally reached an agreement in March to soften SPAIN'S 2012 budget deficit goal, this situation forced Brussels to choose between punishing a weak economy or losing political credibility.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: yellow;">SOCIAL SITUATION IN SPAIN IS DETERIORATING RAPIDLY</span></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The social situation in Spain is deteriorating rapidly. Spain has the highest unemployment rate in Europe at 23 percent. The situation is particularly difficult for young people -- 45 percent of those under 25 are unemployed.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">While protests in 2011 were mostly peaceful, in early 2012 demonstrations began to become violent. In February, police clashed numerous times with students protesting against cuts in education. According to SPANISH police, radical elements among the protesters caused the violence. The uptick in unrest is likely to continue, as demonstrators come to feel that peaceful measures have failed and as the deepening recession swells the ranks of the youthful unemployed.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">So far, unions mostly have been passive and disengaged from protests, but this is expected to change. SPAIN'S biggest trade unions are the Comisiones Obreras and the Union General de Trabajadores. Though technically independent, these unions traditionally have been close to the PSOE. Consequently, they were ill disposed toward the PP government from the outset. The unions have now announced a general strike for March 29 in response to the government's pushing through of labor reform.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), <b>half a million people leave Spain each year because of the lack of job prospects</b>. Around 10 percent of people leaving are Spanish. According to official statistics, this mass emigration began in 2008. As a result, 2011 was the first year in more than a decade that emigration outpaced immigration. Before the crisis, SPAIN tried to reverse its demographic problem by incorporating foreigners, preferably LATIN AMERICANS. A decade later, those immigrants are returning to their home countries due to the crisis.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">DEMOGRAPHIC REVERSAL COULD PLACE AN ADDITIONAL STRAIN ON THE ALREADY STRAINED PUBLIC FINANCES AS SPAIN'S POPULATION CONTINUES TO AGE</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">This demographic reversal could place an additional strain on the already strained public finances as SPAIN'S population continues to age. According to the INE, the SPANISH population will fall to 45.6 million by 2021 from 46.3 million in 2010. Births will decrease by 18.1 percent and deaths will increase by 9.7 percent compared to 2010. There will also be a negative net migration beginning in 2011, since the 450,000 new immigrants will be offset by the departure of 580,850 people.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A problem, most European countries are facing but which politicians fear to tackle. See: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/looming-generation-conflict-old-versus.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/looming-generation-conflict-old-versus.html</a>and <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/good-by-old-continent-part-2.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/good-by-old-continent-part-2.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">COMPARISON WITH GREECE</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE SIZE OF THE SPANISH ECONOMY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF ITS FINANCIAL SECTOR FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION GIVE MADRID MORE LEVERAGE THAN ATHENS.</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SPAIN is the EUROPEAN economy at risk that most resembles GREECE in terms of potential social unrest. While SPAIN has not reached GREECE'S levels of violence and unrest, the social situation is deteriorating at a fast pace. The recent student protests suppressed by police show growing resentment that young people feel about the lack of jobs and cuts in education. The youth unemployment rate is not sustainable in the long term and is highly likely to generate more violence in 2012.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The political situation, however, seems more stable in SPAIN than in GREECE. The SPANISH had the opportunity to vote in November 2011, and the current conservative government has a comfortable majority. Ongoing spending cuts will continue to weaken the government in the coming months, however.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">On the international front, EU-SPANISH relations have become strained. The size of the SPANISH economy and the importance of its financial sector for the EUROPEAN UNION give Madrid more leverage than Athens. Even if Brussels doubts the credibility of the Rajoy government, it is highly unlikely to punish Spain for its excessive deficit because this could damage the union even further.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">LOOKING AHEAD</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">2012 will be a crucial year for the SPANISH government to show if it has real control of the country. Although PP controls the parliament, it is losing control elsewhere as unions, students and even regional governments increasingly defy Madrid.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Unemployment, social unrest and tension with the regions swiftly have eroded the young government's standing. Combined with Madrid's need to implement more spending cuts in the short term, this means social and political tensions will grow in the coming months. While Rajoy is likely to stay in power, his authority increasingly will be challenged in the following months.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It is unlikely SPAIN'S deficit problem will be solved in the short term. The government is not likely to even meet the softened deficit goal agreed with the EUROPEAN UNION this year. Surging borrowing costs and a regression into recession threaten serious damage to SPAIN'S debt dynamics, pushing public debt up even further.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The deteriorating economic outlook has led the Bank of Spain to forecast a 1.5 percent GDP contraction in 2012 and a recovery of just 0.2 percent in 2013. An added wave of mergers in the Spanish financial sector is likely to result in a restriction of credit available from Spanish banks.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

Next Stop: Spain

SPAIN'S ECONOMY IS LARGER AND MORE INTEGRATED WITH THE REST OF EUROPE THAN GREECE'S ECONOMY AND THUS CAUSES GREATER CONCERN FOR THE ...

