Sidewalk Catwalk - Mannequin Struts in a Maria Cornejo

Our next Sidewalk Catwalk fashion designer to be featured is Maria Cornejo.  THIS is the design that moved me to start taking photographs of the mannequins along Broadway, and to write about their designers.

Maria Cornejo was born in Chile.  During while she was a child her family moved to England.  There is a very well written account of her early life by Sabine Heller, entitled "A Glimpse Of Designer Maria Cornejo: A Michelle Obama Favorite".  Her childhood was not an easy one.  Yet she overcame many hardships to become a stellar designer with her own thriving business.  She now lives in New York City with her husband, Mark Borthwick and their children.

Maria’s varied career spans London, Paris, Milan and Tokyo.  She ultimately developed her own signature “Maria Cornejo” collection, and has worked as a creative consultant for major retailers, including Joseph, Tehen and Jigsaw.

In 1996 she moved to New York City. In 1997 she opened an atelier and store in Nolita; since relocated to 33 Bleeker Street.  In 2006 Maria Cornejo opened a second store in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan, an area that has transformed into a very chic and fashionable location.

In 2006 Maria Cornejo was honored as the winner of the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Award.  She was recently featured in Modern Painters magazine, May 2010 issue; March 25, 2010 issue of Womens Wear Daily (WWD).  My favorite the multiple page article in Surface China that highlights some of her designs (could only enjoy the photographs, since I do not know how to read Chinese, yet).

Maria Cornejo shows her new collections during the New York Fashion Week and also in Paris.

You can check out more of her stunningly sculpted and sleek designs at her website: www.zeromariacornejo.com.  Be sure to return regularly to see her latest collections.  There are at LEAST 5 items in her 2010 winter collection  (see photos of items 4, 15, 21, 38, and 40) and 7 from the resort collection (see photos of items 2, 8, 9, 14, 17, 22, and 24) that I have got to get.  Check out her site soon, to see my favorites, before they rotate to the next season's fashions.

I hope you are thus far enjoying “our” stroll along Broadway, as we admire mannequin interpretations by top fashion designers.  I am certainly learning a lot, as I am inspired by these designs to learn more about the people who create them.  All on display in the Sidewalk Catwalk.

Sidewalk Catwalk - Elie Tahari

The third installment in the Sidewalk Catwalk series is a mannequin design by Elie Tahari.


Born in Jerusalem, Elie Tahari arrived in the USA as an electrician in 1971, with only $100 in his pocket. A true rags-to-riches story that we love. Selling clothing in a Greenwich Village boutique gave Tahari the education and exposure to women's fashions. Inspired by the New York City nightlife and disco scene he began designing womenswear. In 1974, only a few years after arriving to the USA, Tahari was one of the first fashion designers to open a boutique on Madison Avenue, which is now fashion boutique heaven.


In the 1980's Tahari turned his fashion design skills to the tailored suit. The timing was perfect. Tahari and his wife expanded the business over the years. Now there are Tahari Boutiques in Atlanta, Bal Harbour, Boca Raton, Boston, East Hampton, and Las Vega, and showrooms in New York City and Milan Italy. His designs include womenswear dresses, coats; menswear, and accessories and handbags.


And my first high-end designer gown was a black velvet Tahari, with a dramatic waist-to-floor pleated chiffon train, that I purchased at Bloomingdale's at the Riverside Mall in New Jersey. The dress remains one of my favorites.


The exhibit ends September 3, so hurry to see the mannequins strut down Broadway, between Times Square and Herald Square, in New York City's Sidewalk Catwalk.