Season Ras Africa

By Alemayehu Seife Selassie

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Designer Osman Mohamed’s Last Fit Summer collection is going to unravel tonight at the Addis Sport & Le Petite Café on Garad Building. With 20 works of the gifted designer being showcased in the show tonight will feature leather and wool women’s wear.
This is the first fashion show for this designer to use wool in his collection. “This collection is a bit reserved and it is not as wild as my previous shows. The main reason behind that is the cold weather”, explains Osman.

Being a handy man in his field, Osman has started to get the taste of his hard labor. And this time of the year he has started to get offers to do the costumes for musicians and film actors. The young musician Zeritu Kebede who appeared on stage wearing his clothes is among the few who are wearing his Leather Made by hand collection. Zeleman’s production The 11th Hour film and Jonny Ragga’s music clip where the girls are dressed in Osman’s costumes are some of the occasions where the designer has taken part as a costume designer.

“This is a very encouraging time for me, now I have customers foreign as well as local. In fact I have earned the confidence of many customers to the extent that now they only send me their sizes.”
In the previous times Osman was having difficulties in getting the right material. Now however, he has come across Afde, a company which exports first grade leather to supply his needs. The choice to use the export standard however has made his prices go a little steep.

Following his Alliance Ethio-Française fashion show, the Last Fit Summer Collection is Osman’s second fashion show. But with an upcoming fashion show in less than a month’s time from the same designer at Alliance, this certainly is not going to be his last show of the year in Addis Ababa. “The designs on this show and the coming one are going to be similar but not identical”, he said.
Osman is also set to go to France in three months’ time. “Just like the designer’s competition that took place last year, I am chosen as one of the 10 African designers competing against 95”, Osman said explaining his participation on November 17. Osman will make 10 pieces for the French fashion show. “I will have some dresses that will represent the Ethiopian tradition.”

Osman has been chosen as one of the ten African designers to give a designing workshop in Burkina Faso sponsored by a company named Fema. Among the dreams of this designer that has yet not materialized one is opening a designers’ school. “I am planning to open one but I have to really do it in a good way so I will need a wealthy partner for that.”
Osman expressed his gratitude to Binyam Kidane the owner of Addis Sport and Le Petite Café for his support in staging the fashion show. •