Mary Jane Marcasiano (she/her)

Mary Jane Marcasiano is the president of her eponymous design company in New York City. ​Since 1978, she has designed clothing and accessories under her brand and for other prestigious fashion companies. She is the recipient of the Cartier, DuPont, Cutty Sark, and Wool Knit Fashion Awards and a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Marcasiano has designed costumes for DanceBrazil, the New York City Ballet, RythMEK at Jacob’s Pillow, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, and Michael Thomas Lab. Since 2010, she has designed the costumes for Grammy Award-winning singer Angélique Kidjo, including for her PBS special Angélique Kidjo and Friends: Spirit Rising. Marcasiano’s costume work includes the short film Ate Quando, the award-winning feature film by Bruno Barreto Reaching for the Moon, and Barreto’s period HBO miniseries The American Guest. Marcasiano designed the costumes for the theater piece Collaboration Warhol and Basquiat. She has produced several films in Brazil (Ginga, Reaching for the Moon, Alair Gomes) and in the United States has produced a documentary film on Jack Lenor Larsen (2016). She is the programmer for Cinema Tropical’s Music+Film series and the founder of their Brazilian film initiative Janeiro in New York and Veredas in conjunction with Film Lincoln Center. In 2007, Marcasiano created the Made With Love Project, a global nonprofit initiative dedicated to raising funds and awareness for NGOs aiding women and children in need in Brazil, Africa, and Haiti. She is a graduate of Parsons School of Design and The New School, and in 2019 received a master’s degree from New York University Gallatin focusing on the intersection of art, nonprofits, and social change.