CORNEJO TAILOR’S

SINCE 1920

The art of sewing stories

It was at number 28 of Madrid’s Cava Baja street where Sastrería Cornejo (Cornejo Tailor’s) began its journey in 1920, when Humberto Cornejo and his wife Gabina Olivar received as a wedding gift a small collection of costumes that they began to rent to the general public. In 1932, as they moved to Calle Magdalena 2, they began to supply costumes for theater, zarzuela, revue, and variety shows throughout Spain, as well as for some Spanish cinema films.

At the end of the 50s, producer Samuel Bronston landed in Madrid and Sastrería Cornejo entered its glorious years. Its costume stock multiplied by five, thanks to big cinema productions, such as The Pride and the Passion, El Cid, Taras Bulba, 55 days at Peking, Lawrence of Arabia, A Fistful of Dollars, Doctor Zhivago or Chimes at Midnight, just to name a few. Cornejo then dressed big stars like Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, Sofia Loren or John Wayne.

In subsequent decades, Cornejo secured its position in the international market, in addition to the Spanish theater and film scene. The firm was in charge of costumes in movies such as Nicolás and Alexandra, Dune, The Horseman on the Roof, Vatel, The dog in the Manger, Shakespeare in love, The Girl of your Dreams, Gladiator, Alatriste, Agora, Elisabeth, The Favourite or While at war. It has participated in award-winning productions, with a toll of 13 Oscars, 27 Goya Awards, 12 César Awards and 7 BAFTA Awards so far.

Today, Humberto Cornejo de la Cuesta, grandson of the founders, runs the tailor shop along with his children, Paula and Humberto. The firm’s headquarters moved in 2001 to a new four-story building on Rufino González street, where they amount over 15,000 m2 of facilities, together with several warehouses on the outskirts of Madrid that house over 1,000,000 pieces of clothing, footwear and accessories from all the ages. In addition, in their workshops all kinds of garments suited for each project are handcrafted. Every year they participate in more than 500 productions, inside and outside Spain’s borders.