Mumbai, July 19: Day One of the India Fashion Week opened with jitters — new venue, large crowd and much confusion. But once the doors finally opened, fashion-watchers were in for a surprise. The first two shows, belonging to Bombay boys Rocky S and Aki Narula, were as different as chalk and cheese. Not just from each other but from their previous collections too.

Rocky has finally got it right. He despatched his over-the-top garb and opted for a schoolgirl-meets-bubblegum punk style that’s refreshingly wearable. Denim is the main leitmotif, matched with sugar-pink, black and a dash of glitter. Convention seemed to work for him, with men in trousers and women in minis. His little skirts, neat jackets and three-quarter pants had everyone nodding. The designer, known for his celeb crowd, concentrated on his clothes instead. His front row was almost empty, apart from Diya Mirza and Suman Ranganathan. ‘‘This time, I’ve decided to grow up,’’ he laughs.

Narula let his imagination run away with him. The designer has derived from every influence possible: disco, punk, grunge, Oriental, kitsch and combat. He combined sleaze with slick, what he calls ‘‘a sex goddess who goes to war and then to a bar!’’ High on creativity, not so on wearability. ‘‘All of them are wearable if you break them down into separates. As individual pieces, I can see a lot of women wearing them,’’ Narula says.
Even though Cue’s Rahul Khanna and Rohit Gandhi don’t have a presence in Mumbai (they’re out of Melange and not yet at Ensemble), their show saw an interesting mix: Gautam Singhania, Laila Lamba, Tina Tahiliani, Prerna Goyal and Laila Khan Rajpal. The Delhi boys have always placed the practical before the passionate. They had muted tones of copper and brown in the entirely western collection. And they proudly declare their shows are business opportunities — the others can have all the drama.