Four young designers were the winners of “New Talent Contest”, which was organized during 4th edition of Buenos Aires Fashion Week (BAF Week). In September 2002, they showed their first collections and today, three months after the event, they tell us their experience, their projects and the repercussions of their entrance in the local scene.

Even though the local situation had its ups and downs during last year, the young designers generation let its creative spirit flow with terrific results. The limitation of economic resources forced them to squeeze their internal strength. So, those who began to walk the path of clothes design are already drawn as real artists, creatures whose common goal is to make things more beautiful, through wit and willing dedication.

Helga Diaz: Modern Baroque Style

Almost everyone starts the same way: they provide themselves of things they can’t get anywhere. “It all began as a need”, Helga Diaz tells. “When I went shopping I could never find anything”. Her taste for design is almost an obsession. She searches for the refined detail, the perfect ending, and the moving ornament. “I start rummaging what nobody likes”, she tells proudly. Having been Mariano Toledo’s assistant -one of the most known designers in town- for more than a year, “I learned the exquisiteness of the finished tailored garment”, Helga admits. “My stuff is very craft worked, I end each detail with my own hands”.

The collection she introduced at BAFweek is a live proof of that. “I took inspiration from XIX century woman, the idea is to merge the dominant figure of that time -based in the corset- with new materials and fabrics that allow more flexibility”. For that, the choice of lace and embroidering in skin and pale rose colors. “The intention is to reunite the image of the vision of nude, pure feminine body”, Helga comments. She’s the only winner of the contest who already has her own brand, next to Laura Fern㌻dez, previous winner of the same contest.

The brand’s name is NandezKlan and it can be found at Salsipuedes, a very crowded shop in Palermo Viejo, the fashion neighborhood in Buenos Aires. The idea resumes the original idea the girls pursue in each one of their enterprises: it’s the drawing of a woman with the brand’s tattoo in her arm. Modern and antique cohabit peacefully everywhere. Meanwhile, a unique thought keeps on beating like an obsession. “This passion thrills us. We don’t sleep, and if we do, we dream about what we are designing. It is in our minds the whole day”, Helga resumes, showing a piece of her continuous responsibility of creating. And she keeps on creating.