With her new collection, the Chilean designer María Pía Cornejo embarks on a tour of New York, Paris, and Miami to reach new audiences and markets. In collaboration with two local artists, she created this proposal that seeks the light, joy, freedom, and innocence of childhood among so much planetary confusion.
The thoughts of María Pía Cornejo fly from Chile to other latitudes and creative worlds to reach a refuge in the midst of the times we are going through as humanity. ‘The global picture looks quite dark, hostile, and hopeless. A good exercise is to turn off the news and find a bright and happy place where we feel protected’, she reflects. This space is connected with her childhood and her painting classes from that time, where she lived between canvases, brushes, easels, oils, colors, human figures, and the intense smell of turpentine.
‘World of Children’ Spring-Summer 2023
This is how her new capsule-artistic collection, ‘World of Children’ (Spring-Summer 2023), in Cornejo’s opinion, aims to ‘rescue our inner child and live in a world of love to help our society and future generations.’ Together with two Chilean artists, Jonathan González and Francisca Valenzuela, each garment was silk-screened and hand-painted with abstractions of children’s drawings in fluorescent blue, fuchsia, green, and orange. This work turned out to be quite organic, based on drawings of disproportionate characters free of stereotypes -similar to those created by children-which leave an open space for interpretation.
‘I didn’t start with a clear and defined concept like I usually do. I let my unconscious flow; I sat down to draw and paint whatever came to mind at the time. Only halfway through the process did I understand what was trying to communicate,’ she says.
10 Looks and More…
As for the fabrics, gray linen and black cotton were chosen, which work well to apply the technique, symbolize the complex current moment, and contrast with the figures of high chromatic energy. Thus, 10 looks were obtained, made up of short or long mini-dresses and asymmetrical jumpsuits with a common element: large-volume rounded sleeves, which implies a shift from the geometric lines developed in previous projects.
María Pía & ‘World of Children’ in Three Cities
World of children will launch from June in three cities. As of 2021, Cornejo will be present at the Style Hunter Milano showroom until June 30, an Italian fashion consultant dedicated to promoting various talents in Italy and the United States, located in the multi-award-winning Refinery Hotel in the Garment District, the heart of Midtown Manhattan and in whose building the Colony Arcade appeared from the beginning of the 20th century, which housed many clothing and hat manufacturers. Then in September, the collection will be exhibited in Paris and Miami Beach. This itinerary has the logistical and strategic support of ProChile (institution of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that promotes the offer of Chilean goods and services in the world). The author adds that ‘last year we began to market the products permanently in the United States. By adding Paris, we want to expand the brand and close an alliance with a concept store to establish ourselves definitively in the capital of fashion. The idea is to add a destination each year to better understand our customers and markets with their different tastes and demands’.
Finally, the designer anticipates that this latest collection can be seen in a live fashion show during the second semester in a city in the northern hemisphere. This will mean her return to this type of event after three years of absence.
More information and virtual store, at mariapiacornejo.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Editorial Chile – University of Talca
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Editorial Chile – University of Talca
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Editorial Chile – University of Talca
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Editorial Chile – University of Talca
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Editorial Chile – University of Talca
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