My First Break/Rocky S

And it was through Roopam that Rocky began designing for actors. Roopam had been asked by a magazine to style a shoot for Manisha Koirala. "She liked the clothes I did, and so I began to do more work for her," he says.

And now, Rocky spends most of time designing clothes for shoots. Though he does retail his mensline at Tresorie, and his ladies’ wear is available at his own store in Juhu, he says he does not wish to expand too much into retailing. "I have cut down on thenumber of outlets I retail to. since there are just too many over-heads. In any case, I make more money from designing for shoots," says Rocky.

Currently, he is busy designing all of Bipasha Basu’s outfits for her new Abbas-Mustan film. And he is also concentrating on the international market. He recently held a show in Dubai, and also sends some of his garments to London. But he says he will always remains thankful to the first place he cut his teeth at – Roopam. "I learnt so much there. And more importantly, I made so many contacts, which is the most important thing in this business," he says.

— Sujata Assomull