Ahmedabad, Dec 19 : The rural women of Gujarat have taken on the global fashion markets with a garment collection, `Ananth' an initiative by the rural artisans in association with international designer Graham Hollick.

Am NGO named SEWA, has helped these women to associate with the renowned French designer Hollick.

Hollick trained them for an entire year on using colours, fabrics and textiles appropriately keeping in mind contemporary fashion.

The collection has been developed using traditional skills and motifs. The women artisans were made to understand mainstream international design and markets.

Hollick said he has come to India to train the talented artisans and it has been a great experience till now.

"I wanted to see what they (rural women) did. So they demonstrated their work and then we worked out some designs and it worked very fluently and very easily," said Hollick.

Some of the models who displayed the creation also included some women artisans.

I enjoyed walking on the ramp like models, said Seji, a rural artist who walked on the ramp for the first time.

"I was apprehensive at first to walk on the ramp. We were trained and now we can walk like models. When we were told that we would wear clothes that the other models were wearing, we thought they would not look good on us. But then I thought we are no less and we can do it," said Seji.

The collection has given wings to numerous dreams, and there is a hope that their work will be recognized globally. (ANI)