Solange, Tali & Amber walk for Ferretti

At Prada menswear, Adrien Brody and Gary Oldman walked the red runway instead of the red carpet, but over at Alberta Ferretti the approach was a little different.

We viewed first the label's pre-collection, which featured an ultra-wearable (for the understated luxury lovers at least) take on the Jazz era, circa cloche hats and cocoon-shaped coats, plus dropped-waist dresses that did something very desirable to the derrière on even the wispiest of models.

But then there came a change, heralded by that most unusual fashion show event—a mid-show round of raucous applause. For her demi-couture collection Alberta had cast a group of fashion-affiliated real women—or at least as real as high fashion is likely to get.

The likes of Solange Knowles, Tali Lennox, Amber Le Bon and bloggers Candice Lake and Hanneli Mustaparta roused cheers at every turn—and even waves from their usual seatmates—as they navigated the series of salons with, if not quite the aplomb of the professionals, a great deal of charm and equal amounts of appreciation.

For it was a pleasure to see these gowns—rich silks, intricate, spiders-web beading, masterful draping—enveloping bodies of a more voluptuous nature. It had the pleasant effect of making the viewer really want to be these women—beautiful, smart, attainable and, of course, exquisitely dressed. A fact that was proved when, hours later, they were all to be seen dancing around and on top of the tables of a Milan restaurant, with Alberta herself egging them on. Now that's model behaviour.