“Ethiopia has been in the news for all the wrong reasons like drought, civil strife and border wars, but it is time attention turned to our nascent fashion industry,” says Gougsa, 38. Last October, Delhi’s Pearl Academy of Fashion visited Addis Ababa for a design workshop. A contest was held and four winners were chosen to go to India on a study trip. “Since February 28, they have been on a fortnight’s study tour at our academy,” says Nien Siao, head of the design department, Pearl Academy. They have got formal training in design development for new markets, trends and fashion forecasting and are working on a sustainable model for craft development.

Shibru, who designs lifestyle accessories and works in the marketing department for a company back home, says the fashion syllabus created by the academy was fun. “We have visited dyeing and printing centres, learnt block printing, tie-and-dye and the delicate Indian embroidery, haggled over fabric at trade fairs and various bazaars and even packed in a trip to Jaipur. Since traditional Ethiopian clothes are white with embroidery on the border, I will remember India as a country of rainbow shades,” she says, as 31-year-old Tefera adds that the best part was attending the fashion shows of Vikram Phadnis and Mandira Wirk. “I loved the wild creations of Vikram,” pipes in Shibru.