Story by Brad Balfour and Kari McKahan
Portrait by William Coupon

On the top floor of the Mary McFadden building, located in the heart of the Garment District on West 35th St; lithe, young models enter and exit the designer's showroom in a steady stream of lanky limbs and long hair. As each girl is lead to the gold-trimmed dressing room to try on one of McFadden's astounding dresses, the designer slyly scrutinizes them from head to toe, murmuring, "my, aren't you beautiful," and leans to her attentive assistant to whisper mysterious instructions. Minutes later, girls pass the showroom doorway magically transformed a la Cinderella, turning as they walk an imaginary catwalk in the hallway.

It is apparent that McFadden is used to holding several discourses at once as she explains in a single breath that she is casting for an upcoming show, must give us a tour of the bronzed and flawlessly designed interior of her showroom, and get on with the interview in short order, all the while taking sidelong glances at the girls and the clothes they have donned.

McFadden is no novice in the world of design or business. Virtually born into textiles, her early years were spent on a cotton plantation near Memphis, Tennessee. Educated at the Traphagan School of Design in Paris as well as the New School for Social Research and Columbia University in New York, she began regularly attending the Haute Couture collec tions in Paris at the impressionable age of 13. She has served as the director of public relations for Christian Dior in Paris, editor of Vogue South Africa, and contributing editor to Vogue's US and French editions.

Currently, she continues to design for multiple lines, and serves as vice president and member of the Board of Directors for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). Over the course of her immensely successful career, The prim designer has received countless accolaides and awards from the fashion industry, academia, and numerous medical aid foundations for her creative and cultural contributions. Due to her extensive travels and experience abroad--she just came back from the Middle East-her clothing, jewelry and interior designs are inspired by a myriad of historical layers: anthropological, sociological, and archeological. And it is through that outlook that she empoloys her Celtic and in particular her Irish roots to good purpose.

Her business saavy regarding the fashion and financial worlds is unerringly articulate and refined. As she speak she is neither severe or cold, but firm in tone, Her words resonate with an assured intelligence. The breadth and rapidity with which she hops from one intellectual arena to another dares the listener to keep up. In her careful excavating of history fused with contemporary clothing and design, McFadden truly resides in that rare space where art, philosophy, and fashion meet to inform and enrich our present.

--Kari McKahan

Your family history ties you to fashion as well as being from a long-standing tradition. Thanks to your background you have always been around quality materials. Did that attract you to designing haute couture?

I knew very little about clothes until being exposed by my grandmother on my mother's side. She lived in Paris every summer. From the time I was 13 I went to visit her for a month each year. As she would take me to all the collections I started seeing fashion--meaning haute couture. I moved to Paris when I was 17 and spent a huge amount of time going to the collections. At 18, my job at Christian Dior meant that I was going to Paris three or four times a year. I became very steeped on what fashion was about, how it was made--the business of fashion.

How did your first collection come about?

While I was editor of Vogue South Africa I began making clothes with the most beautiful, exotic silks that were either from Madagascar or West Africa. In 1970, when I returned after the civil wars in Zimbabwe to work at American Vogue, I was photographed wearing these Africandesigned silks. They were very simple in that they were cut in ancient African styles and were sewn in straight lines because they have no knowledge of darts. These particular silks attracted the attention of the editors of Vogue. They asked me to get a merchandising credit so I went to Henri Bendel who I was doing a story on at the time. Geraldine Stutz, the president, said she would buy ten of each. I told her that I didn't know how to make these clothes so she gave me a technician named Mitsu. When Mitsu saw the clothes he left the business he was in and set up a little atelier in a basement where there was a sink with a mirror above it, one sewing machine and a seamstress. He was doing the cutting and braiding. When Stutz saw my dresses, tunics and pants she said they would give me a national press show at Bendel's expense. From that I sold a million dollars worth of goods so I decided to make a career change. I left Vogue, came down to 7th Avenue and started a little ntelier at the corner of this street, 35th, which is really called Chinatown, the oldest street in the garment industry. Its history goes back to pre-Civil War days. Before I knew it I had two floors. Then I came to this building where I have three floors. And that's the story of how I got into the fashion industry.

What led you to choosing styles based on historical designs?

