Five fashion icons. Three decades. One show.
In addition to its amazing writing and acting, AMC's hit series Mad Men will be remembered as one of the most stylish TV shows ever, perfectly showing the evolution of men's and women's fashion throughout the 1950s, '60s, and '70s.
In honor of Mad Men ending, we asked its five leading ladies, January Jones, Kiernan Shipka, Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks and Jessica Pare, to pick their best and worst looks of all-time, and their answers may surprise you...
SALLY'S BEST
Even when she was young enough to actually get excited over a play-house in the backyard, Sally was rockin' some of the best looks on the show.
"I really liked when it was her birthday and she wore this pink dress, and I thought it was fabulous," Kiernan Shipka says. "It was so cute, she's wearing little Mary Janes, it was super short, it had so much crinoline, and for some reason that's the first thing that popped into my mind because it was so vivid and there were some really beautiful scenes in it with the grass outside."
And Shipka says it's the first time she realized just how "genius" costume designer Janie Bryant was. "She makes everything work, going past it looking great and looking great with everything else and telling some kind of story reflecting the time period, reflecting the characters and what's happening, it's all amazing."
SALLY'S WORST
To be clear, we worship at the altars of both Shipka and Sally, but the young starlet says there's one retro trend she'll be glad to say goodbye after the series is over.
"I don't really have a least favorite in terms of looks," Shipka says, "but the high-waisted pants are not the most comfortable thing from back then, just because they're really stiff."
SALLY'S BEST
Already a style-icon in her own right at the young age of 16, Shipka really loves the "go-go boots" Sally wore for the Codfish Ball episode, calling them "amazing."
She's also a fan of Sally's entire look for the special event. "The gowns were beautiful and that was really one of the first time that I dress-dressed up in the show," she says. "It was really fun."
And this look also happens to be one of costume designer Janie Bryant's top five looks ever on the show, too!
BETTY'S BEST
While January Jones admits to having "so many favorites," the former Mrs. Don Draper says the standout is "probably the pink and cream and black-striped dress" that Betty wore for her Coca-Cola audition in season one. "That's my favorite."
BETTY'S WORST
However, Jones was not a fan of all of Betty's less-than-pretty-in-pink looks.
"My least favorite is probably the huge pink robe I wore in season five or six, just because it was gigantic," she says. "I felt like a cream puff, but it was still awesome!"
BETTY'S BEST
In addition to Betty's gorgeous audition dress, Jones says she was particularly fond of one decade's fashion trends. "I loved the first two seasons especially just because that silhouette, the late '50s silhouette with the petticoat, while at times very cumbersome and uncomfortable, I loved how that stuff looked."
JOAN'S BEST
Christina Hendricks' favorite Joan look was so good they actually used it twice...and then for a very special collector's item. "There have been a lot of good pieces, but there was a dress I wore in season one, and maybe again in season two that my Barbie doll wears," she says. "I got to help pick out what my Barbie doll was going to be dressed in, so that's one of my favorites."
JOAN: WORST
While we think Hendricks' looked pretty smashing in all of Mad Men's looks throughout the decade, the star's definitely not a fan of the mid-'60s looks.
"I really liked the beginning when it was closer to the 1950s and I like it towards the end when it's closer to the '70s, but the middle," she explains, "that part of the '60s doesn't suit my body type, the colors are bizarre. There were some things where I was like, no, this is not good!"
PEGGY'S BEST
Elisabeth Moss' favorite Peggy look was actually never featured on the AMC hit series. "I really liked the dress that I wore for one of the gallery shoots that we had, the one where I was like coming out of the Subway," she says. "It was kind of red, it just looked like a little Miu Miu or Prada dress, you know, you could easily put that on a runway. I loved that dress."
MEGAN'S BEST
Surprisingly, Jessica Pare says she enjoyed the fashionable Megan's attire in the hallways of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
"Oh gosh, there's tons of stuff that I wore that I still think about. A few of the dresses from season five when Megan is working as a copywriter in the office," she says, "it's this great professional style, like it was proper, but it still spoke a lot about who she was."
MEGAN'S WORST
OK, so before you riot over Jessica choosing the ensemble she rocked for Megan's infamous performance, she didn't actually choose it. It just serves to highlight her only costuming issue. "Sometimes I wish the heels were a bit higher," she reveals.