“Where in the world is Mary McFadden?”
That would be a fair question for Mary McFadden on any given day in any given year for the past seventy years. But the inveterate traveler and New York-raised fashion designer and artist is establishing himself by founding the Mary McFadden Archive at Drexel University.
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Ahead of the opening reception for the “Modern Ritual, The Art of Mary McFadden” exhibit on the Philadelphia campus, the 95-year-old spoke with WWD about her career, her 11 marriages and why she still believes in love. The show highlights her hand-painted textiles, lush beading, jeweled embellishments and signature Marii pleats.
WWD: So many institutions must have wanted your archives. Why did you choose Drexel?
Mary McFadden: Yes, but Philadelphia is closest to my heart. My family is from Philadelphia. They were in the cotton business. I was too young to remember. Furthermore, the center of the cotton trade at the time was in Memphis, Tennessee. We lived there on a cotton plantation.
WWD: How did that influence your decision to go into fashion and design?
M.M.: It didn’t affect it at all. When you live on a cotton plantation, you are quite remote. I think I just became interested in art, travel and fashion through the knowledge and traces of my family.
WWD: Was that through studying at Columbia University or La Sorbonne?
M.M.: Going to Europe [to study at the Sorbonne] at 17 or 18 helped a lot. It was so impressionable.
WWD: That seems exotic for someone your age in the early fifties.
M.M.:. I had some friends, who were obviously older than me, who did the same thing.
WWD: As someone who attended Columbia University, what do you think about what’s happening on campus right now with the student protests?
M.M.: I’m so busy with that. I mean you have to look at it carefully every day. I never had a situation like that when I was there. I hope it gets resolved as soon as possible.
WWD: What made you get into fashion?
M.M.: That was inevitable; Since I was born, I was always interested in how I dressed and how things worked. [McFadden also studied at Ecole Lubec, The New School for Social Research and the Traphagen School of Fashion.]
WWD: How many pieces of clothing have you collected over the years and what are some of your favorites?
M.M.: About 100 – all of them. You will see them and tell me which one you like.
WWD: Did you enjoy working in public relations for Dior in New York in the 1960s?
M.M.: Naturally; I met the heads of Dior at a cocktail party and told them I would like to come for a job interview the next day. And they accepted me. The whole time was very beneficial.
WWD: Are you surprised that Dior is so ubiquitous these days and such a big part of contemporary culture that many people aspire to buy it?
M.M.: It wasn’t part of the culture in my day. It was very reserved. It is better that it is strived for.
WWD: What was your experience of being in South Africa when your first husband Philip Harari worked for De Beers and later lived there [in 1968 following their divorce]?
M.M.: De Beers had just started in South Africa, so you can imagine how simple everything was there: the mines, life. I was there for five years and my job at South African Vogue was arranged by Diana Vreeland. She was a family friend to me and always helped me.
WWD: When you started your company in 1976, did you know it would be a success?
M.M.: At that time, no one knew anything would be a success. Diana Vreeland’s support gave me the confidence to do it. She was nothing but encouraging.
WWD: What do you like about your early designs?
M.M.: I hate them all. They weren’t very good. That’s my feeling. They got better. They were bad adjustments, bad coloring, bad combinations. Everything was terrible.
WWD: If you kept going, it must have sold quite well.
M.M.: Well, I was also an editor at all these different magazines [at different times] so I could put them in all the magazines.
WWD: Do you think that’s fair or enterprising?
M.M.: I think that was fair because I had the best stuff on the market.
WWD: What helped you become more agile or precise in your design work?
M.M.: I don’t know if the designs contain that much. That’s how they started.
WWD: But there is such elegance in your work. Is that the influence of art, or years of practice?
M.M.: Competition.
WWD: Who were your main rivals?
M.M.: I have no rivals. I had no competitors then. The competition was to stay in business, be profitable and be successful.
WWD: What’s the trick to being successful in fashion design?
M.M.: Have a good dress that people want to buy.
WWD: Do you have one favorite?
M.M.: I wear whatever is visible in my closet.
WWD: Did you enjoy leading the CFDA in the early 1980s and being involved with it today?
M.M.: Naturally.
WWD: But it must have been difficult because there were so many strong-willed personalities, right?
M.M.: I never noticed that.
WWD: What makes you hopeful about fashion design today?
M.M.: It’s inevitable.
WWD: What would you say is your greatest achievement to date?
M.M.: I don’t know what it could be.
WWD: How would you summarize how people dress on the streets today?
M.M.: It’s up and down. Some people look great, and some don’t.
WWD: What makes people shop or spend money?
M.M.: Pride. That is always the case.
WWD: Where are you traveling next?
M.M.: My next trip is to Mexico City. I try to see the world. Hopefully I’ll see the art and everything in Mexico City. Of course I’ve been there before.
WWD: Some travelers are concerned about safety there. Are you?
M.M.: I hadn’t thought about it.
WWD: Have you been to more than 60 countries?
M.M.: Naturally. My family [members] were all travelers and I inherited the gene from them. They were famous explorers. My great uncle Charles Suydam Cutting was the first [Western] man to Tibet [in 1935-37]. That seemed otherworldly – no one had ever been to Tibet. [Some of the remnants from his expeditions can be found at the American Museum of Natural History and the New York Botanical Garden.]
WWD: How do you stay so vital and maintain your health?
M.M.: Well, that’s how I was born. I haven’t had any problems yet.
WWD: Are you meticulous about diet, sleep or walking?
M.M.: No no.
WWD: What is your biggest indulgence?
M.M.: I think I’ll go to parties. I enjoy cocktail parties, dinners, all parties. It’s about the conversation, the fashion, the atmosphere – everything.
WWD: What do you hope people will think of when they hear your name?
M.M.: Of course they will think about my dresses. And that I am a good tennis player. And I am.
WWD: What would you like to do that you haven’t had time for?
M.M.: I’ve done pretty much everything I want to do.
WWD: What is your view on marriage?
M.M.: It is a very risky operation.
WWD: Are you happy that you’ve been married 11 times?
M.M.: Naturally. Each person was a different experience.
WWD: Is there one you would choose as your greatest love?
M.M.: Multiple.
WWD: Is there anyone you’d like to mention?
M.M.: No.
WWD: Are you in love now?
M.M.: In the distance, they just don’t live here in New York right now.
WWD: Are you open to a twelfth marriage?
M.M.: Certainly.
WWD: Are you happy when you are in New York?
MM:. I Love New York. The shine never fades from the city – its robustness. It’s always there for me. I love the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I love the Met Gala: anything you can do to get people to the museum.
WWD: Are you still working on your own art?
M.M.: I don’t paint anymore. I don’t miss it all. I don’t regret doing it.
WWD: What do you do that you find most fun or entertaining?
M.M.: I like to play tennis both indoors and outdoors.
WWD: What is your strong point: serve, forehand, backhand?
M.M.: I would say my strong point is my whole game. I prefer to play singles. Of course I play with Stan Herman. He’s a nice guy.
WWD: Have you designed your own outfit or are you wearing a brand?
M.M.: I have my pleated Marii costumes, Fortuny-like pleats that require a six-step heat treatment, that she made in 1975.
WWD: What do people not understand about you or what do you wish they knew?
M.M.: I have no problem with that.
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