Interview with María Pía Cornejo

With her new capsule-art collection, "World of Children", the Chilean designer embarks on a tour of New York, Paris and Miami to reach new audiences and markets.

In collaboration with two artists from Maul, Jonathan González and Francisca Valenzuela, where each garment was serigraphed and painted by hand with abstractions of children's drawings in fluorescent blue, fuchsia, green and orange, creating this proposal that seeks light, joy, freedom and innocence of childhood among so much planetary confusion.

In the following interview, María Pía Cornejo tells us about her process of internationalizing her career and the challenges she has faced on this path.

How was your experience presenting your collection at the Style Hunter Milano showroom, at the Refinery Hotel, Manhattan? What were your learnings?

It was quite positive. This is my second participation in the same showroom in Manhattan since last year we had also participated. The truth is that we have been able to get to know the tastes of this market better and, above all, it has allowed us to see and understand, for example, issues such as sizing, since the sizes we use for Chile or Europe are a little smaller. The body of North American women is larger, but not necessarily fatter. What is important and significant  been to observe that the brand has very good  acceptance above all of a segment in New York that is related to the arts, within this segment it should be noted that this public highly values ​​handwork, unique clothing and noble materials. 

Soon you will be presenting your collection in Paris, what are your expectations? For this presentation, did you make any changes to the collection, considering that it is a market other than the United States? 

Well, actually, I came from there, we went to visit the showroom, I had meetings with the owner and we finished planning some things with the fashion consultant that is collaborating with me. Right now the Concept store -Showrrom is opening and the launch of our brand is this Monday, September 26.

My expectations are always the same, basically to generate commercial and cultural ties to be able to develop different types of exchange with the different actors in the industry: businessmen in the sector, new clients, artists, consultants, celebrities, etc., basically, everything that make possible the expansion and consolidation of the brand. In this sense Paris  It turned out better than I expected, since the collection has not yet been officially launched and a prestigious styling company asked me to collaborate with pieces from the collection for a commercial shoot in Paris. It all adds up.

The collection that was taken to Paris is the same, the only thing we did have to change were the sizes, since the public there has a different body.

This second semester you will be presenting your collection in an on-site fashion show, could you give us a preview of what will be seen and how are you preparing?

Unfortunately we made some changes and we had some problems, so it was decided to move the date to 2023.

Why is it important to you to be able to project your brand internationally?

In reality it is basically because what I do is fashion-art, High fashion or High end, as they call it in different parts of the world and it happens that people in Chile do not value art very much, the public that understands fashion and art is a very small segment of the population. It is much easier to sell art where there is more public, it is simple mathematics, if you go to Paris and look around a bit, you realize that it is full of art everywhere and that is because people value art much more, they buy it and is willing to pay  The same thing happens in New York or Milan.

I think that if you make art you should sell where people value and buy art.

On the other hand, I feel that looking for internationalization in your company is a tremendous challenge, because it is going to conquer a great dream, it reflects the expansion of your company worldwide, a large-scale growth. It means breaking with everything established and leaving the comfort zone to conquer new lands and that is what motivates me the most, what moves me the most are the great challenges, those that are built throughout the  time and perseverance.

 In parallel, I think my open-mindedness also influences, in my case I have always understood the world in its different cultures, languages ​​and colors, accepting and embracing diversity. I love traveling and living in different places and learning languages, so I can't stay still for a long time in the same place, so creating an international company allows me to always be traveling.

What have been the challenges of internationalizing your brand?

The truth is that everything has been a constant challenge, since when I wanted to start studying costume design. 

The challenges of internationalizing started when I started studying this degree and that was when I decided to go to study in Milan. In order to pay for my studies and support myself I had to work, when I studied in Buenos Aires and Santiago it was also the same, they were difficult times, everything was without a scholarship, without credit and without sponsorship from anyone.

I left my parents' house young, chasing a dream, I gave up all the comforts, life taught me that if you want something you must earn it and all the difficulties I had to live were not in vain, they strengthened me.

From the beginning it had had internationalization as its objective, it had spent many years studying how to do it consciously or unconsciously. I understood that the first thing was to design avant-garde or at least make a brand creative or unique enough to attract attention abroad, so that's how I started designing and building collections, some of which were very experimental, and this made the international press pay attention to my designs. . We began to receive invitations to different catwalks and that's where the great challenges began.

Along the way you understand that to achieve internationalization you must make your brand recognized in the world and for that you must be present on the most important catwalks in the world since these are the ones that give you the global showcase that international positioning requires.  The problem begins when you are just starting out and you realize that to participate in any of these catwalks you must pay the foot of a house, your pink dream ends there, because  You have to start raising capital and this is when you stop being an artist and become an entrepreneur-businessman. 

When you realize this, a new and long path of learning begins, you leave your artistic part aside to become a student of: commercial engineering, economics, international logistics, sales, foreign trade and a long etc. 

We have been a company for barely 5 years and the truth is that that is nothing, but I feel that we have achieved a lot in a very short time and I know that many challenges are coming and each time bigger and more difficult. The most important thing is to have the temper, the strength to be able to withstand all the adversities that arise.

I think another great constant challenge has been to never lose motivation, since this energy is what lifts you and your team up on those terrible days where you want to cry and throw in the towel.

How do you see the future of María Pía Cornejo?

I see it very prosperous. I see the brand very well positioned in different fashion capitals, with great catwalks all over the world from Milan through Paris to Tokyo for  name a few capitals, I see the brand in constant growth.

I feel that when you are born with a dream, you know what you want in life and if you know what you want, you go for it. This thought, added to talent and maximum perseverance, inevitably leads you to achieve your goals, even the most unattainable ones.