SEX, LIES, STORYBOARDS
Posted on July 6, 2012 by Teresa Cannata'
As many people in their 20s-40s, I’m addicted to American tv shows. I officially stopped watching Italian tv in 2008 and I haven’t changed my mind yet. Of course I still go to the cinema (one of my biggest passions), but our tv is so boring and old-fashioned, most of the time! The first tv show I started watching was probably Sex and the City, followed by True Blood, Gossip Girl and many others. It’s impossible to watch all the shows aired in the US, so I often have to skip shows which are considered excellent tv products. Mad Men is one of them.
I know something about this series, created by Matthew Weiner and first aired in 2007, because lots of my American friends watch and love it, especially for its accurate rendition of a specific time in the past (the 60s). The fact that it has soon become a cult show can be inferred from the amplification of its charm, as shown by a mini-collection created by Estée Lauder to celebrate the 5th season premiere in March 2012.
Two are the products of the limited-edition collection, both characterized by a sleek, gold packaging, inspired to Lauder’s 60s designs – a creme rouge and a lipstick. Estée Lauder is famous for its powder and solid perfume compacts, so this addition further underlines the passion that this American make-up brand has for unique packackings.
With the Mad Men collection, Lauder has followed other cosmetic brands who have re-issued iconic collections from the past or revived the idea of a past in which putting some lipstick on was a social (and not only beauty) statement. For example, Revlon re-issued one of its most famous lipstick and nail colours (Fire and Ice) in 2010, and I’m sure many brands will follow. As a nostalgic, I always welcome these revival projects, but at the same time I cannot help but ask myself if we really need to turn to the past to be excited or happy. The present is dark, the future even darker, so the past is probably the safest place to turn our imagination to.
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