The reason I came to looking at fashion from a--whether you call it historical, anthropological or even archeological-standpoint was that I studied to be a sociologist and anthropologist at Columbia University. When I went to Africa as a journalist for Vogue I became very entwined in African cultures. That was the first way of expressing myself by interpreting these ancient civilizations for contemporary clothes. So as time passed I kept my journalistic curiosity and took it to every civilization of the world we have covered. This includes Creek, Egyptian history as late as the Coptic period, Iranian, Turkish, Chinese, and Russian. Our first Russian collection was of the 16th century, and the final period which we showed last year was that of Nicholas II, the last.

Tell us about your most recent collection. My most recent presentation is the Byzantine collection which was a really fantastic odyssey for me because that stretches from the 6th Century to 1500 AD. It is our first really focused collection of that era. We are now doing a project called the Fire Collection being designed at Hanover for the World's Fair Basic Needs Pavilion. The clothes are all designed as if on fire--made of crepe and organza. We have all the fire symbols, starting with Zoroaster all the way through Islam. Our representation of fire is based on that of the Hindu system. It was believed that if you look into a mirror you would see fire around it. The central altar in the pavilion is a Hindu style mirror executed in Khmer fashion with fire around the edges. What I am wearing today is from the Byzantine Collection. These are all the colors of the collection: slate blue, moss green, silver gray, burnished gold and ruby red, all the faded colors of what one sees in the basilicas of Thessalonica.

Over the years you have covered vast periods of history, how do you narrow it down?

To just what I think is applicable to my vision of the period or the particular borders that I think are applicable. Or to where I think I make a strong design statement.

Do you research methods of construction?

In the case of the Byzantine Collection, I used a lot of cut or panne velvets which are called eagle silks and sometimes are referred to as double-headed eagle silks.

We tried to recreate those in a modern interpretation. I thought the eagle was a symbol of Byzantium and of the Basilise (the emperor). I had that block printed to various textiles. The pannes are not as beautiful as what they created, but they are very close to them in feeling and the opulence they project.

Because of your detailing you make clothes that are of a rather high price range. Does that exclude an audience you would like to reach?

Well, couture by definition is more expensive than ready-to-wear. We are not the most expensive house for couture by any means, we are somewhere in the middle. Times are changing and there's no question that a product that comes in at $1200 is a very legitimate product. Our product costs a little bit above that. We then lose "x" numbers of clients as the result of being just a couple of steps ahead.

Can you create versions that might be a less expensive?

We have often done many less expensive little lines. We have a line on QVC averaging prices around $24. We have had lunch and home wear averaging $100. Our furs are more expensive. We have lines of accessories and jewelry where nothing costs more than $100.

Do you feel the fashion community 'gets' what you are doing?

It's a great thing recreating and revalidating styles that people might have lost touch with.

People look at it intrinsically, questioning if they want to wear it or not. If it makes them look better or if they feel it will create their aura for a special occasion they'll buy it for that reason. They will not think about it in terms of where it may have found it's inspiration. There are always a few exceptions since many clients are collectors.

Have you branched out into other areas; home furnishings for example?

Well, we have done pretty much everything over the years. Furniture, home furnishings, bedding, linens and all types of jewelry. Also gardens and architectural fantasies.

You've had a couple of books, wasn 't one a book of your collections?

Well, we haven't got around to it and I've probably been too lazy. There is a book of home furnishings called Visions. You'd make a great film maker.

I have done a couple of films along the way. In India, one was called The Last Chak Empress of Kashmiu, we did the sets and the costumes. I was involved with Sufism in India as an actress as well as doing the costumes and some of the sets.

Are there particular spiritual disciplines that influence you or that you study?

I explore spirituality in almost the same way as I explore the fashion histories. I have been interested in studying Buddhism and Shiva-ism; both are fascinating, complicated and very difficult to understand as is Hinduism. Islam is the easiest to comprehend but is excessively complicated. In Christianity the old and new testaments are extremely complex.

Have you looked into some of the religions rootsd in your own Celtic past, like the Druids?

Yes, I've done two Celtic collections based on the Book of Kells which rests at Trinity College. The clothing collection drew from the illuminations and front pieces. I also designed an entire line for Bloomingdale's of utensils that utilize these extremely beautiful glyphs. We did a series of jewels as well along the lines of designs from the Book.

What is your family's Irish history ?

