Mary McFadden (1938-2024)
Rest In Peace Mary McFadden (October 1, 1938 – September 13, 2024). A formidable, striking beauty and a designer with unwavering taste, unending curiosity, and a visionary approach to revivalist clothing—and a genuinely lovely woman. A smart businesswoman, her designs were like no other—she pillaged the past to create garments that are instantly recognizable as a “Mary McFadden.”
I’ve written quite a bit about her and our personal connection on here over the years, so I thought I would share some links to those pieces. From a piece I wrote in 2013: “It is Mary McFadden’s curiosity about the world and sense of adventure that helped her produce clothes that are completely unique. McFadden’s designs are a complete testament to her interests and passions — spellbindingly recreated in luxurious fabrics and ornate embellishments. Like her peers (Blass, Beene, de la Renta), McFadden’s work did reflect the world of the society women they were worn by, but hers also eschewed trends to instead be timeless evocations of other epochs and cultures filtered through the eyes of a thoroughly modern working woman.”
Below are four newsletters that touch on various aspects of Mary’s life and work—the first, an interview I did with her in 2013.
For more on Mary, I recommend the beautifully designed and infinitely inspiring Mary McFadden: A Lifetime of Design, Collecting, and Adventure, published by Rizzoli in 2011.