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Mad Men Style

<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>by guest contributor Christian Esquevin</i></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigc7TFEvUKdxfEp4ssieooaBSy4L-cGVk2o2DCokEZvxsDvywGrzRjpupU5QbUGAE4Iuizxy3Zuz1ZMTgHJ6uthAyj10JqeuE0SCrgLOYpRlokChmyHtd5Qwy6_TZvLHBo-Jvk-cNipGBW/s1600/Christian+falling+man.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigc7TFEvUKdxfEp4ssieooaBSy4L-cGVk2o2DCokEZvxsDvywGrzRjpupU5QbUGAE4Iuizxy3Zuz1ZMTgHJ6uthAyj10JqeuE0SCrgLOYpRlokChmyHtd5Qwy6_TZvLHBo-Jvk-cNipGBW/s1600/Christian+falling+man.png" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The thing that makes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men </i>such a perfect television series is its “all-of-a-piece” quality. It has all of its elements operating at a high level and fully integrated into a drama geared towards adults. This goes well beyond high production values, or even great writing – it is a seamless creation mixing fascinating characters, interesting plots, evocative sets and costumes, a down-to earth reality needing no gratuitous violence. It is a perfectly pegged recreation of the Zeitgeist - not just of the world of advertising - but of urban America at the turn of the 1960s. Despite its very real display of sexism in society and in the workplace, including the very negative consequences of that mindset, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men </i>is mainly the story of one man and his perilous perch high atop the hierarchy of a corporate ad agency. The series title is a play on “ad men” and Madison Avenue, where the big ad agencies were located.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA-re1Rco3m_9wtgdqfrFqQoRG6bQ6JEnCweFAy0e3QWuj-p5hyIT2x8HPVGF9yEwXvHBkBuIUhxLZfX1BflIu-g5AkSE0rA0-97b-w5L8rsYDiJaPtSNNr_z0WabrHN0KBPiDhJK_Qipa/s1600/Christian+group+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA-re1Rco3m_9wtgdqfrFqQoRG6bQ6JEnCweFAy0e3QWuj-p5hyIT2x8HPVGF9yEwXvHBkBuIUhxLZfX1BflIu-g5AkSE0rA0-97b-w5L8rsYDiJaPtSNNr_z0WabrHN0KBPiDhJK_Qipa/s1600/Christian+group+shot.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The opening title graphic and much of the show’s advertising uses the art and theme of a man falling from of a skyscraper. The new 5^th season advertising art of the falling man in New York was printed on reflective plastic so it would show the surrounding skyscrapers as backdrop – causing a bit of a controversy by recalling bad memories of scenes from the Twin Towers. Regardless, it is no accident that the show’s creator Matthew Weiner was influenced by the aesthetics of Alfred Hitchcock. The character Don Draper is very much living a dilemma like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vertigo’s </i>Scottie Ferguson, not because of a fear of heights like Jimmy Stewart, but rather of crumbling along with his stolen identity and the edifice he has constructed of his life. “Who is Don Draper” a reporter asked him in Season 4. Very few people know, and those characters have been mostly dying off, including the real Don Draper himself. In a rare display of self-analysis, Don took up a diary in a 4^th season episode titled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Summer Man</i>: “When a man walks into a room, he brings his whole life with him. If you listen, he'll tell you how he got there. How he forgot where he was going, and that he woke up. If you listen, he'll tell you about the time he thought he was an angel or dreamt of being perfect. And then he'll smile with wisdom, content that he realized the world isn't perfect. We're flawed, because we want so much more. We're ruined, because we get these things, and wish for what we had.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIkP0_qtOV3nDhQ9fSTzfprLoTR9TCFbELj2iRm-mluav8Dqll2RbsjA-2luTuj4Mfztvi4ZDt4Riwb1EsWgt2YMy1No2w6UxwIjqhRfjJqsFkwI21NijAAECCIVOgl3DLp8LsNuyyuO0T/s1600/Christian+group+at+bar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIkP0_qtOV3nDhQ9fSTzfprLoTR9TCFbELj2iRm-mluav8Dqll2RbsjA-2luTuj4Mfztvi4ZDt4Riwb1EsWgt2YMy1No2w6UxwIjqhRfjJqsFkwI21NijAAECCIVOgl3DLp8LsNuyyuO0T/s1600/Christian+group+at+bar.