Mary McFadden

Mary Josephine McFadden (born October 1, 1938, New York City) is an American fashion designer and writer.

McFadden is the only daughter of Alexander Bloomfield McFadden, a cotton broker, and her mother was the former Mary Josephine Cutting, a socialite and concert pianist. Her father died in 1948, when he was killed in an avalanche while climbing in the Rocky Mountains. She has two brothers, George, who died in April 2008 after a plane he was in crashed into Toledo Bend Reservoir,Texas, and John McFadden, and two half-brothers, Watson B. and Wolcott R. Blair.

McFadden's stepfather was the investment banker Watson K. Blair who died November 26, 2013

After graduating from Greenvale and Foxcroft, McFadden studied at the École Lubec, 1955–56 and at the Sorbonne, 1956-57. She also studied fashion at the Traphagen School of Design in 1956 and sociology at Columbia University and at the New School for Social Research, New York, 1958-60. She also attended the Dante Alighieri Institute in Rome.

Her career included Director of Public Relations, Christian Dior, New York, 1963–65; Merchandising editor, Vogue, South Africa, 1964–65; travel and political columnist, Rand Daily Mail, South Africa, 1965–68; founder, Vukutu sculpture workshop, Rhodesia, 1968–70; also freelance editor for My Fair Lady, Cape Town. World Traveler and photographer for Vogue South Africa, Vogue Paris 1968-1970; special projects editor, Vogue, New York.

Champion tennis player and giant downhill ski racer 1970-1975.

1970 Freelance fashion and jewelry designer, New York ; Marii pleated fabric patented, 1975; President, Mary McFadden Inc., 1976; home furnishings line introduced, 1978; lower priced line manufactured by Jack Mulqueen, 1980; Mary McFadden Knitwear Company; Costume designer for Indian film Zooni, 1993; launched Mary McFadden Studio, 1995; began designing neckwear, 1999; Mary McFadden Collection, debuted 2001.

She served as the President of the Council of Fashion Designers of America from 1982-83. McFadden's collections have been shown on runways in New York, Paris, Rome, Milan, Bolivia, Mexico, Caracas, London, 10 US capitals and Tokyo. She has been on the Eleanor Lambert Vanity Fair Best Dressed List and the International Hall of Fame, 1970-2014.

McFadden has been married to:

In 2007, McFadden's engagement to investment banker Marquette de Bary, (born 1918) was revealed by several newspapers.

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