A recent trip to the Middle East proved fruitful for Maria Cornejo. Face time has become an increasingly important part of the designer’s business, even as e-commerce replaces brick-and-mortar stores, and Cornejo was there to burnish client relationships. Making connections of another kind, she found herself quite taken with the way the local women put their clothes together, layering dresses, long tunics, or vests over pants. “It’s more about what you don’t see, and it’s so chic,” Cornejo remarked. The styling techniques made their way into her pre-fall lookbook.
Layering aside, Cornejo designed the collection for its high-season delivery time, with fabrics whose highly textural surfaces belie their airiness, from a nearly weightless puckered acetate to linen to a fil coupe jacquard made from organic cotton and recycled polyester. Shapes fall gracefully away from the body; the idea is to look polished in the heat, not perspire. That doesn’t mean these clothes lacked sex appeal. On the contrary, a lean jumpsuit with twisted straps at the back counts among the more provocative pieces in the Cornejo canon.
