Mid-C Decor Striptease

Don’t you love that Matthew Weiner is now teasing us — on Mad Men, of course, what else — with period decor? What was last night’s episode, for design types, but a long, slow journey toward what promised to be the big reveal: Acapulco, New Year’s Eve, 1964. I was practically decorating it in my head, Mexican beauties in yellow and turquoise and bouffants, Don on a deck chair looking out over similarly turquoise waters. Would he sample the latest tropical cocktail? Would he wear a high-waisted bathing suit? Would he ask one of the far-too-compliant lovelies from north of the border to accompany him?

Instead, we got a California bungalow and an iffy paint job. Don Draper does have a soul. Weiner seemed to be telling us that we too should be a little less interested in surfaces, and more interested in character.

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By Alexandra Lange

Alexandra Lange is an architecture critic and author, and the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner for Criticism, awarded for her work as a contributing writer for Bloomberg CityLab. She is currently the architecture critic for Curbed and has written extensively for Design Observer, Architect, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. Lange holds a PhD in 20th-century architecture history from New York University. Her writing often explores the intersection of architecture, urban planning, and design, with a focus on how the built environment shapes everyday life. She is also a recipient of the Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary from AIGA, an honor she shares with Design Observer’s Editor-in-Chief, Ellen McGirt.