The noted designer Maria Cornejo, whose independent luxury womenswear brand has been in Nolita for 27 years, has taken the storefront at 42 Walker, the former Luv, Michael space just east of Church, for her atelier and store, called Zero + Maria Cornejo.

Everything is designed and produced entirely in New York City and Made in NY certified. The New York Times profiled Cornejo for her 25th anniversary, on the even of being granted a lifetime achievement award in 2023 from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

The opening date is still being finalized; when they open this is a major score for the Tribeca Design District. Her clients include Cindy Sherman, Michelle Obama (the first lady invited her to be part of a fashion workshop at the White House), Tilda Swinton, Laura Linney, and longtime Tribecan Christy Turlington.

Her brand, which she owns with business partner Marysia Woroniecka, has notably stayed independent of the fashion world’s hazards.

“I never meant to be a rebel,” Cornejo told The New York Times in an interview a few days before the CFDA award ceremony in 2023. “It was more just doing my stuff in a quiet way that I believed was best. I’m quite stubborn. I wanted to make wearable clothes that would feel good, but I didn’t want boring mom clothes. The goal was to have a great collection, be able to pay everybody on time. Pay myself. Be home to see my kids. And have a vacation every once in a while.”

Abridged from her website: Cornejo was born in Chile and moved to England as a political refugee with her family when she was a child. She worked in London, Paris, Milan and Tokyo, where she was part of the design partnership Richmond Cornejo and developed her own signature collection.

In 1996, she moved to New York and two years later transformed a raw space in Nolita into her atelier and store known as Zero + Maria Cornejo, where she made garments with upcycled materials. Over the years she developed new ways of cutting fabrics based on the simplest geometric forms. “A champion of women in the fashion industry and beyond, her work is guided by the idea of creating wearable luxury for real women.”

She was a winner of the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards in 2006; is a founding member of the CFDA’s Sustainability Committee; was appointed to the CFDA board of directors in 2019 by the new chairman, Tom Ford; and sits on the board at the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s Women.nyc, created to help support, empower and connect women business owners.