The badass women issue

“Fashion should be a reflection of our times,” says Maria

Cornejo, one of New York’s most respected independent

designers, who recently celebrated 20 years in business, a

feat she can attribute only to the fact that she has always

made clothes with the intention of making women feel good

about themselves.

“As a woman, I know insecurities,” she says. “Wearing the

wrong thing can set you off. I’m not expecting women to look

li ke 15 -yea r-old models or forcing them to be a muse.”

Give Cornejo a jumpsuit ( her current favorite is an olive

green wrap style with ankle straps) and she’s ready for battle.

Versatility and function are practical considerations for

women today, especially since they have started to outnum-

ber men in the workforce over the past decade, and that

demographic shift is beginning to

being at home with the kids. “It’s not easy to define a modern

working woman these days, as we come in so many forms,”

she says. “I think of her as driven, focused, and working hard

to manage all aspects of her life, including making time for

her family and friends.”

As with pretty much everything else in society these

days, fashion tastes have become quite divisive and polariz-

ing. On one side are designers who present overtly sexual-

ized styles and receding hemlines (at Saint Laurent,

Jacquemus, and the new Celine) as weapons of empower-

ment. On the other side are designers who make a persua-

sive ca se that cloth ing ca n be a for m of a r mor, a nd with the

global conversation happening right now over sexual

harassment and unequal treatment of women in the work-

place, do we rea lly need to be stir r ing the pot?

that embraces women’s empowerment by ERIC WILSON

FEBRUARY 2019 InSTYLE 109

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(CONTINUED ON PAGE 134)