Buenos Aires Fashion Week kept in stride with the brooding global atmosphere, as the autumn/winter ’09 runways featured dark, if not entirely black, ensembles—looks not too far off from the runways of New York and Milan. As part of our ongoing coverage of the Buenos Aires, here are our four picks for top designers from the Argentine capital who showcased their work during the week.

Argentine designer Vicki Otero channeled an austere, colonial look with her strikingly obscure collection. Forbidden, if not solemn, black was the dominant force in Otero’s new line, with the occasional forest green and grey textured plaid. Gigot style sleeves, hessian crafted headwear and high-waisted, culotte tailored trousers pushed Otero to the front of the pack, making her collection one of the few from BAF Week ready to compete on the international runway scene.

Offering a nice break from the somewhat ominous color palette that covered this year’s runway, Mariana Dappiano draped, shaped and twisted a number of personally designed fabrics including woven mohair, wool and jacquard. Warm greys mixed with turquoise blue, moss green, beige and teal, all brilliantly cloaked a number of retro-inspired prints. While many of Dappiano’s pieces appear shapeless, her expertise in layering and her detailed design for how each garment falls, gives this loose, baggy edge a structured and elegant appeal.

Cora Groppo experimented with volume my adding 3D graphic effects to a number of dresses featured in her runway collection. Industrial colors embroiled in loose fabrics criss-crossed and scrunched the body in a labyrinth-like maze, while simple wool sweaters were coiled and slung to loosely hug the body, adding a classic touch to the modern flare. The models’ hair was brushed over their eyes veiling nearly half the face, making us wonder how they managed to get down the runway at all.

Finally, Tramando‘s Martín Churba, one of the country’s most forward thinking and technically skilled designers, exhibited his seasoned appreciation of Old World craftsmanship with the “Infinito” collection. The show stole center stage Friday night with a Carnaval themed runway that took to the streets. The Tramando procession, accompanied by the percussion ensemble La Bomba del Tiempo, strutted its way to the Churba and BAF Week after party hosted outside the label’s new store on Paseo Alcorta. As if to further cement this national status, rumor had it that Churba’s work during the closing ceremonies was a retrospective of his past efforts rather than a new collection.

—Katie Buckland