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men</i> is full of metaphors that enhance the theme of the show and add layers of meaning, but we are still trapped like voyeurs watching unfold a real life drama. One of those subtle metaphors is that Don seems to be the only person that carries keys. He can use them boldly when entering his domain, clumsily when he’s drunk, or nervously shaking them in his apartment door lock when he thinks the FBI is tailing him. At his low point, he forgets them completely and relies on his secretary to deliver them to his apartment, where she finds him asleep in the hallway. The show is all-of-a-piece because, in a story about how advertising creates images for products, the show creates images for the characters in the plot, and the characters are involved in creating their own images of themselves. As Don Draper says, “You are the product.” </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ZMrZXzHlYbgDcKuc50GbLJE94rS6ck2GgqsUAnbEBofpfBdbb1h8fXuOJtlBMFS3XLwb7sFxKCwjRve3Rrs1qb8BqwSkwvZgqX6oUzRpqtWCKtqCrZNBu2wK-jpiY07myEigABuUy5Vo/s1600/Christian+don+at+desk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ZMrZXzHlYbgDcKuc50GbLJE94rS6ck2GgqsUAnbEBofpfBdbb1h8fXuOJtlBMFS3XLwb7sFxKCwjRve3Rrs1qb8BqwSkwvZgqX6oUzRpqtWCKtqCrZNBu2wK-jpiY07myEigABuUy5Vo/s1600/Christian+don+at+desk.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Man with the voice - Jon Hamm as Don Draper</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The show’s hallmark is its obsessive attention to visual detail. This provides the audience with a rich experience through the recreation of the early 1960s: the clothes people wore; the interior architecture of their offices and homes; and the sparkle of those material things that they crave. That re-creation of the era was taken so far by Matthew Weiner that he cast actors based on whether they had that late 1950s-early 1960s look. For example, Jom Hamm as Don Draper could not be a muscled actor, a rare trait in the early 1960s. Similarly, <span style="color: black;">Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris needed to have a full-figured, hour-glass silhouette (though helped by padding). But Jon Hamm as Don Draper was the perfect choice, not only does he have the looks that slays the ladies, but he has the voice – that smooth deep soothing voice that could sell snowballs in Alaska.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCokdLHej4czBBdA2w-lltFbvtZRERxILNcWtyNxwI-c8dDFzP-74f4n7QhLc2qxDOl29yOXscptU696aCiEcotr_gsBxBACNMi9zpr2WVjtIoyhD0Jy-5dz5SYoV-KgFBzbYHDQD2i3la/s1600/Christian+sec+pool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCokdLHej4czBBdA2w-lltFbvtZRERxILNcWtyNxwI-c8dDFzP-74f4n7QhLc2qxDOl29yOXscptU696aCiEcotr_gsBxBACNMi9zpr2WVjtIoyhD0Jy-5dz5SYoV-KgFBzbYHDQD2i3la/s1600/Christian+sec+pool.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The secretarial pool at Sterling Cooper</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">The set design recreates the world of the early 1960s when America had the world by its tail. The interior office architecture was planned not just for efficiency, but to show the benefits of modernity and the use of the same kinds of products the ad agency helps sell. The buildings were in the “International Style’ of modern architecture. The offices had wood paneling and Danish influenced furniture. The chairs and couches were streamlined and low to the ground. Windows had Venetian blinds with curtains, executive desks had pen sets, and whisky was in the drawer. The secretarial pool was in an open layout, and a plethora of IBM Selectric typewriters denoted a modern business. Abstract art hung on the walls. The firm may have re-organized in lesser quarters later in the series, but the mid-century style remained the same. Roger Sterling’s new office was designed by a “decorator” in various monochromatic shades of gray, leading him to quip that with his gray suits and gray hair he just disappeared in his surroundings.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7alppTnB9plUZhyphenhyphenHnxEbK4B9Bc_SZymm2EAXC1LaZo0trEsKP3vq5BVrEObdSAp0E46cISVEOS6K3k-M3TeQ_78A1nzOtbESJxFdrEmAyuJHl0TqAziveNxslfcxBmZ0qAtbdJBCzYxy/s1600/Christian+dons+office.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo7alppTnB9plUZhyphenhyphenHnxEbK4B9Bc_SZymm2EAXC1LaZo0trEsKP3vq5BVrEObdSAp0E46cISVEOS6K3k-M3TeQ_78A1nzOtbESJxFdrEmAyuJHl0TqAziveNxslfcxBmZ0qAtbdJBCzYxy/s1600/Christian+dons+office.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don's first office at Sterling Cooper: manly but modern</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">As for the ladies of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men, </i>they provide the sizzle that makes the show such fun to watch.