There's a wall in my bathroom dedicated to framed ads torn from vintage issues of Time, Life, and Good Housekeeping. They're the kind of ads we don't see anymore; often rendered in original hand drawn art, portraying glamourous women puffing away on Lucky Strikes, while they extol the virtues of the brand new, fabulously modern vacuum cleaner their husbands purchased for them. It's a mishmash of ads and frames, as varied as the products they’re trying to sell — all centered around three detailed blueprints: the 37th floor offices of “Mad Men”’s fictional ad agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and the two floors of “Bewitched”’s Samantha and Darrin Stephens' suburban home at 1164 Morning Glory Circle.
This is to say, I've long been tickled by the odd connection between 1964's "Bewitched" and 2007's "Mad Men," two very different shows featuring two very different ad agencies and the very different women in their orbit.
During "Mad Men"'s run, I thought about Betty Draper a lot — and countless blogs, vlogs, Tumblr posts, and Pinterest boards made it clear that I wasn't the only one. Her wardrobe had my devoted attention and I spent a lot of time considering what she was wearing and why she was wearing it. (Honestly, who gets this dressed up for their psychiatrist without a reason, even in 1962?)
But Samantha, despite being the original TV Mad Man's wife, never begged the same sartorial attention from me. A recent rewatch of all eight seasons of "Bewitched" helped me figure out why. Like Betty Draper, Samantha (played by Elizabeth Montgomery) was an enchanting, skinny blonde. She easily could have stood out in a crowd — but she didn't want to.
Bewitched” begins as a show about the search for aggressive normality — achieving the American dream without overachieving; fitting in while actively not drawing attention to yourself — and how difficult witchcraft made that for the Stephenses. “All I want is the normal life of a normal housewife,” Samantha Stephens, a witch, insists early on in the first season of “Bewitched.” In the episode “Witch or Wife,” she tries to assure her husband, Darrin (played by Dick York, and later, Dick Sargent), that she’s done using witchcraft — and her attempts at being an “average” housewife dominate most of the first two seasons of the show.
But while Samantha didn’t always keep her promise not to use magic in her everyday life (in fact, she never kept that promise, which is how we got eight seasons of television), with the help of costumers Vi Alford and Byron Munson, she did manage to pull off “typical,” and somehow make it memorable. That's an accomplishment that deserves to be celebrated and remembered just as much as Betty's meticulous packaging.
Using color, trends, subtle visual cues, and maybe a little magic, here's how Samantha Stephens built eight seasons of witchy housekeeping style.
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Enchanting in Green
There’s no true color story when it comes to Samantha’s wardrobe. “Bewitched” is not “Breaking Bad”— you can’t track a character’s mood or situation in life through the colors they’re wearing. This could be because the show spent its first two seasons in black and white. It could also have been because Vi Alford, who handled the ladies’ wardrobes, wasn’t interested in using color as a storytelling tool.
But what we can say for sure is that, once season three hit, Samantha wore a lot of green.
She wears it while performing all of her typical wifely duties — taking care of the children, running errands, cooking, and keeping the house — and occasionally dons the color when heading out on the town with friends. She also probably wore it in the real world, too.
For context, “Bewitched” lacked a hefty wardrobe budget and often borrowed from its leading ladies' personal wardrobes. Kasey Rodgers, who played Louise Tate, the wife of Darrin's boss, recalled bringing her own clothes to set weekly. Montgomery also told the Leader-Times in 1968 that she often wore her own clothes on the show, so it’s very possible green might have just been one of her favorite colors (which would make sense for a green-eyed blonde).
The Modern Witch
There’s nothing I respect more than a TV character who wears their clothing more than once — you know, like we all do. Samantha wears clothing in season one that we’ll still be seeing in season three, and as someone who still regularly wears what she bought in high school, I dig it.
Sam’s wardrobe repetition in season one cements both her thriftiness and her 1950s sensibility early on. She loved to wear prim skirt and sweater sets when out and about (or flying to Paris on the outside of an airplane). And though it was already 1962, Sam (much like Betty Draper in 1960) wasn’t ready to give up her classic shirtwaist dresses just yet.
Sam donned most of these dresses (and others) through multiple episodes. While this likely had to do with the show’s limited wardrobe budget, it also helped maintain the feeling that Samantha was just like any other mortal woman who couldn’t magic herself a new dress each morning. Again speaking to the Leader Times, Montgomery explained, "A girl like Samantha can't afford a new dress every time she goes out.” Drawing a parallel between herself and Samantha, she elaborated, “I'm not saying that I can't afford it. But when I found a gown or frock that I like, I feel I should wear it as often as I want."
This is the kind of subtle costuming work I love, and should, honestly, be the blueprint for any show about a family claiming to be anything other than straight up millionaires.
