It’s 10am on inauguration day and Maria
Cornejo has been receiving calls from every corner of the globe to her New York studio as she works on an upcoming collection for New York
Fashion Week. She’s one of a small handful of designers who has been fortunate
enough to be touched by the glittery, lightning-fast PR magic that is Michelle
Obama’s wardrobe. Ever since the new first lady began wearing Cornejo, Isabel
Toledo, Maria Pinto, Jason Wu, Thakoon and Narciso Rodriguez (who are all, coincidentally,
either Latin or Asian American) on the campaign trail, the world’s interest in
them has jumped in major ways. That might not be a new experience for
Rodriguez, who shot to fame when he designed Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s wedding dress
and is already an A-list favorite, but to the rest of the gang, it’s a big –
potentially business-saving — deal in an economy where designers are shutting
their doors left and right. In the hours leading up to the swearing-in
ceremony, Cornejo fills us in on how Obama came about wearing her clothing for
the inaugural Whistle Stop train tour.
It sounds like you’ve had a really busy
start to 2009. How did Michelle Obama end up wearing so much Zero + Maria
Cornejo during the campaign?
To be honest, we sell our clothes to a boutique
in Chicago called Ikram. It’s one of the most well-known stores in the area and
Michelle is a client there and had been buying our clothes off the rack. So
then the store owner, Ikram [Goldman], asked us to make a few extra pieces for
her.
Did she go into specifics about what she
was looking for?
She just said to me, ‘She loves your jacket; she loves the sleeves. Just do your bright colors. Make what you think she’d
like.’ So we did several versions of jackets, coats and dresses that we have in
the collection and sent them over to her in November. But the thing is,
we don’t know specifically when she’s going to wear any of it, if at all. We would
just be watching the news and spot it.
When did you create her outfit for the
Whistle Stop Tour?
That was a part of the selection of items we
sent to her before Thanksgiving.
What about your collection do you think
appeals to her so much?
Well it’s great because we try to make
clothes for real women. And apparently she really likes the fact that our
clothes are made in America. The price point is also really accessible and the
clothing is very free and easy. We use a lot of stretch fabrics that are easy
to just throw on. We dress real, intelligent women who aren’t fashion victims.
They have lives.
Her wardrobe choices are definitely a
stark contrast to what first ladies have traditionally worn in years past.
For me it’s great because I can relate to
her life and what she’s wearing. She’s the same age as me, and she’s a working woman with two children.
She’s been credited with giving a shot
in the arm of fashion by supporting such a wide array of American designers. Do you think she has the potential to revive the
industry on a longer term?
I think she will definitely help the
fashion business. Just the fact that she’s one day wearing Narciso [Rodriguez],
and then J. Crew the next. It’s not about being a fashion plate or feeling the
pressure to look like a picture in a fashion magazine. It’s very freeing
because she’s not dressing according to a fashion hierarchy. She picks and
chooses what she wants. And she pays for them. But the fashion is so — the main
thing is that big changes are on the horizon overall as a result of having this
young couple in the White House. It’s new blood, new energy.
Many designers have had to cancel their
shows for New York Fashion Week. How are your preparations coming?
We’re very excited about it. The show will
be on the 16th. We have less than a month to go. And we’re also
opening a new store.
So it sounds like business is booming for you despite the bad economy.
Yeah, to be honest we have been growing
steadily from season to season. But the Michelle thing of course doesn’t hurt.
