Yes, she was.

Husband and I may have been the last ones in America to climb aboard the Mad Men Train bound for hysteria. After hearing all about the wonders of the smart, sexy television show from friends, family and the hosts of every conceivable award program, we added it to our Netflix queue. Having purchased two tickets on the Don Draper Express, we plowed our way through the first three seasons in bullet train-like fashion. In spite of the hype, the show lives up to our expectations: the crisp writing is only surpassed by the brilliant acting. You feel as if you are, indeed, in a Manhattan ad agency in the early sixties. When the boys from Accounts light up in a confined office overlooking Sixth Avenue, I resist the urge to wave the smoke from my face; I groan when Roger Sterling pours himself a rye neat at 10:30 in the morning. But it's the look of the show that leaves the biggest impression.

In the lobby of the Sterling Cooper building, women wear pill box hats and gloves; men fedoras and overcoats. Suburban housewives wear dresses to the market. Men wear ties to dinner parties. Little Bobby isn't sitting on the floor playing army men donning a Peyton Manning jersey. Sister Sally wears crinoline and skirts so high Cindy Brady blushes. And you should see what wife Betty wears to bed!

Oh, how times have changed. I'm the "mean mom" because I don't allow my fourth grader to wear performance athletic wear (otherwise known as sweats) to school unless he has PE. He contends that he is the only ten-year old on the planet who wears khakis and a golf shirt to class. A recent trip to his school cafeteria all but confirms his assertions. I can still talk my first grader into a dress a few times a week, but tights? She'd just as soon set her hair on fire. This change in attitude, change in latitude does not stop with the children. Recent business travels confirm that our societal slide into the overtly casual picked up steam in the decade I was out of work raising children. I feared our bullet train now has only one destination: last stop, Sloppytown.

Manhattan can still be counted on to bring out the sharp suits and designer ties, pumps with four-inch heels and Hermes totes. Business as, how I prefer to think of it, usual. A recent trip to Seattle, however, challenged not only my business fashion beliefs, but my thoughts about clothing decorum in general.

On this trip I opted for dresses, as I was slated to spend a day at IT giant Microsoft. I knew suits would be too formal and I was right. Men wore slacks and polo shirts; women a female version of the same. When last I worked we called this business casual. For an ever increasing portion of the business world, it appears justifiable to drop the casual.That I chose a red Calvin Klein to call on a new client prospect turned out to be fortuitous; not only was the company color the same red, but it was evident on nearly all employees in the form of logoed shirts. Still, I was more than a tad overdressed. I bided time between appointments at a downtown Seattle Starbucks (natch!), me in my red Calvin, the rest of the planet apparently having tilted toward this cool new mode of dress. I felt dated and guilty of trying too hard, as conspicuous as secretary-turned-copywriter Peggy Olsen when she arrives at Sterling Cooper wearing the same outfit for a second day in a row. Like Peggy, I hoped nobody noticed.

On the red eye home I contemplated my choices. Would I make a stand and continue to look like a fashion throw back or adapt to these new societal mores? My itinerary called for a change of planes in Minneapolis, and while there I checked my calendar for a slot in which I could visit Nordstrom and dip at least a baby toe into this new fashion pool. But before I could find the time, a woman walked past me who was more omen than human.

Thirty-five if she was a day, this woman was dressed for her six AM flight in pajamas. I refer not to draw string cotton pajama pants and a tee-shirt looking top. While that would be bad enough, I could ignore it. This woman wore a one-piece, long sleeved flannel pajama outfit festooned with bunnies and matching bunny slippers. That she added a full length robe was little consolation. I was working on very little sleep but several forced eye blinks confirmed that she was, indeed, holding a matching rabbit plush toy. Yes, she was.

All is not lost, however. New York fashion week is looming and many top designers have turned to Mad Men for inspiration. "http://http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2011/02/mad-men-fashion-week-influence.php" Good bye low rider jeans, hello high waisted skirts? Maybe. Stars wore versions of sixties hair styles on the red carpet in recent weeks. eBay is rich with items containing Mad Men in their description. As long as this nod to sixties fashion does not permeate into the wider social fabric, I'll stay on board this crazy ride and see where it takes us next.