The acclaimed TV drama Mad Men depicts the lives of advertising folk on Madison Avenue in New York in the swinging sixties. The show, which aired from 2007 to 2015, begins at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on Madison Avenue. When a merger results in the new firm of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (later named Sterling Cooper & Partners), the partners moved their offices to the Time-Life Building at 1271 Sixth Avenue.

Notice the addition of Draper in the new firm’s name. Sterling Cooper’s charismatic creative director Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm) is widely regarded throughout the advertising world as a genius. The show depicts that he created some of the most famous ad campaigns in history. (Spoiler: “I’d like to teach the world to sing… in perfect harmony.” What soda does it make you want to drink?)

According to author Hal Rubenstein in his latest book, Dressing the Part: Television’s Most Stylish Shows. our most popular and lasting fashion trends haven’t come from runways or magazines, but from what’s on TV. For decades, television has served as our personal stylist, showing us how others dress and defining what we should be wearing. Hal told us at a recent FashionSpeak Fridays talk at the National Arts Club that Don Draper’s gray sharkskin suits are a case in point! Today they are considered de rigueur formal business wear—the classiest and most flattering suit style that will completely elevate your office attire. Rubinstein attributes their popularity to the Dan Draper character.

But there are other fascinating characters on the show, including the pioneering Peggy Olson, played by Elisabeth Moss (she went on to star in The Handmaid’s Tale), who becomes one of the first female copywriters on Madison Avenue. My personal favorite is Joan Holloway, the firm’s office manager, played by Christina Hendricks. I admire her personal power. She stands in herself, as solid as a pylon in the Hudson River (but measurably more attractive). She navigates her course through  a shocking amount of sexist treatment, but rises above it to the position of partner, with many other twists and turns along the way that I won’t spoil for you.

I dressed the part of Joan to attend the Dressing the Part book talk, and I so enjoyed embodying her curvaceous confidence that I reprised the outfit for this month’s column.

Accordingly, I went with my crew to the Sixth Avenue location of the second Sterling Cooper office location, the Time-Life Building across from Radio City Music Hall. It’s a stunning building, completed in 1959 as part of Rockefeller Center. It originally housed both Time and Life magazines, as well as the advertising firm McCann-Erickson—a competitor of the fictional Sterling Cooper! The serpentine zig-zag pavement pattern of the exterior plaza is mirrored in the lobby’s distinctive floor tile design.

The lobby also features a striking Mondrian-esque mural in red, yellow, blue, and white by Swiss artist Fritz Glarner (Relational Painting #88), and another enormous geometric mural called Two Portals, by Josef Albers. The City of New York designated the lobby a city landmark in 2002, but it is staffed by diligent security guards who will shoo you out if you linger too long!

Just outside on the plaza, there’s reputed to be a bench with a black statue of Don Draper! Let me know if you see it. And if you want to see the location of Sterling Cooper’s first fictional office, at 405 Madison Avenue, check out this video I made there eight years ago!

If you’re in the mood for a refreshing cocktail or swanky dinner before taking in a show at Radio City Music Hall, the ground-floor restaurant Avra Estiatorio won’t disappoint.

In case you missed the phenomenon the first time around, Mad Men is widely regarded as one of the greatest television series of all time for its writing, acting, directing, visual style, and historical authenticity. It won 16 Emmys and five Golden Globes for its portrayal of the societal change that happened during the sixties. Ah, let’s bring back the three-martini lunch!

This article first appeared in Chelsea News and other papers in the Straus News group.

What I Wore

• • Purple cotton off-the-shoulder tee. Judi Harvest Chelsea studio sale.
  • Debra Moorefield purple wool skirt with black waist and hem bands. Sidewalk rack on Warren Street, Hudson, New York.
  • Nine West black leather pumps. The Bay, Vancouver, BC.
  • Long silver necklace. Studio DuArte, 84 E. 7th St.