'Mad Men' on the runway

Designer Michael Kors launched a fashion line inspired by AMC's Mad Men, a show about a fictional ad agency in the '60s. Purchases of over $350 will come with a Mad Men season 1 DVD, which was released this month.

Harking back to the come-hither conservatism associated with nostalgic '60s office style, the clothing line is "body-consciously sexy without being overtly sexual," said costume designer Janie Bryant.

Since its July 2007 debut, the Mad Men series has rekindled interest in agency culture among advertisers and consumers. It generated praise for its purported historical accuracy and nostalgia factor, but it has also suffered criticism from ad land old-timers that actually worked in the '60s.

Mad Men "[makes] it seem like all the women were secretaries!" scoffed founder Ed McCabe of Scali McCabe Sloves, an agency that peaked in the '60s and '70s. "Really, advertising was one of the first industries where women rose to executive positions."

Whatever a viewer's take on Mad Men, the Kors line resonated among fashionistas. "The concept [of old-fashioned civilities] has an unexpected appeal to the young," The New York Times wrote.

And increasingly, "many young women relish the idea of looking turned out," said Kors. "It is the opposite of trying so hard to look undone" — a look that typifies contemporary agency creatives that favor ironic tee-shirts and attentively disheveled hair.