'Mad Men' costume designer Janie Bryant talks Season 6 fashion Janie Bryant, costume designer for "Mad Men," certainly didn't when she put Megan Draper in a now-infamous red star T-shirt in this season's episode "The Better Half." Since Sharon Tate wore a nearly identical shirt for an Esquire photo shoot in 1967 and was murdered two years later, "Mad Men" conspiracy theorists were convinced Megan would meet the same fate. It all spurred from series creator Matt Weiner's request that Megan wear a typical T-shirt in the scene in question. "I did so much research trying to find women who were wearing T-shirts in the way we think of them now, but silk-screening didn't happen in the way that we know it until the later '60s," says Bryant, explaining that T-shirts were often handmade and political and became hugely popular in the 1970s. "I finally found the Sharon Tate T-shirt, and I showed it to Matt [Weiner] and he was like 'Yes, that's perfect!"' Weiner later assured viewers that Megan is sticking around -- cue the sighs of relief -- but the incident only emphasized Bryant's influence on the show. I'm glad there was so much attention on one T-shirt. It's amazing the power of costume design," says Bryant, who has been with "Mad Men" since its second episode. "Mad Men" is treated like a great work of literature to be deciphered, and it should be no surprise that the costume design is put under the same, intense scrutiny. With the amount of preparation that goes into each season, Bryant is fully prepared to explain every tie, every scarf and every color choice. Read on as she talks about Season 6, and look for a follow-up on Monday about the season finale. The interview has been condensed and edited. I'm so happy to be talking about Season 6, which was filled with so much change as a reflection of the late '60s and design trends. How did you approach the season? I love to start with having creative conversations with Matthew Weiner, where I can get good insight in terms of his general thinking about what the season is about. And then I start research, which includes watching movies, all the magazines, catalogs. I do a lot of reasearch at Western Costume. From there I'll start gathering and thinking about color palettes and fabric swatches. And then I'll start the design process. My crew [of 12] and I start going to the costume shops, and pull there, or start calling vendors. After that, all of those pieces have to be gathered, designed, built, redesigned and then I start doing my fittings. How long does it all take? Prep takes about six weeks. That seems so short! It would always feel tight, but I think six weeks is about normal.