As milestones are apt to do, Maria Cornejo's tenth anniversary put the designer in a reflective state of mind. She summed up today's show as "all the things I believe in." On the macro level, Cornejo's design ethos—which, it should be noted, is wholly her own—is about duality: hard versus soft, masculine versus feminine, and chaos versus control. It played out here, for instance, in the tension of hard-edged geometric shapes relating to the body's curves; a grouping that featured a riot of layered patterns and textures reined into cohesion; and even in the few new menswear looks, made androgynous enough to be worn by Cornejo's female clientele. Speaking of that dedicated fan club, the collection visited all of Cornejo's signatures that keep them coming back every season to build their wardrobe. In addition to their cocoon jackets and smartly draped silk dresses, they may consider adding the new silhouette of a lean knit dress, the many perforated leathers, or a black washed silk jumpsuit worn under a bone hooded coat that brought a chic and simple breath of fresh air to a shape we've seen so much this week.
