Tour de Force
On Tuesday evening, Diego Della Valle hosted a fabulous festa for the third leg of the world book tour for The Snippy World of New Yorker Fashion Artist Michael Roberts at Milan's Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea. During preparations for the party, the artist gifted Della Valle with a special collage featuring Tod's Gommino driving shoe, which the CEO loved so much he asked for more to be made. The results were plastered all over the event in the form of wallpaper, short animated films, and even a new line of accessories. Among the attendees were model-designers Milla Jovovich and Alek Wek, as well as Alberta Ferretti, Dean and Dan Caten, Lawrence Steele, and Graeme Black. The fashionably late Karl Lagerfeld even took a break from Fendi fittings to pop in. Roberts' response when the books he was signing sold out early? "Now I want to enjoy the party!"

The Roaring Twenties
It's not often that elected officials turn up at fashion week events, but not even Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, could resist the glittery allure of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana's 20th anniversary. The budget-no-object bash, held Thursday night in a giant warehouse, also drew Elizabeth Hurley, Chloë Sevigny, Eva Mendes, Amy Sacco, Patrick Demarchelier, and about 2,000 more, who drove down a strada of stardust (freshly laid asphalt sprinkled with crystals) to reach a Dolce & Gabbana nightclub with gold lamé carpet, black glass walls, and giant chandeliers. A 16-foot-high stage with a glowing "D&G" loomed in the forefront as revelers were treated to a performance by the Lido, a cabaret troupe from the Champs Elysées in Paris, followed by Donna Summer. (She was backed by the Dolce & Gabbana orchestra—who knew there was one?) Artist-muse Ahn Duong (she was an early model for the duo, and they went on to buy her work when she started painting) summed it all up: "At the beginning all they had was a dream—and look at what they have done with it!"

Fashion Central
The week closed with an elegant fund-raising dinner for the Fashion Fund, hosted by Vogue Italia's Franca Sozzani and Vogue's Anna Wintour, in the walled garden of the Rotonda Della Besana, a magnificent eighteenth century church. As the top prize was awarded to Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi of 6267, a phalanx of fashion heavyweights including Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada, Carla and Silvia Fendi, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, and Gianfranco Ferré looked on. "There is an explosion of energy here," said Donatella Versace, adding that she was "proud to be there." Nearby, Linda Evangelista concurred: "I'm here to support the babies." True to her word, she sported an olive-green dress by runner-up Albino D'Amato paired with a 1920's vintage Bulgari diamond necklace.

A younger generation was represented by Gucci's Frida Giannini, Burberry's Christopher Bailey, Dean and Dan Caten, Lawrence Steele, and Raf Simons. Rounding out the guest list were contingents from Paris—Stefano Pilati, Olivier Theyskens, and Alber Elbaz had taken precious time off to attend—and Hollywood, in the shape of Lucy Liu and Heather Graham. Asked if she had selected her silk jersey dress at the previous night's show, Graham replied, "If Donatella tells you what to wear, you know you will look OK."

Meanwhile, Back in L.A.…
On a 93-degree September day, a few dozen ladies suffered (albeit elegantly) in bouclé, under a tent on the massive Beverly Hills driveway of Susan Casden, wife of real estate developer Alan Casden and a longtime "friend of Chanel." The hostess, who attended the '05-'06 cruise collection show in Paris, which took place on old city buses en route from the Place de la Concorde to the Boulevard Saint-Germain, wanted to bring a little of the magic home with her. So with the help of Saks Fifth Avenue, a handful of models, and four Beverly Hills city trolleys (used for shuttling tourists around Rodeo Drive), she organized a re-enactment of the event—California-style.

Kathy Hilton, wearing a Tory by TRB tunic and gigantic Dior sunglasses, claimed that it was her first fashion event here in 12 years. "I just couldn't put on a wool suit," she said. "You come to California to relax." None of the other guests got that particular memo. Casden wore a short, black, sleeveless dress from the fall collection with bow details on the bodice. Tatiana Soroko, a San Francisco-based contributor to Russian Vogue, wore a fifties Jacques Fath short-sleeve silk taffeta couture coat. China Chow managed to look cool in a black, lightweight, long-sleeve wool dress ("I thought, Daytime? Chanel? Trolleys? What do you wear?"). Rachel Griffiths' sixties Chanel couture jacket was dressed down by her blue pedicure, peeking out from open-toe sandals. "I just moved to Encino," she said, "where the flowers on the toes are only $2 more."

After a glass of preshow Champagne, everyone lined up for the trolleys, which were both the transportation to Saks for a lunch of salad niçoise and a makeshift runway for the models, who moved from one to another at scheduled stops. With big Chanel banners strung on the sides of the trolley, and a motorcycle police escort, the convoy caused quite a commotion. "It's not subtle," said Cameron Silver of Decades, the Melrose Avenue vintage store. "But it's fun to stop traffic on Sunset Boulevard."

—Nick Vinson (Milan) and Christine Lennon (Beverly Hills)