Pan Am is heads above the rest in pencil skirt perfection

It's been labelled the mile-high Mad Men, so we've no doubt that BBC2's new series Pan Am is set to become our new TV fashion crush. Get ready, girls, for the inevitable obsession with Jackie O bobs, pencil skirts and retro-style dresses about to wing their way into our wardrobes now that Pan Am has hit our screens this week. Set in the sky above 1960s New York; Pan Am follows the lives of a group of Pan American Airways pilots and air hostesses during travel's golden age, when flight attendants were as good at shaking a mean Martini as giving safety demonstrations, all the whilst donning an enforced (mini) skirt length and spritzes of Chanel No. 5. The show transports us back to a time when air travel was the height of luxury and Pan Am is the biggest name in the business. Its heady mix of retro, romance and international espionage is guaranteed to keep you hooked. Change is in the air: women can work, and travel, but they are subjected to pre-flight weigh-ins and a life of singledom if they wish to be the dolly to Pan Am's trolley and squeeze into their primary blue twinsets. The planes are sleek and glamorous and the stewardesses are the most desirable, and fashionable, women in the world. And we can see why.... We're totally in love with Christina Ricci's bohemian character Maggie, the star of the show, who suppresses her naturally adventurous fashion sense to travel the world in immaculately turned out tailoring, kick-pleat skirts and Pan Am trademark hat and white gloves. Away from the aeroplane that she calls her office, Maggie and the other Pan Am ladies impress in vintage calf-skimming swing dresses, retro prints, and authentic accessories only a BBC wardrobe assistant has access to. Pan Am will appeal to any woman out there who loves the kitsch glamour of yester day, the fabulous fashion of the 60s and the romantic nuances of travel's golden age, but be aware, there is a serious side to Pan Am. Cut through all the glossiness and you quickly realise it certainly wasn't a woman's world back then. The third and fourth episodes of Pan Am will air on BBC2 tomorrow night (19th November) at 9.45pm.