Photos: Courtesy of Zero + Maria Cornejo / Courtesy of Project No. 8
It’s a cross-country season for Maria Cornejo. Fresh off the tenth anniversary party for Ikram Goldman’s Ikram boutique in Chicago this weekend, the designer is in Los Angeles, where she’s doing some celebrating of her own. Tonight, she’ll host a dinner for Paula Hayes, whose glass terraria, ceramic birdhouses, and silicone planters she’s showcasing for the next six weeks in her Melrose Avenue boutique. Hayes’ art will be familiar to anyone who’s visited MoMA since last November. Her installation, Nocturne of the Limax Maximus, was on view in the museum’s lobby until mid-April, and the vivid green plants encased within their handblown glass sculptures provided a striking counterpoint to New York’s long, dreary winter. “Paula is an artist who works with organic shapes and forms in unexpected materials,” Cornejo told Style.com. (She’s also a longtime client; Hayes wears Cornejo’s designs almost exclusively.) “I love the way that her terraria are at once very futuristic-looking, yet still encompass the natural world.” (One of said terraria is above.) The best part of the arrangement? Says Cornejo: “Our ficus tree will get a new home in a silicone planter.”
No rest for the green-thumbed, though. Next week, Cornejo’s back in New York, where on Thursday, she’ll host yet another event—her first ever for her fledgling menswear collection. (She shows a few key men’s looks on the women’s runway.) At Project No. 8 Men’s on the Lower East Side, Cornejo will be on hand to style guys, selling the limited-edition tees she designed with husband Mark Borthwick to benefit Doctors Without Borders, and perhaps most tantalizing of all, offering the collaborative Common Projects x Maria Cornejo sneakers (below) that even her own stores don’t carry.
Maria Cornejo will be at Project No. 8 Men’s (38 Orchard St., NYC) from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, May 19; to RSVP, email rsvp@projectno8.com.
—Nicole Phelps