Crepe 038; Cherry

McFadden has travelled 8216;8216;everywhere in the world, except Vietnam, Argentina and Chile8217;8217; and has been coming to India8212;for both work and inspiration8212;for over 20 years. Every February, for the last four years, she travels to the small town of Maheshwar near Indore, patronising Rehwa, the classical music and dance festival there.

8216;8216;I think Maheshwar is the most beautiful place in the world,8217;8217; she speaks in whispers, seated upright on a couch in a suburban Mumbai hotel, her flawless skin beautifully made up, and not a hair out of place. 8216;8216;This time, I8217;ve arranged for the editor of Hello magazine to cover it in a big way,8217;8217; she coos.

Everything about McFadden is propah, right from her African-printed crecirc;pe de chine dress to her just-right cherry pedicure.

8216;8216;Mary is the best model for her clothes,8217;8217; says director Pamela Rooks, who organises Rehwa along with her partner, Richard Holkar, the prince of Indore. 8216;8216;She has a fabulously thin frame and her clothes look best on her.8217;8217; Rooks recounts McFadden8217;s visits to Maheshwar8217;s Ahilya Fort resort. 8216;8216;She would wake up before any of us and run on the ghats. By breakfast, she was on her chair with her elaborate make-up on like a visual feast. She changes outfits 2-3 times a day, even if she isn8217;t going anywhere,8217;8217; she says.

At 60-plus, McFadden is a self-confessed tennis and squash junkie. 8216;8216;It8217;s in my genes, I come from a very athletic family,8217;8217; she says, adding that she stays at this hotel only because the squash trainer is an expert.

McFadden is as diva-esque as they come. She has no meals, just a small snack every day. 8216;8216;I have to stay thin to fit into my clothes,8217;8217; she says, holding out her jacket8217;s shoulders to explain how she fits into a model8217;s size. She8217;s also8212;glamourously so8212;had 11 husbands behind her. 8216;8216;And I don8217;t know how many boyfriends, there were some from everywhere,8217;8217; she laughs. McFadden admits to having an Indian boyfriend but won8217;t reveal who. We ask if she has found true love by now, to which she says, 8220;No, I8217;m not married at the moment.8221; But her boyfriends get younger every year.

McFadden worked with fashion designer and film-maker Muzaffar Ali in 1989, as costume director for his incomplete Zooni. 8216;8216;I thought Shashi Kapoor was so handsome, but then he got really fat,8217;8217; she quips. 8216;8216;And the beautiful Dimple8230; how does she look now?8217;8217; McFadden has seen 8216;8216;over one hundred8217;8217; Hindi films, but remembers very few of them. Her favourite is still Umrao Jaan.

Each collection of McFadden is inspired by her travels. She draws from ancient civilisations and cultures8212;such as Greek, African, Japanese, Zoroastrian, Moghul8212;to make clothes that float on the body. Her Moghul-inspired collection, made after Zooni, was called Shahjahan.

It is a well-known fact that she began her career as a journalist. She has edited fashion bible Vogue8217;s South African, American and French editions. 8216;8216;I started making dresses for myself in Africa and people in the US would buy them off my back,8217;8217; McFadden retraces her first steps into fashion. 8216;8216;When I returned, the American Vogue did a six-page photo-spread on me and I wore all my clothes. I had to give my own name for the merchandising credit.8221; With just one seamstress, McFadden launched her fashion label in 1972 and made one million dollars at her first show.

8216;8216;Mary has an acute and exhaustive knowledge on a variety of subjects,8217;8217; says Holkar, who also travelled with McFadden to Tibet five years ago. Besides the Rehwa festival, McFadden is also enamoured by the famous Maheshwari weave of Indore.

8216;8216;But because it8217;s pure cotton or silk, it8217;s high maintenance and Mary cannot use it in her clothes. She will be helping us export it as table linen,8217;8217; adds Rooks.

McFadden believes ancient civilisations have some of the best workmanship. 8216;8216;There8217;s so much time spent on it.8221; The designer is born to textiles. When she invented the permanently pleated polyester satin8212;a crease-free fabric that sprang back into shape8212;back in the 1970s, she won herself the status of a fashion icon.

We accompany McFadden to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Museum in Mumbai to partake in her passion for the antique. McFadden browses around the bronzes, some of which date back to the 10th century. 8216;8216;Can you see the detail?8221; she points to the engraved metal sarong, 8216;8216;It8217;s fantastic.8217;8217; Much of the museum fascinates her. Nepalese and Tibetan patkas, minakari enamel work and extensive Moghul miniatures which she says are the best in the world.

McFadden wants to see some new Indian talent. We suggest a high-end multi-designer store, but she refuses. 8216;8216;I8217;ve seen enough embroidery on Indian clothes.8217;8217; So there8217;s Be:, another multi-designer but casual ready-to-wear store. Less than five minutes in the store and she has made up her mind already. 8216;8216;Indian fashion seems to be getting better each year,8217;8217; she says. 8216;8216;In the beginning it wasn8217;t as good. It still isn8217;t, but yes, I think it8217;s getting there.8217;8217;