Maria Cornejo has been using responsibly made fabrics for years. Few are better placed than she is to make the troubling observation that fabric mills are discontinuing these kinds of materials and turning back to less responsibly made ones. Hazarding a guess at a showroom visit earlier this week, she figured it was happening because there’s not enough demand for sustainable textiles.
Against the backdrop of an early summer heat wave and with Air Quality alerts pinging on our phones, you get the distinct impression that many fashion producers and consumers (I’m not laying blame here, I’m accepting it) are sticking their heads in the sand and hoping that calamity comes to other industries. Then again, maybe calamity has already struck—it would explain the recent shuddering of bricks-and-mortar department stores and their online counterparts, at least.
Acting resourcefully, Cornejo went shopping in her own archive for materials this season, reissuing shapes that will be familiar to her customers. The subtly fab slim-line dress in look 2, for instance, has appeared in previous collections in silk charmeuse and velvet, but here has been cut in a slubby triacetate and linen blend called Doppio that she had on hand. The cocoon jacket in look 15 is made from a stretchy stripe fabric, left over from her spring 2024 outing. The fancier elements of the collection are rounded out with separates and a sharp new jumpsuit made from an organic cotton eco denim.
The mood of the moment complicates the inherent pleasures of the shopping experience, but with her commitment to reducing waste, there’s honest to goodness virtue in Cornejo’s clothes this season.