Mary McFadden

Charlotte Curtis Charlotte Murray Curtis (December 19, 1928 – April 16, 1987) was an American journalist, columnist and editor at ''The New York Times''. Career Curtis worked as a reporter and society editor for the ''Columbus Citizen'' for 11 years, and a ...

, "Mary McFadden Married to Philip Harari at St. Bartholomew's; Former Dior Aide is Wed to Director in De Beers Group", The New York Times, 26 September 1964 (born October 1, 1938) is an American art collector, editor, fashion designer, and writer.

Early life and education

McFadden was born in New York City, and spent her childhood on a cotton plantation outside

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. When her father died, the family moved to

Westbury, New York The Incorporated Village of Westbury is a Village (New York), village in the North Hempstead, New York, Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. It is located a ...

, and she was sent to the

Foxcroft School Foxcroft School, founded in 1914 by Charlotte Haxall Noland, is a college-preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 9-12, located near Middleburg, Virginia, United States. In its century of existence, Foxcroft has educated the daug ...

from which she graduated. She went on to attend

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, the Ecole Lubec, the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...

, the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

, and the

Traphagen School of Fashion Traphagen School of Fashion was an art and design school in operation from 1923 to 1991, and was located at 1680 Broadway in New York City. The school was founded and directed by Ethel Traphagen Leigh (1883–1963) with a focus on the foundational ...

(1956, Costume Design).

Career

She has lived on Park Avenue in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. She was working as the director of public relations for

Dior Christian Dior SE (), commonly known as Dior (stylized DIOR), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH, the world's largest luxury group. Dior itself holds ...

New York in the 1960s, when she married a merchant for

De Beers De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...

diamonds (Philip Harari, who she later divorced; see Personal life section below) and relocated to South Africa. From 1968 to 1970 she was an editor for South African ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', a job arranged for her by

Diana Vreeland Diana Vreeland (September 29, 1903 – August 22, 1989) was a French-American fashion columnist and editor. She worked for the fashion magazine ''Harper's Bazaar'' and as editor-in-chief at ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'', later becoming a special c ...

. In 1976 she began the clothing company Mary McFadden Inc. From 1982 to 1983 she was the President of the

Council of Fashion Designers of America The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, and headquartered in Manhattan, is a not-for-profit trade association comprising a membership of over 450 American fashion and accessory des ...

. In 2012 she and her companion

Murray Gell-Mann Murray Gell-Mann (; September 15, 1929 – May 24, 2019) was an American physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles. He was the Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Theoretical ...

published the book ''Mary McFadden: A Lifetime of Design, Collecting, and Adventure''. She has also licensed her name to many products such as eyewear, footwear, home furnishings, and sleepwear.

Awards

Coty Award The Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards (awarded 1943–1984) were created in 1942 by the cosmetics and perfume company Coty, Inc. to promote and celebrate American fashion, and encourage design during the Second World War. In 1985, the Coty Awa ...

, 1976 *Award of Excellence from the president of the Friends of Moore Ronald G. Dowd, 1977 *

, 1978 * Coty Hall of Fame induction, 1979 *

Neiman Marcus Fashion Award The Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion was a yearly award created in 1938 by Carrie Marcus Neiman and Stanley Marcus. Unlike the Coty Award, it was not limited to American-based fashion designers. Recipients of t ...

, 1979 *American Printed Fabrics Council Tommy Award, 1984 *

Lifetime Achievement Award, 1988 *American Printed Fabrics Council Tommy Award, 1991 *

Industry Tribute Award, 1993 *

Moore College of Art & Design Moore College of Art & Design is a private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its undergraduate programs are available only for female students, but its other educational programs, including graduate programs, are co-educational. Hist ...

Visionary Woman Award, 2008 *

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Women Together Award, 2013 *Included in the

International Best Dressed List The International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame List was founded by fashionista Eleanor Lambert in 1940 as an attempt to boost the reputation of American fashion at the time. The American magazine '' Vanity Fair'' is currently in charge of the List af ...

Hall of Fame. *Named on the

Eleanor Lambert Eleanor Lambert (August 10, 1903 – October 7, 2003) was an American fashion publicist. She was instrumental in increasing the international prominence of the American fashion industry and in the emergence of New York City as a major fashion ca ...

Vanity Fair Best Dressed List. *Named the first "Living Landmark" from the

New York Landmarks Conservancy The New York Landmarks Conservancy is a non-profit organization "dedicated to preserving, revitalizing, and reusing" historic structures in New York state. It provides technical assistance, project management services, grants, and loans, to owne ...

. *Received the President's Fellow Award of the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

Personal life

McFadden has claimed to be married at least eleven times, but declared that some of these marriages were "only spiritual". McFadden is known to have been married to, in chronological order: *Philip Harari (married 1964, divorced). They were married in Bartholomew's Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City, and McFadden's attendants included Warhol star

Baby Jane Holzer Jane Holzer (née Brukenfeld; born October 23, 1940) is an American art collector and film producer who was previously an actress, model, and Warhol superstar. She was often known by the nickname Baby Jane Holzer. Biography The daughter of real ...

. *

Frank McEwen Francis Jack McEwen, OBE (19 April 1907 – 15 January 1994) was an English artist, teacher, and museum administrator. He is best remembered today for his efforts to bring attention to the work of Shona artists in Rhodesia, and for helping ...

(married 1969, divorced 1970) *Armin Schmidt (later divorced) *Kohle Yohannan (married 1989, divorced 1992) *Vasilos Calitsis (married 1996) McFadden has a daughter, Justine Harari, from her marriage to Philip Harari.

References

External links

FashionEncyclopedia.com profile
*
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary: The Life and Loves of Mary McFadden
{{DEFAULTSORT:McFadden, Mary 1938 births American fashion businesspeople American fashion designers American women fashion designers Columbia University School of General Studies alumni Living people People from the Upper East Side The New School alumni Traphagen School of Fashion alumni University of Paris alumni Writers from Manhattan People from Shelby County, Tennessee People from Westbury, New York Foxcroft School alumni