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Although it’s also a guilty pleasure to see how much bad behavior they think they can get away with, or how long it is before one of them screws up. The show is anchored by January Jones as Betty Draper (later Betty Francis), shown below, Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris, and Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson. Betty is always the classy, if somewhat immature, woman – and a not very good mother. Her wardrobe is always stylish; she’s a Grace Kelly in the suburbs. She wears bouffant skirts in single piece dresses, all in cheerful colors and floral prints. She is always, “put together” wearing jewelry, matching purses and shoes (as was de rigueur in the day), gloves, and red lipstick. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4guL_KkHnaaAilLFndmmKe6HWLIzXHgCaQKpXrG3ITgAngd9_BWVJyuNh4cIkHlNhtqEFB75v3FxpXIRzfQnisNX7MPvoFxCJR6SA_purwYleG_3jVzuqZpnzSJmu9U83XdSpqtrFywYL/s1600/Christian+Betty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4guL_KkHnaaAilLFndmmKe6HWLIzXHgCaQKpXrG3ITgAngd9_BWVJyuNh4cIkHlNhtqEFB75v3FxpXIRzfQnisNX7MPvoFxCJR6SA_purwYleG_3jVzuqZpnzSJmu9U83XdSpqtrFywYL/s1600/Christian+Betty.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">January Jones as Betty Draper </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Joan Harris is the red-headed and curvaceous bombshell. She wears tightly-fitted dresses in bright jewel colors. Her costumes are made with fitted foundation undergarments, which was how they were made for the Hollywood movies at the time, though ladies of the day achieved the same effect with girdle/bra combinations.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMTDZb3G4sp5aGSBzVvR0E5FlUh5qPHGHaulpgV01vC8Gem0G2K51jXnqD4gb2ju0LrIAmLFybBYLcVt7b7e6kNa18292OQIa6qDeDMzmQaojarmN044zhCqOYiXUwwxAbJTfdnqXLARBC/s1600/Christian+Joan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMTDZb3G4sp5aGSBzVvR0E5FlUh5qPHGHaulpgV01vC8Gem0G2K51jXnqD4gb2ju0LrIAmLFybBYLcVt7b7e6kNa18292OQIa6qDeDMzmQaojarmN044zhCqOYiXUwwxAbJTfdnqXLARBC/s1600/Christian+Joan.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBQwBNV6E8cs3uwVgusu44vfOiNXdXEstuKm23JHIf7oqy16g5Yzy7yAX96Qw3BLWeHNSMIMavpFvS-Tlkp3Q_FOwJ3go_RLQL1D9yaYMJvYGMuvww9Xw9vRnGMYJ7W8XaF1ika2cArTP/s1600/Christian+mad+men+cast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBQwBNV6E8cs3uwVgusu44vfOiNXdXEstuKm23JHIf7oqy16g5Yzy7yAX96Qw3BLWeHNSMIMavpFvS-Tlkp3Q_FOwJ3go_RLQL1D9yaYMJvYGMuvww9Xw9vRnGMYJ7W8XaF1ika2cArTP/s1600/Christian+mad+men+cast.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The <i>Mad Men </i>cast</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">During most of the series Peggy Olson’s wardrobe was still influenced by her former Catholic School uniforms.  She dresses very plainly and unattractively, and she is often dressed in plaids and stripes. As she advances in her career and matures, her clothes become more sophisticated and becoming. In the photo below she is wearing a dress seemingly inspired by vintage Metlox California ceramic dinnerware.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHeRGS6RUXzwgS2lRZDd5grd6YGRDMs7RPduBiwC2Js48psF-XSc-XpykyOPBDQH69iOS09xTT5jgYzim2BYSpeKPf7dhgrF7j8UNloX3nxfVY2W17NjL2aEebfpMBM00RXMU2EYAvNNgO/s1600/Christian+Peggy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHeRGS6RUXzwgS2lRZDd5grd6YGRDMs7RPduBiwC2Js48psF-XSc-XpykyOPBDQH69iOS09xTT5jgYzim2BYSpeKPf7dhgrF7j8UNloX3nxfVY2W17NjL2aEebfpMBM00RXMU2EYAvNNgO/s1600/Christian+Peggy.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Janie Bryant is the show’s excellent costume designer. She designs many of the items for the show’s large wardrobe, although vintage clothing and accessories are also used. Like other costume designers, she must design the costumes to define character. Subtle changes have marked the advancing years of the early 60s. As we make our way into the mod-influenced and youth movement fashions of the later 60s, significant changes will be shown in the women’s wardrobes. Skirts will go up, and clothes will increasingly define personality in a more forceful and even rebellious manner.    </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -2.7pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -2.7pt;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">As for the men, the business suit is the most prevailing costume, which is making a comeback thanks to the show. In the case of Don, it’s his armor, and he seems vulnerable during the times he dresses casually. Gray flannel suits were the preferred dress for business men of the era. For <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men, </i>Janie Bryant had to find distinguishing features for the various mad men and others. Don always wears a white dress shirt with French cuffs, with slim ties then fashionable. The suits were slim with narrow profiles Don’s accessories are the tie clip and the white pocket square worn flush. He keeps his bills neat in a money clip. Roger tends to wear three-piece suits with vests, often in light gray to complement his hair. Pete wears darker suit colors. When tough times rock the firm and Don in particular, his suits also become darker. Lane Pryce is English. He is usually dressed in a suit with an unmatched vest. To be more accurate, his suit jackets should feature side vents rather than a center vent, as was preferred in England, but we won’t quibble.