What I have been able to discover from various members of the family is that the name was originally called McFedyean. Originally we were from Ireland and then went to Scotland. We were one of the first settlers that came to America, arriving with those affected by the potato famine, at that time the name was changed to McFadden. My forebearers went to Philadelphia where they started cotton brokering. At the time of the Civil War they went to Memphis and opened a small dry and soft goods store. During the Civil War they traded their soft goods for cotton plantations. At the end of the war they had control of all the cotton in and around Memphis. My great-grandfather, George H. McFadden, formed a cotton brokerage firm called George H. McFadden and Brothers. And it was said at that time that he actually dictated the price of cotton.

The firm had outposts in Egypt, South America, Philadelphia and all of the South. The brothers were split between one in America and the other in England watching the European markets. That's been pretty traditional. Four generations later, my brothers have a company called George H. McFadden. And one brother remains in England while the other one stays here.

Someone should make a documentary on the process of creating one of your collections following you through conception to completion. You have an obsession for detail.

Regarding detail--I do consider that everything should be perfect in the collections. I did go to a military school so maybe I'm very exacting because of it. I was there four years, rising to the rank of sergeant-major. I think that type of discipline passes through your life.

Did think of yourself as a visual person do your interests comes from having the intellectual and literary qualities yore possess?

[ had my IQ tested when I was about 17 and that told me everything. I had a visual aptitude of 200, which is as high as you can have, and everything else was almost sub IQ. The person who tested me said that since I was so high in this particular area and so hopeless in other areas there was no reason why I couldn't bring up the other areas. I worked a long time improve my skills. For instance, I wasn't able to speak when I was young, so I worked very hard at becoming articulate.

You weren't able to speak?

I had a language disability when I was young. I could only put maybe two words together. But I have overcome that. That's apparent.

So what music do you like...have used for this recent show?

The music has taken us a long time to refine. It's Greek, of course, as was the culture of the Byzantine Empire. The basic themes are the greek chanting, hymns and bells. However the bells were Russian. I had already done a collection based on those of Peter & Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg which are some of the world's most beautiful and far superior to the greek bells. There is some Wagner along with three pieces from a com[oser named Peter Wright, also a lot of electronic mood music. probably the most somber of my tapes, it really reflects what I think of the Byzantine period. The art was really the art of the church. The Basileus (emperor) and his court were a simile of how they envisaged the hierarchy of the heavens.

What is your presence on the internet?

We are just about to launch our site, which is located at www.fashion500.com I am interested to see if we will sell product at our prices on these dotcoms because so far there's no history of it. We're starting at the very bottom but it didn't cost us much to get in. If that does not succeed, we'll further build the showroom to what it basically is already; a store. The big department stores are now reevaluating the type of merchandise they have. The interest in couture is much less, causing us to rethink our position in the marketplace.

Is that due to popularity of The Gap-type stores?

Right, that has definitely had a huge impact on the mix in which the stores now choose to merchandise their floors.

You are in a unique position of being a designer that creates collectibles one would display in the home. The pieces also offer the idea of changing your identity by wearing them, or as an Extension of the wearer's personality?

Well, very few people can change their identity because you have to be very artistic to do that. There's only a few people I've ever met who could really recreate themselves on a full time basis. One was the great model Verushka. she had an incredible ability to constantly rethink herself. Marlene Dietrich was another. They had these facilities being very artistic that they could reinvent themselves in different auras as equally attractive as their original one.

Art and fashion have met in music videos. It seems that they only succeed when they are done in collaboration as in the old days when the Ballet Russes had Diaglev and Poiret.

That was fantastic. I have done that. I did the costumes for my husband Vasilios Calitsis's show, The Mysteries of Elusis at The Brooklyn Academy of Music. I designed everything for that. That was fun. We have a video of that.

Where do you think art and fashion meet?

There are many, many places and times where art and fashion meet. However a fashion show is beyond normal possibilities. Models are going to be more beautiful than the client and the clothes they wear are more extraordinary than the client will ever have the means to wear. For instance, the other night, The Parsons School of Design gave a fashion show of their work from the year. It was really fantastic, ending with Bella Brooks' (one of the guest curators of the show each year) presentation. An egg came out at the end of the runway, opened up and inside was a fantastic bird dressed in a fantastic dress. Behind that bird came twenty different types of birds, whether they were swans, hawks, falcons or pea cocks all with feathers and fancy. Yes, art and fashion certainly met there. They showed these clothes that no one could wear. When all of the students came out after the show they were in plain black, tight dresses. They had used their entire creativity for the runway to create art pieces. With the exception of a few ensembles, none of these clothes would ever be worn.