We recently ended BA Fashion Week - it was a big event at La Rural this past weekend. Out of the four days, there were lots of media coverage, several shows by some of Buenos Aires’ most prestigious designers. To name a few, Maria Cher, Prune, Juana de Arco, Ricky Sarkany, Jasmin Chebar and Wanama presented their Spring / Summer 2009 lines this weekend. Though some were *yawn* boring and others *gasp* out of this world, to me, two designers really stood out showing style, practicality and coming across with a sense of grace to their designs.

First of all, there’s Jasmin Chebar, a local designer whose designs I can best describe as simple yet luxurious. I first walked into her store on El Salvador shopping with my friend Mariu. I bought my first pair of Jasmin Chebar jeans on that day and love them still. Check out her website (http://www.jazminchebar.com.ar) and go to the store on the corner of Armenia and El Salvador if you get the chance.

Secondly there’s Flavia Martini - queen of texture. Her latest designs are really classy, feminine and modern. Her store is located just a few blocks away from the Jazmin Chebar store - near Armenia and Honduras. Check out her website at (http://www.flaviamartini.com).

Although I’ve read lots of articles online about how “fabulous” and “green” this particular BAF week was, I really have a hard time to find anything critical about this event at all, so I’m going to give my two cents. By the way, all photos are from the website of the organization that runs this event. Thank you.

1. Lack of organization. The people I’ve spoken to who have attended this event were more than a little disturbed at the lack of organization. Particularly at the parties for large sponsors. I mean, come on Nike, sitting the DJ on bleachers? What, you couldn’t spare a little desk from the greenroom with a white tablecloth over it? Or did they spend all of their budget and onda on the new store in Chinatown? Oh yeah, and what’s with all the underage kids in the afterparty? That brings me to point number two.

what the…?

2. Children do not belong at Fashion Week. Okay, okay, so a designer has a children’s line of clothing, and there are children models. Fine. Perhaps during that time, there are parents with their children in the audience. That’s acceptable. But hanging out at after show parties with super loud music, alcohol and heaven knows what else at 11pm? Nope.

Okay, I would wear that.

Plus, there’s a serious lack of strong, healthy, educated women role models in this country. Taking your child to fashion week where the models look like they just pulled out of rehab isn’t exactly promoting a healthy self-image to these kids. “I want to be a model when I grow up” doesn’t sound like a valid aspiration to me.

3. Models so thin I can see their skeletal system. I can’t decide if it’s more disgusting or sad. Sad. Ew, but disgusting! Oh, but so, so sad.

And seriously, THOSE shoes?