Mary Ann Restivo was born in 1940, in South Orange, New Jersey. Following her father, who was a master tailor and owned a small clothing store, she studied retail and fashion design at the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey and at the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York between 1958 and 1961.

Restivo worked for several design companies, starting at the junior sportswear company Abby Michael in 1961. Over the years, she also worked for Bernard Levine, Petti for Jack Winter, Something Special, Sports Sophisticates and Mary Ann Restivo for Genre. She became the head designer of the women's blouse division of Dior New York in 1974, and she stayed with Dior until 1980, when with the help of investors she opened her own company, Mary Ann Restivo, Inc. Her line was a pioneer in career and professional clothing for women in the 1980s, with a focus "on good fit, excellent materials and manufacture, personal luxury without ostentation, and wearable good taste." She was also one of the first women designers to direct a fashion company.

In 1988, a major Seventh Avenue company, Leslie Fay Corporation, bought Mary Ann Restivo, Inc., and she stayed with the division as a designer until 1992, when Leslie Fay dropped her line. In the following years Restivo worked as an independent design consultant for Saks Fifth Avenue and Burberry. In 1999, she returned to design under her own name and introduced scarf and home accessories lines.

She received many awards for her work, including the Hecht Company Young Designers Award in 1968, and the Mortimer C. Ritter Award from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1973. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from the College of St. Elizabeth in 1986 and the Alumnus of the Year Award, American Association of Community and Junior Colleges in 1992. In 1993, she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor award.

Restivo was also active in professional organizations, a long-time member of the Council for Fashion Designers of America, a member of the Board of the Fashion Institute of Technology, and an advisor and designer critic at Parsons School of Design between 1992 and 2001.

Restivo died in 2015.

Sources

Feitelberg, Rosemary. 2015. "Designer Mary Ann Restivo Dies" Accessed March 16, 2018. http://wwd.com/business-news/human-resources/designer-mary-ann-restivo-dies-8091753/

Martin, Richard. n.d. "Mary Ann Restivo - Fashion Designer Encyclopedia" Accessed March 16, 2018. http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Pi-Ro/Restivo-Mary-Ann.html