Maria Cornejo

Brooklyn's coolest shop hits a major milestone.

Fashion people do breakfast. And cocktails. And later dinners. But to gather a who's who of the industry in one room for a long, semi-leisurely lunch is a notable feat. Yesterday, the CFDA and Lexus pulled it off by inviting everyone from designer Maria Cornejo to Coco Rocha to Bryan Boy for a crab-toast dotted spread at Jean-Georges's wildly successful farm-to-table venture, ABC Kitchen. The occasion? Announcing the winners of the CFDA/Lexus Eco-Fashion Challenge, a competition launched in 2010 to recognize designers who are following the practices all designers should be following.

It's CFDA Awards day! The Met Ball may be a fashion spectacle of epic proportions, but the CFDA awards is really about the people that make the fashio

The many twinkling candles at last night’s Glamour reception for Heidi Klum could only be matched by the supermodel’s equally incandescent Gucci mini and megawatt smile. The event, held at SoHo’s B&B wine bar, was a celebration of Klum’s August cover. Well-schvitzed guests piled in from the heat to sip sparkling rosé in minuscule outfits—which you know are weather appropriate when Michael Kors comments on friend Anne Christensen’s getup by saying, “the whole city should be wearing a romper!“ Designer Chris Benz, fresh off a New York mag centerfold, was there to celebrate the Glamour girl, who he describes as “embracing a certain level of intelligence that I always aspire to in my collections.” Nearby Maria Cornejo, who’ll soon be departing for the Greek Isles agreed: “They have a life, they’re real women. They approach fashion with a sense of humor and also intelligence.”

The bizarre partnership between the CFDA and Lexus is back for the second annual CFDA/Lexus Eco Fashion Challenge. Last year, we went to the event where CFDA members Monique Pean, Costello Tagliapietra and Maria Cornejo were announced as the honorees and given $25,000 each to help fun their shows or presentations. The CFDA hopes to continue to encourage and promote sustainable practices in the fashion industry by honoring another round of sustainable designers this September.

Tory Burch Deal: Roughly 60% off fall clothing, shoes and bags in what's always one of the craziest sales of the season When/Where: Thursday, December 9 through Monday, December 13. Thurs—Fri 11am;7pm, Sat—Sun 11am—4pm, Mon 11am—7pm. Clothingline, 261 W. 36th St between Seventh and Eighth Aves, second floor (no phone) Opening Ceremony Deal: 30% to 50% off labels like Alexander Wang, Altuzarra, and Proenza Schouler When/Where: Begins Friday, November 26; ongoing. Soho: Mon—Sat 11am—8pm, Sun noon—7pm. 35 Howard St between Broadway and Crosby Sts (212-219-2688.) Ace Hotel: Sun—Tue 10am—9pm, Wed 11am—7pm, Thu—Sat 11am—10pm. 1190-1192 Broadway at 29th St (646-695-5680.) Bird Deal: 25% off fall 2010 merchandise from Suno, Swedish Hasbeens, Phillip Lim, APC, and more When/Where: Friday, November 26 through Tuesday, December 28th. Mon—Fri noon—8pm, Sat noon—7pm; Sun noon—6pm. Cobble Hill: 220 Smith St at corner of Butler Street St (718-797-3774). Park Slope: 316 Fifth Ave between 2nd and 3rd Sts (718-768-4940). Williamsburg: 203 Grand St between Bedford and Driggs Aves (718-388-1655).

Cobbler extraordinaire George Esquivel was on hand at Maria Cornejo's Bleecker St. store last night to celebrate the launch of his fall/winter shoe collaboration with Cornejo. Esquivel, who handcrafts exquisite leather shoes in his Orange County workshop (he employs only 8-12 craftsmen), only produces a few shoes a year so he's game to collaborate. He says it allows him to explore other design concepts. But only if the shoe fits (I couldn't resist). "The collaborations that I do have to be seamless and grow organically," Esquivel told us. "Maria read about me at the Vogue Fashion Fund last year, called me up and we hit it off." It's the first year Esquivel and Cornejo have teamed up, and this is Esquivel's first fall/winter line for Cornejo. "[Cornejo's] collection is structured and architectural so we tried to create lines in the shoes and give them some texture and shapes that are just a little different," Esquivel said. "They're just a little off-center."

We’re not sure whose idea this was, but the collaboration between the CFDA and Lexus is certainly a bizarre one. Regardless, their goal is definitely one we can get behind. They established the inaugural Eco Fashion Challenge as a platform to recognize and support the industry’s leaders in sustainable design. From the press release: “To qualify as a finalist, each designer had to demonstrate a commitment to ecologically responsible design and production practices, with a minimum of 25% of their collection being produced in an environmentally friendly manner. The judges selected the three honorees based on design credibility, business acumen, and eco-commitment, with attention paid to eco fabrics, materials, processes, and packaging.” Last night, the winners were announced at a packed event dj’d by Fabrizio Moretti of the Strokes. Congrats to Costello Tagliapietra, Maria Cornejo and jewelry designer Monique Péan, who won amongst some pretty stiff competition: Behnaz Sarafpour, Marcia Patmos, Organic by John Patrick, Slow and Steady Wins the Race, Subversive, and Rogan. All ten finalists’ work was shown in gallery style displays with blurbs about what they do to keep their design process eco-friendly. We also got a chance to congratulate winners Monique Péan, Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra and ask them about the challenge.

On Saturday, The New Yorker Festival presented Fashion Forward, a panel that included Maria Cornejo, Phillip Lim, Naeem Khan and David Neville and Marcus Wainwright from Rag & Bone. As you may have heard, Maria Cornejo expressed her not so high opinion ofCarla Bruni-Sarkozy at said panel. We were there, and surrounding that brief and hilarious moment, was a very thoughtful and open discussion about the business of fashion. The New Yorker labeled these designers “The New Guard.” They have all established measurable success and are probably on their way to becoming household names. Cornejo and Khan have designed dresses for the first lady. Phillip, David and Marcus have won CFDA awards. All of them have impressively withstood the shaky economy and none of them were born in the U.S.

Louis Vuitton Bags Still Endangered: A few weeks ago, we told you about the shortage of Louis Vuitton Canvas monogram bags. As a result, LV stores in Paris are closing an hour earlier than usual. Apparently, LV can't keep up with the high demand and want to save inventory for the upcoming holiday season. {Vogue UK} Stella McCartney For Target: Stella McCartney has designed a capsule collection for Target. Sadly, the collection is only for Australian Targets. The collection includes everything from a lace cocktail dress to heavily embellished shifts. Do we foresee an uptick in Quantas sales? {Racked} Fashion Week Twitpics: Modelinia has compiled a great slideshow of all the insider twit pics from fashion week. You'll get a behind the scenes look at preparations for fashion week's shows and parties. {Modelinia}

Internet Famous: Style.com compiled a list of landmark moments in blogging. We're on it for Adventures in Copyright! {Style.com} I'm a Magda: In honor of Sex and the City 2 coming out tomorrow, Refinery 29 compiled a list of the tackiest SATC products. But where are the Madga, Steve, and Harry apparel items? {Refinery29} Pool Party: Poppy de Villeneuve shot this short film, starring Liu Wen and Edoardo Ballerini. Make sure to check out the behind the scenes photos by Hanneli, too. {NOWNESS}

It's pretty easy to be green living in New York. Most people don't have cars, there's not a lot of space to light, sometimes it's harder to find not-

On the Street: Ruby's shearling jacket is so perfect, and we also have a huge crush on this blog. {Vanessa Jackman} About the Boys: The Moment disse