Film is escapism. Anyone who has seen “The Thomas Crowne Affair,” or a classic James Bond film knows that part of film fantasy is an exotic environment and all it contains. While that environment is not always true, in escapism people tend to look up at glamour rather than down at the real world.

In film, fantastic environments are created by sets. Ironically, though, the most important sets aren’t sets at all but rather costumes. Costumes are seen in far shots, in close-up, and are sometimes seen in great detail. And they get as much screen time, and change locations, as do the actors wearing them.

Those who have ever come out of a movie theater wishing they could bring the fantasy with them should focus, at least a little bit, on fashion. When you can’t live in “Breakfast At Tiffany’s,” or Don Draper’s New York, clothes inspired by such films are the only things of the movie world that you can take with you.

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To say the television series “Mad Men” has been influential would be an understatement. Aside from influencing screen drama towards more meaningful storytelling, the show has also influenced fashion, beauty standards, and revived interest in the mid-20th century and the Atomic Age / Lounge sub-culture of today.

“Mad Men’s” approach to history has always been subtle. Its writers don’t “hang a lantern” on historical events and scream “Hey, this is important!” What’s history to us are merely the events of the day to Don, Joan, and Roger. Some of this is important to them (the Nixon / Kennedy election) and some of it is trivial (the first publication of “Lady Chatterly’s Lover” in America.)

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As of 1965, women’s liberation has not yet pervaded mainstream culture. In season four of Mad Men, we get a taste of what’s to come as women become more independent and empowered. Despite the increase in seemingly independent women, including budding feminist, copywriter Peggy Olsen, most of the ladies inhabiting fictional 1960s NYC are marriage-minded and family-oriented.

When SCDP (Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce) lands the Pond’s cold cream account, Peggy pitches the idea of skin care ritual as indulgence, a way for women to focus on themselves rather than improving their appearance to attract a man. It’s an idea we’ve seen in countless modern-day advertisements—from chocolates and bubble bath to yogurt and laundry detergent. In opposition to Peggy is freelance copywriter Freddy Rumsen, who suggests positioning the product as a tool for matrimony, “Use Pond’s and you’ll get married.” Don approves Peggy’s “Indulge Yourself” campaign but submits to a focus group to determine whether regular women (SCDP secretaries) buy into it. An emotional focus group prompts Dr. Faye Miller, a market research consultant to second Freddy’s notion that women just want to get married. It remains unclear which direction SCDP went with Pond’s but it seems Freddy wasn’t too far off the mark with his idea…just 20 years too late.

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From the The Pierre in NYC to the Cavalieri Hilton in Rome, hotels frequently serve as backdrop to exciting plot points on the hit series Mad Men. Creative ad man Don Draper and his cohorts use hotels to seduce clients and women and to celebrate their latest conquests.

The show often provides a fictional peek at the advertising strategies and campaigns of real-life brands and corporations. In season three, Don meets hotelier Conrad Hilton and forms a friendship that complicates his career. Throughout the season, Don works with “Connie” Hilton to develop a campaign for Hilton International. Don struggles to meet Hilton’s expectations to, as Connie puts it, “bring America to the world.” Don misinterprets Connie’s late-night musings and fails to put Hilton on the moon, literally and metaphorically.

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Alan Hawkshaw has been known for composing music for many movies and television shows in the 1960s and ’70s. Listening to an organ sometimes gives people the feeling they’re in a funeral or church – not when you listen to Hawkshaw! Hawkshaw’s Mo’Hawk album has the right grooves that offers a spectacular mix of organ, flute and brass instruments. Emotions emerge when you feel like hopping on a flight for a holiday, the next minute you feel like you’re being chased through the city streets. My personal favorite is “Action Man.” For a sample of Mo’Hawk, watch a video of “Girl in a Sportscar” and “Action Man” after the break. Do you have a personal favorite? Comment below!

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The first Barbie doll was launched in around the same period as the award winning television show Mad Men depicts. So what could be better than to combine the two and release a special Mad Men collectors series for adults. Here’s a fun chance to act out what adventures could happen with Don Draper, his wife Betty and ginger bombshell Joan Holloway in the same bedroom… or then again, maybe not. For anyone who still has a childlike mind the doll versions of Don and Betty Draper, Roger Sterling and Joan Holloway will be available to buy in July with a suggested retail price of $74.95 each. Cigarettes and Martinis not included.