Dressing the ‘Mad Men’ Part

The mid-‘50s was an exciting time, Lis Normoyle recalls, with the economy booming and factories running three shifts a day. Restaurants stayed open late, attracting men in white T-shirts à la Marlon Brando, and women looking like Marilyn with “the red lipstick, very sexy.”

That era returns to life Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18, at the Vintage Fashion Expo (10:30am to 6pm Saturday, 11am to 5pm Sunday) at the Concourse, 635 Eighth Street, San Francisco.

Eighty-five dealers will show fashion from the 19th century to not quite now. It will include “great wool gabardine shirts, great pleated pants, vintage shoes, Pendletons,” for men, says Normoyle, an organizer of the Expo. And for women, she adds, “very full party dresses with full skirts and petticoats, or very straight skirts, sheath dresses.”

Many fans will come wearing the ‘Mad Men’ look—or spiked heels. “Sometimes you can just tell from looking at people,” Normoyle says, “that their house is like that too.”

The Expo is $10 at the door for each weekend day. Special 9am admission Saturday for true collectors is $20. Students are free on Sunday. For more info, go to vintageexpo.com.