ZERO + MARIA CORNEJO
This NYC-based designer’s profile has been upped considerably over the past few months, ever since Michelle Obama bought several custom-made pieces, including the purple jacket worn during her husband’s pre-inauguration train trip to DC. But that jacket would not be a proper reference point for what was on display at Cornejo’s show, where more than one fashion editor’s expression could best be described as a facial recoil.
Cornejo seems to be drawing heavy inspiration from Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo, but her take on this aesthetic just seemed so off. There were “Sprockets”-style jumpsuits in black; two-tone drainpipe pants in mohair; joyless black cape-like knits and skinny black leather pants tucked into black leather boots.
We cannot fail to mention the skull-swallowing headgear resembling the look worn by Audrey Hepburn in the ski-chalet opening scene of “Charade,” when she first meets Cary Grant. Hepburn, of course, looked ridiculously chic; Cornejo’s models looked like bank robbers out of “Zoolander.”
We do not expect the First Lady to be placing any orders in the immediate future.
