I have decided to update my blog with a row of designers and artists, that I am currently following. In no particular order, my first spot is owned for Mert Mikael Otsamo - a young designer who lately participated in the "Project Runway: Finland".
There are several articles online, where you can find all the basic info about him, for many newspapers and freelance-writers have been interested in him. With a quick look-through of those, you can find the amazing facts that he is only 18, a fan of cosplaying, a huge follower of Lady Gaga, and that he actually managed to get himself in the final three of the "Project Runway".
But he is more than that. I wanted to write about him from my own perspective, and introduce you to a new designer that is more than meets the eye.
2009 I heard about "Project Runway" coming to Finland. Well, for my bad (and good) luck I had moved to Italy, so in my situation I wasn't able to apply for the competition. I absolutely would have done it, if living in Finland, because my past in all kinds of competitions have shown how much I attract trouble.
I followed the program online, and saw how the brutal finnish media was trying it's best to destroy the personal life of the competitors. In our media it has now come a trend, to call the reality-tv-competitors with the show title attached: "Big brother-Tina got stuck in the elevator", "Survivor-Hanna was spotted in a local bar". And "Project Runway" was no exception. Because of the finnish name of the program "To the top of fashion", also their young competitor got a new title: "Fashion-Mert".
And soon Fashion-Mert and the others were spotted in the program doing this and that scandalous, when they had done nothing interesting in reality. A viewer paying more attention could have spot this, but unluckily some of the crowd just swallowed the information full. Our media had yet again grabbed a hold on things that were out from the competition itself. But inside all these scandalous cuts of film, I believe I saw a glimpse of thruth on what had happen behind the scenes. A truth about a boy who is very sweet, and hell-talented. A boy, who had never said any negative comments (that are out-of-line or out-of-competition) about another competitor, when the others talked envious facts about how their personal relations worked.
He started in the competition as an underdog. As the youngest, most un-experienced designer. And this took my attention. When I was a finalist on the Nrj Fashion awards 2005, this was my position too. I just wanted to steal Mert away from all the bad things I knew would be coming his way.
Being the underdog of your class at school, at your new working place, or in a competition, puts you into a position where the more experienced are already planning how to smoke you out. They only wait, when you fall. And if you actually hold your position, or even go upon their talents, they will start a war. All of a sudden, the world order has gone wrong in their eyes. It's envy that gets them angry, the envy, that someone unexperienced is actually BETTER than them without education. Well. Wake up and smell the coffee. People, at that point you just have to admit, you suck.
And Mert held his position. I felt so glad for him, and I could so live through his pain. I watched every episode of the program biting my fingernails. Then thinking through the next night, what I could have designed for the mission of the episode. I took the show very personally, because I had gone through similar despair on my previous experiences. And Mert was my favorite, because I could see my own past, youth years, in him. And god, this boy did it all even younger! I also related to his teatrical style, for I had been both criticed and thanked for it in my competitions.
Theatrical or not, fashion or not, he made the most beautiful outfits of the show. He used a big variety of interesting materials and solutions. Which confirmed to me my theory: since I was 15, I have been thinking that "sometimes experience don't equal talent. Being educated, might even kill some of your creativity". Because if you don't KNOW how to do something officially, you have to figure out your own solution to do it. And you just might end up creating a better way to do it than what the original way was! Trying, and possibly falling, is the route to new creations. And Mert certainly made his best effort on this, without knowing much about patterns or materials, combining them anyhow in the way that fit the body beautifully, and giving the viewer a "wow"-effect. At the same time, a bunch of professional tailors failed, by doing some un-fitting tents upon the bodies. And I even re-call one of them saying a "bad" thing about Mert climbing to the finals by using a lot of patterns fitting the body, alternating the basic pattern.
-Excuse me? Since when was the designers' job, to make the body look ugly by putting a tent on it? Since when, has it been positive and professional, to make a pattern that doesn't even resemble the body? Since when, has it been ok to be a master of fashion with a collection of fabrics just pulled up on the shoulder? No wonder these kind of designers can make 20 pieces of clothes in no time. Because they are not using any TIME to do them. But poor Mert actually started making an art piece of every cloth in the competition, from very hard materials and with very hard designs. No wonder it took him a bit more time, panicking at the last seconds. I think us, who also do the theatrical style, can feel the pain. Fashion can be theatrical too, fashion can be art too. Let's keep it that way.
And Mert's possibilities did not stop to the program. He was also found as a model, and now he is working through europe, gaining experience in the business on-stage and backstage. It seems it was enough for him to get to the finals -he didn't even need to win, and organizations, journalists and designers are contacting him. And some of these contacts he's even been saying "no", because he does recognise his own level of experience and chooses wisely what requests he can fulfill, and which not yet. This is a sign of a good designer. And yes, being an 18-year-old, with the world all of a sudden attacking you from every direction, must give you quite big shoes to fill. He is perfectly allowed to take a moment to grow, allowed to fear, allowed to make experiments, allowed to fail, too. After he has done all that, we will see him suddenly rise, and win a full, great career in the upcoming years.
And we will see. It just might be, that someone older and technically experienced designer, has faded away from the spotlight and ended up as a simple tailor in some unknown company -when our underdog has risen to fame and fortune. Education and experience will make a talent grow. But education and experience cannot create a talent. It is there, or not. In Mert's case, it is there, and it will rise to fame if it's nurtured in the upcoming years. I wish all the best for Mert, and when he will grow professionally, the ones who turned their back on him will regret they underestimated their underdog.
Opinions on this article are personally only mine, and they are not meant to offend any individuals, productions and/or companies. Mert Otsamo has given his full approval for this article. Images belong to Mtv3 and Subtv. www.mtv3.fi
Nina
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