‘Mad Men’ Season 2 -- boxed, starched and impressive

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The third season isn’t due to begin on AMC until August, and ‘Mad Men: Season Two’ ($49.98) won’t be released until July 14, but the DVD box-set cover art has been making the rounds on the Internet for the last few days, and it’s ‘Mad Men’ marketing at its best.

It’s a crisp, white, spread-collar dress shirt with a gray striped silk tie knotted tightly at the neck with what looks like a traditional four-in-hand knot.

The box contains all 13 episodes of the second season, and the folks at Lionsgate are telling me it’s got all kinds of special features, including a ‘featurette’ that looks at the rise of women in the workplace during the ‘Mad Men’ era, and another that chronicles the lasting influence of ‘60s style.

But our favorite special feature isn’t even in the box -- it’s on the box. If you look closely enough at the label on the dress shirt, you’ll see the name ‘Menken’s’ -- the department store headed by Rachel Menken (played by Maggie Siff), a one-time amatory dalliance of ad-man Don Draper (Jon Hamm).

When we brought it up, Jodie Magid, VP of publicity for Lionsgate, assured us our eyes weren’t playing tricks on us: ‘It was actually [creator] Matt Weiner’s touch, and it is a great little nod to dedicated fans,’ she told me in an e-mail. She said the Menken’s logo was created specifically for the series, and at one point it appears on shopping bags (carried by Don after a Rachel-inspired shopping spree, if our memory serves us correctly ...).

It’s this attention to detail -- fashion-focused and otherwise -- that makes ‘Mad Men’ one of the most consistently stylish series on TV. If the contents of the box set stack up to what’s on the outside, we’ll be boxed and (im)pressed.

-- Adam Tschorn

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