That being said, Alford could have insisted on more to spruce up the looks in their repeat wears. My office mates rarely see me in the same outfit twice, but when they do, I’ve usually added some accessory to make the rewear less obvious. When Samantha repeats an outfit, little changes, aside from her hair. It's an instance where something as simple as an added bracelet might have helped make these dresses stand out.
A Night Out
While she always looks the part of the perfect wife, it’s hard to say that Sam had a specific personal style. Part of this may be due to the lack of overall story narrative of "Bewitched." Unlike a show like "Mad Men," the characters on "Bewitched" don't experience much overall growth or change aside from literally growing (like Erin Murphy as Tabitha) or suddenly becoming a different person (like the Darrin York-to-Sargent switch, which, for some reason, the writers did not take the opportunity to explain away with witchcraft, something that still bothers me to this day).
Without character growth, the wardrobe has less work to do, and a distinct personal style is less necessary. We can still make inferences from the clothing Samantha wears, but we can also acknowledge that it's doing less heavy-lifting than anything Betty Draper wore.
Still, I think Samantha’s dresses do drop a few clues as to who she is.
Her penchant for dresses that evoke the soft, flowing fabrics of her (and her mother Endora’s) witches robes is a fun Easter egg. Many of Sam’s dresses either feature a modern take on the robe à la française, or sack-back gown (sans the panniers and other undergarments that gave the 18th century dress its distinctive shape), or are full, airy dresses that have a lot of movement as the wearer walks — i.e., they’d look great on a runway. Both give visual cues back to her capes and witches robes through fabric choice and movement. Even if Darrin would like to forget about his wife’s witchcraft, her wardrobe won’t let us.
Sam wore all the appropriate styles of the times, and any of them, with more attention paid to accessories, would not have looked out of place on a woman like Betty Draper.
But, again, I don’t think Sam was ever trying to stand out. As an “average” housewife, there was no need for Sam to ever have a “Betty Draper In Rome” moment (in fact, Darrin often became flustered if he found Sam wearing or using anything fancy enough to be “twitched” up). Sam could be beautiful — but she didn’t need flashy clothing to draw extra attention to herself. Her inevitable magic slip-ups would do that for her.
Sam rarely went for anything ostentatious (or, truth be told, even slightly noticeable) when it came to accessorizing, and very often, the only piece of jewelry you’ll see her wearing is a white gold, heart-shaped pendant. The necklace was Montgomery’s own, a gift from her husband (and the show’s director-producer), William Asher. It worked well for Sam, establishing that she was a woman of some means, whose husband could afford to buy her a meaningful trinket, but who still couldn’t afford to have an excessive amount of jewelry.
The same could be said for Samantha's small collection of Louis Vuitton bags that began appearing in season eight; they're arguably the most showy pieces she owned, but still fall on the side of “average” for a well kept housewife. They were costly (in 1978 the designer's popular Speedy bag was around $150), but they weren't the Chanel 2.55. (I can’t afford either of them, but I guess “average” was a different thing in the 1970s, when you could afford to own a home and raise two children on one income.)
Straight Legged Sorcery
Like January Jones, Elizabeth Montgomery was the perfect physical model for that 1950s housewife look. But in Montgomery’s own words in the Leader-Times, she prefered “dungarees and tennis shoes” in her everyday life. And so did Sam — when she could get away with it.
Jeans, a Keds-like shoe, and two to three revolving button down shirts would become one of Samantha’s staple uniforms throughout the first two black and white seasons. She would get “dressed” (a skirt or dress) if she were leaving the home, but for her days of housekeeping, Samantha kept it comfortable.
This costume was both practical, and set her apart from the other housewives in the neighborhood. Just look at Sam standing with the women who visit to welcome her to the neighborhood in season one. Each of them, including famous busybody Gladys Kravitz, is dressed in a smart skirt and sweater set or dress while Samantha greets them in jeans. This simple costume works to reinforce that Sam, for all her attempts at average housewifery, is still very different from her peers. “You have no children,” one of the women says. “That much is obvious.”
Sam had a number of other shirt-and-pants combos as well, which she would debut (and repeat) over “Bewitched”’s run from black and white into color.
As she settled into motherhood in the later seasons, pants topped with sweaters (and sometimes even pigtails — something no grown woman should ever have) and polyester sets (she must have been itching and sweating under the set lights at all times) became more common. The basic looks were practical for a woman chasing after two children under the age of 3 (one of whom has magical powers).
The button downs and pants in the first season made it clear to Sam’s visitors that she had no children, but now, her pants show that she absolutely does. When Louise Tate asks what Darrin likes to see her wear, Sam responds, speaking of dresses, “Bright colors and chic lines." Louise answers, “That means he still thinks of you romantically.” It’s a dated and sexist notion, but it does lend a meaning to her dependence on slacks and sweaters. She still presents femininity, but this covered up look is desexualized and maternal — especially when compared to the styles we would see added in “Bewitched”’s final season.
