Maria Cornejo: 'I've Met Carla Bruni Before And There's Not Much Up There'

Designer Maria Cornejo had an interesting response to if she'd rather dress Michelle Obama or First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at the New Yorker Festival over the weekend. Style.com reports that Cornejo answered, "I've met Carla Bruni before and there's not much up there," but of Michelle, Cornejo said, "She's actually doing things that are interesting. She's not just arm candy."

Cornejo has, in fact, both praised and clothed FLOTUS before. She previously told HuffPost blogger Sabine Heller that she designs for "strong, brainy women like Michelle Obama," and that she admires Michelle's "compassion, intelligence and the fact that she's an inspiration to so many. She has a lot of humility."

Michelle has worn the designer's frocks several times -- one of her favorites being a dress with different-colored shapes printed on it that she donned to meet the G-20 wives.

Comments

[esp2001]

02:36 AM on 10/07/2010

What qualifies a fashion designer to offer opinions on one's intelligence or capabilities? Stick to what you do well - fashion!

[Indie thinker]

07:51 PM on 10/06/2010

Michelle wins again!

[Karama]

08:27 PM on 10/06/2010

What exactly did she win?

[VanTroi]

08:28 PM on 10/06/2010

Praise and respect

[Violinhunter]

07:12 PM on 10/06/2010

Maybe there's not much up there but perhaps there's lots down there. I say she must be pretty bright because she is married to one of the most influential men on the planet, no? How many women can say that?

[Karama]

05:53 PM on 10/06/2010

There must be almost 200 first ladies in the world. Why focus on Carla Bruni?

[Karama]

02:52 PM on 10/06/2010

When it comes to fashion ("who would you rather dress?"), compare MO to Chantal Biya. At least they're the same height, and same size. Compare Carla Sarkozy to Samantha Cameron. They're about the same height and size.

[esp2001]

02:34 AM on 10/07/2010

Ridiculous! One could suspect that your criteria are not hight and size...

[Karama]

04:36 AM on 10/07/2010

Not ridiculous at all, in my opinion! It makes more sense to compare people who are roughly the same size.

I'd like to repeat that there are a whole lot of first ladies in the world. Why do you think the focus is on Mrs Sarkozy?

[Karama]

02:23 PM on 10/06/2010

Well, Cornejo can dress MO. Dior dresses CS.

[Gavin Saunders]

09:51 PM on 10/05/2010

I don't wish to take anything away from Michelle but pitting her this way against others is absurd and I hate when the media does it.

Tell us also the context of her having met Ms. Bruni before.

She may have known her from her modelling days for all we know.

Huffpo, please stop going the way of Murdoch's media enterprises.

You should be better than this.

[vain jane]

07:21 PM on 10/05/2010

Like I said, but this type of comment always mysteriously disappears, Carla Bruni is a musician and a poet, and Michelle Obama is a hospital manager. I would rather meet a poet.

[Indie thinker]

09:07 PM on 10/06/2010

Carla's face looks like a cracking statue, so poetry and the arts is fitting.

[mamacat]

08:25 AM on 10/05/2010

Michelle has both brains and beauty - quite a combination. I suspect she would have made a pretty decent President herself.

[Exene]

05:26 PM on 10/05/2010

Why the past tense? She might still make a pretty decent president!

[Indie thinker]

07:52 PM on 10/06/2010

This country isn't ready for black female president yet, hell, evidently we're not even ready for a white female president.

[Karama]

12:58 AM on 10/07/2010

Interesting! I just looked out the window - I saw pigs flying! Having said that, nobody knows the future. Good luck!

[whalepeace]

01:25 AM on 10/06/2010

Michelle Obama is no dummy, but talking as if her intelligence is top-notch or of presidential caliber is silly. Her grades and test scores were not sufficient to get into Princeton --- these Ivy League schools give preference to relatives of alumni and Michelle got in because her brother was an alum. Her brother is very tall, 6'5" or 6'6" and got into Princeton on athletics. Michelle also did not pass the Illinois bar exam on her first try. She is not super smart, she is a smart woman who worked and studied hard and got some lucky breaks.

[Indie thinker]

09:01 PM on 10/06/2010

You say MO is not super smart, well CS is not smart at all. How about that?!

[RobertHenryEller]

06:25 AM on 10/05/2010

This purports to be the style section. Well, I guess that means it covers lack of style, too. Hence the headline and quote from this designer.

Neither HuffPost nor the designer show much style in stating or posting it.

Slow style news day I guess. Some days, it's a better choice to stay slow. But that's not what an editor is paid to do, is it?

[Gavin Saunders]

10:01 PM on 10/05/2010

I'd dearly love to hear how they justify it.

C'mon anonymous, tell us.

[jaslyn]

12:34 AM on 10/05/2010

oh brother. What? she's all about what a woman's accomplished and how smart she is?? She's a designer, no one cares about her other opinions.

[Nicole Dixson]

11:22 PM on 10/04/2010

Maybe as she chips away at her face, it is causing pieces of her brain to flake off? Hmm...

[logic-a-go-go]

08:54 PM on 10/04/2010

Oh, snap! But I do believe her!

[SojournerForTruth]

08:40 PM on 10/04/2010

VTL, Bite Me! Did I spell that correctly?

[patriciacaldwell]

08:11 PM on 10/04/2010

Another headline to create traffic! This remark was made during a panel discussion of six designers. They were asked who they would rather design for - Michelle or Carla. All of the designers said they would rather create clothes for Michelle because of her work and the fact that she showcases American designers. Another designer pointed out that Michelle is a serious woman who enjoys clothes and that she wears clothes that other women can relate to, unlike Nancy Reagan. I don't know her name or why she wasn't mentioned. Apparently this single remark generates clicks.

[wishfulslinking]

09:17 PM on 10/04/2010

A necessary post.