Designer Creates ‘Mad Men’-Inspired Uniforms For McDonald’s Staff

By Anthea Quay, 22 Jun 2012

To celebrate the 2012 Olympics, McDonald’s has collaborated with fashion designer Wayne Hemingway to create a new look for the fast-food chain’s staff.

According to The Telegraph, Hemingway looked to the Swinging 60s’ mod movement and the TV series ‘Mad Men’ when redesigning the uniforms.

The new uniforms would feature: mustard yellow polo shirts for gents; gherkin green polo shirts for ladies; checked shirts with dark green trousers or skirts for cashiers; and black-and-white uniforms for managers, with additional mustard yellow scarves and belts for female managers.

Baseball caps were done away with as Hemingway found them “a little but too American, and they are about sport and petrol pump attendant”. Instead, he accessorized the uniforms with baker’s caps “or something you’d find in an pizzeria in Italy”, he said.

“We wanted a classic design. A narrow tie will always be fashionable,” Hemingway told The Telegraph. “There is a very subtle hint to the mod look, which has never gone out of fashion. Fred Perry has never gone out of fashion. That’s why we’ve gone for a polo shirt with a bit of a trim.”

As for the more formal managers’ outfits, he said, “hark back to a day of really classy air travel,” adding, “There’s just a little bit of ‘Mad Men’.”

The uniforms—currently used to make rags and furniture stuffing—would also be completely recyclable. Old uniforms would be used to remake new uniforms.

As of yet, only four outlets on the Olympic Park and Athletes village in Stratford will sport the new uniforms—but the company plans to roll them out to 87,500 workers in the UK by this fall.