Clashing Patterns (and Personalities)
Wild patterns crept into Samantha’s “Bewitched” wardrobe as they eased their way into the popular fashion. But excessively loud patterns were, for the most part, strictly Endora’s lane.
Samantha’s mother Endora, played by Agnes Morehead, was a fashion icon, full stop. Frankly, I had to stop myself from making this an Endora’s Caftans Appreciation Post and doing a Best Blue Eyeshadows list to boot.
Luckily, it is important to grasp Endora’s point of view in order to understand Sam’s, so I have every excuse to do a deep dive into some of her gorgeous, bold printed looks, paired, as always, with caked on layers of unblended blue and white eye shadow and a thick black cat eye. (Somehow, the eye shadow always matched what she was wearing. Magic, folks.)
Endora’s clothing begs onlookers to stare, ask questions, and give her the attention she knows she deserves. Despite her ability to look the part of the typical 1960s woman of her age, unlike Samantha, she doesn’t want to. Her domination of the pattern game stands as the direct visual antithesis of what Darrin wants Samantha to be: average. Normal. There is a reason the son and mother-in-law duo never manage to get along.
Ironically, while Endora is costumed to immediately present as the “other” in the Stephens' suburban community, she is often the best dressed person in any given episode, and without Darrin’s influence, people are often charmed by her. (Rewatch “Bewitched” carefully and you’ll notice that in addition to generally being The Worst, Darrin is often the reason people consider Endora to be eccentric — they’re all taking cues from his behavior)
When you look at Endora’s packaging, you understand why Sam’s own style is downplayed and simple; she’s trying to eschew witchcraft for the sake of her marriage, and that means getting as far away from her mother’s way of life — including her fashion choices — as possible.
This distinction is lost as the show advances in later seasons and Sam starts incorporating more patterns into her wardrobe, reflecting real world fashion trends. It’s unfortunate, because patterns could have been used as a really interesting storytelling tool on “Bewitched” to signify moments of commiseration, affection, or understanding between Samantha and her mother. Take, for instance, this moment at the end of the episode "The Solid Gold Mother In Law," where Samantha attempts to convince Darrin to allow Endora to give Tabatha a pony ride via witchcraft. Sam, Endora, and Tabatha are all in loud patterns, while Darrin is in his straightlaced suit. Though they’re not color coordinated, the pattern clashing visually aligns the women against Darrin while the script does it with words.
Unfortunately, we don’t get many nuanced costume decisions like that one when it comes to Sam’s patterned wardrobe choices. But they’re still gorgeous to look at.
Samantha's Transformation
Samantha arrives in season eight legs first. The first seven episodes of the final season (shot in 1971) find Darrin and Samantha on a lengthy tour of Europe for Darrin’s clients with McMann and Tate. Samantha has taken this extended vacation as an opportunity to fully embrace the mini skirt (and dress). Slightly late on new trends as always, Samantha had missed the true height of the trend in the mid to late 1960s. Skirts, blouses, and knee socks (another questionable choice for any grown woman) are Samantha's go-to choices for season eight.
Samantha stays true to form and still often repeats pieces from her wardrobe, but this “final form” is the most youthful she’s looked (she often evokes the spirit of Cher Horowitz — or vice versa). And because it’s so suddenly young, it feels almost wrong for her character. It’s great for any mom of two to get her groove back, but this is the kind of change that usually signals an approaching “I think my wife is cheating on me!” plotline.
Watching season eight, Samantha’s costumes seem to say less about Samantha than they do about the woman playing her. Elizabeth Montgomery was 38 in “Bewitched”’s final season, and Hollywood has never made it a secret of what they think of women over 30. With these fun, cheeky looks, it’s almost as if Montgomery was trying to advertise herself as a viable actress for roles going forward, knowing that it was entirely possible she was going to be typecast as a “mom” or in Endora-style “kooky witch” roles going forward. Her season eight outfits advertise her best physical attributes and shout, “I may have been playing a witch and a mom for six years, but I’m still a fox.”
Biographer Herbie Pilato notes that after "Bewitched" was cancelled in 1973, Montgomery "sought work diametrically opposed to ‘Bewitched,’" and "savored the parts that were leaps and bounds from Samantha." Her reinvigorated wardrobe on the final season of “Bewitched” gives the sense that she was already making that leap.
Montgomery would go on to snatch up dramatic roles (and Emmy nominations) in TV films like, “The Victim,” (where she played a woman recovering from rape,) “The Legend of Lizzie Borden,” playing the titular murderess. She continued acting and doing voice over work right up until her death in 1995. But while her death was premature, her legacy endures, and I’m reminded of it every time I catch a “Bewitched” rerun on a rainy afternoon, or contemplate what it meant to be a Madison Avenue man’s wife.
Elizabeth Montgomery earned three Golden Globe nominations and nine Emmy nominations over her 41 year career. She passed away at the age of 62 from colon cancer in 1995. This Sunday marks her 85th birthday.
