EXCLUSIVE: Maria Cornejo Talks Fashion and Beauty at Japan Fundraiser

I have returned from a splendid afternoon at the Fashion Girls for Japan charity sample sale at the Bowery Hotel. One of Michelle Obama's favorite designers Maria Cornejo was in the house. Girls stripped in the corner and all over. Julie Gilhart (y'all know Julie, right?) caught a chill and tossed on a Bess black jacket with awesome metal spikes. Everyone who was anybody was there.

It was wonderful to meet the famous designer Maria Cornejo. Her powerful imagination and vivid use of color makes her clothing quite alluring. The First Lady wears her designs frequently, and you can spot her dresses in all the top fashion magazines.

Her style advice: "Just find what suits you and have fun. Fashion is supposed to make you feel good."

As for makeup and skincare products, Maria Cornejo wears a lot of Shiseido products. She uses a Shiseido cream "in the black jar," which is probably one of the Future Solution Total Revitalizing creams. She's friendly with Shiseido's creative director Dick Page and so she also receives "dozens of lipsticks" from the brand.

Cornejo, who I might add is gorgeous in person, also shared that she fancies the Avalon Organics CoQ10 line.

The Fashion Girls for Japan event, a benefit for victims of the Japan's earthquake and tsunami, was near and dear to the designer.

"I have a lot of Japanese friends in the fashion business," said Cornejo. "My husband travels to Japan frequently."

"I'm Chilean and I grew up in a country where there are earthquakes, and it makes you feel so helpless and vulnerable. In this case, it was not only an earthquake, but a nuclear threat."

Having just returned from Paris two weeks ago, Cornejo said she is relieved to get back to work.  She said her schedule has "slowed down a tiny bit, now that there are no shows." Lately, she has been busy picking out fabrics and colors for her clothing line.

For a designer who has catapulted to fame because of Michelle Obama, Maria Cornejo is still refreshingly grounded.  She will send batches of her clothing to Michelle Obama, and she said, "I never know if she will take five or 20 items."

Also, Cornejo added that she never knows what day the First Lady will step out in one of her pieces. "I am always pleasantly surprised to see her wearing my clothes," she said.