Late Fashion Designer Mary McFadden Remembered at Festival in India
The late fashion designer Mary McFadden was remembered last month at the Sacred River Festival in India, an event that she supported during her lifetime.
An inveterate traveler who had explored 60-plus countries and often incorporated historical art and cultural references into her designs, McFadden died in September at the age of 85. She had served as the patron of the Sacred River Festival at the Ahilya Fort Heritage Hotel in Maheshwar, during her lifetime.
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Overlooking the Narmada river, the fort is where Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar ruled from 1765 to 1796. She was one of five Indian women to have ruled in medieval times. Twenty five years ago, one of her descendants, Prince Richard Holkar converted his home in the 18th-century sandstone fort into a hotel.
The designer and Holkar shared a friendship that was “founded on mutual respect and a shared passion for preserving the beauty of ancient Indian culture,” according to Joan Olden, who represented the McFadden family at the event along with Caterine Sanchez. Holkar and McFadden had first met as teenagers in New York City through their families. Olden, who served as the president of McFadden’s namesake company and was a friend, spoke at this year’s festival. In an interview Friday, Olden said she had told attendees that McFadden and Holkar once traveled to Tibet to follow the footsteps of McFadden’s great uncle C. Suydam Cutting, a pioneering explorer and naturalist, who was among the first Westerners to enter the forbidden city of Lhasa in the late 1920s. (Cutting befriended the Dalai Lama at that time and offered him such gifts as dachshunds and Dalmatians. In return, the adventurer received the first Lhasa Apso dog that was brought to the U.S.)
McFadden’s initial trek to Tibet with Holkar planted the seeds for the Sacred River Festival — to salute and preserve India’s rich musical and dance heritage, according to Olden. From a design perspective, she incorporated India’s intricate embroidery and other traditional techniques into her couture creations. Olden said the festival was “a profound reminder of McFadden’s legacy — her dedication to celebrating the beauty of the past and her enduring connection to the people and places she held dear.”
McFadden’s appreciation for India’s aesthetic and artistic traditions was the inspiration for the property to carry on the tradition of the 22nd annual festival. This year’s theme was “Lost and Found, the Ebb and Flow of Tradition.” The four-day event featured performances and lectures that underscored not only the contemporary relevance of each featured artist, but also how the arts have changed while maintaining their roots. Last month’s lineup included the multidiscipline performer Jitender Singh Jamwal, Kathak dancer Jyotsna Sohoni, singer Kaluram Bamania, Hindu violinist Anupriya Deotale, master puppeteer Ganpat Sakharam Masage, the Maihar band and dancer Anjana Rajan.
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