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -2.7pt;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYfNY_yXDVnilGzL0A3DBpNiSqA4m92erhyphenhyphendpv0GCTG_WIwd3Wl44RBDoxdoOV1drhPldu0fi91PZkz6YPDJqX00aWnwhoQTvlxD5znPJV2oePCOQYiOITLxGKfrLL0UYnBFlvCpHEu1W/s1600/Christian+Roger+and+Don.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYfNY_yXDVnilGzL0A3DBpNiSqA4m92erhyphenhyphendpv0GCTG_WIwd3Wl44RBDoxdoOV1drhPldu0fi91PZkz6YPDJqX00aWnwhoQTvlxD5znPJV2oePCOQYiOITLxGKfrLL0UYnBFlvCpHEu1W/s1600/Christian+Roger+and+Don.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Slattery as Roger Sterling and Jon Hamm as Don Draper</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The men’s fashions in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men </i>have also influenced current trends. As mentioned, the suit is back. Skinny pants have been common for a number of years, but the skinny ties and tie clip are one influence of the show. It is hoped that that the current style of wearing dress pants 3 or 4 inches too long will disappear as a result, and maybe even the single jacket button fastened high above the waist.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHN5kBivBIfoohk66ojXzJjfC-kV1s37PJfp7V2rZquY-nQnYtA5XN-q_QL643LRpq4Ou9EBKN1xY5_Oqfz6wz126S8sljj08xNFA_SjYTnYYDIbgQObQZCjbBrXCz21PPA65z51YujHJI/s1600/Christian+Betty+and+Don.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHN5kBivBIfoohk66ojXzJjfC-kV1s37PJfp7V2rZquY-nQnYtA5XN-q_QL643LRpq4Ou9EBKN1xY5_Oqfz6wz126S8sljj08xNFA_SjYTnYYDIbgQObQZCjbBrXCz21PPA65z51YujHJI/s1600/Christian+Betty+and+Don.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">January Jones and Jon Hamm as Betty and Don </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Don and Betty are now divorced, and at the end of last season Don fell in love with his new secretary Megan and they became engaged. It remains to be seen in the new season what their fates will be. Jessica Pare plays Megan. She’s beautiful and ambitious, but also caring and nurturing. She’s perfect for Don – perhaps too perfect. She doesn’t know much about him, but who does? Whatever happens to the couple, we will be smack in the middle of the turbulent years of the 60s. Everyone is sure to get buffeted. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Another reason the show is all-of–piece is the embedded themes and currents that influenced the era of the early 60s. These include such iconic books as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sex and the Single Girl </i>by Helen Gurley Brown from 1962, <span style="color: black;">David Ogilvy’s 1963 tell-all, <i>Confessions of an Advertising Man</i>, and the earlier </span><i>The Hidden Persuaders</i>, written by Vance Packard and first published in 1957. The latter explained the new techniques of using psychological research and subliminal messages in advertising. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men </i>is also amazing because it can deliver nostalgia while simultaneously setting the show during the most tumultuous period in modern American history, when the influence of the past was questioned and the present was crumbling. Now that’s what makes a great show. We’ll see if Don’s motto of “live in the present,” while escaping from his past and adjusting to his surroundings like a chameleon will serve him well.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~</div><div style="text-align: left;">Christian Esquevin's blog is <a href="http://www.silverscreenmodiste.com/"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Silver Screen Modiste</span></a> and he's the author of <i>Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label</i>. </div></div></div>

Christian Esquevin Mad Men Mad Men Style

by guest contributor Christian Esquevin The thing that makes Mad Men such a perfect television series is its “all-of-a-piece” quality. It ha...

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