The Calvin Klein brand is most readily associated with clean minimalism, but to celebrate Italo Zucchelli's latest menswear collection, the company eschewed a sleek studio or empty warehouse for the Villa Crespi, described by one attendee as "the finest private house in Milan." We're not inclined to disagree. Behind a typically gray Milanese facade, a winding, statue-lined staircase led to a series of sumptuous rooms (yes, that was a Canaletto, one of a pair). But this is also a real residence, hence the Ping-Pong table and the copy of Philip Roth's American Pastoral lying casually amid the antiques.

The little shindig, which also honored Carine Roitfeld and Olivier Lalanne of Vogue Hommes, drew designers Sylvia Venturini Fendi, Roberto Cavalli, Alessandro Dell'Acqua, and Ennio Capasa, and every visiting editor in town. A multicourse dinner was served in the ballroom on Crespi silver by the family's own servants and included such everyday dishes as aspic of seasonal vegetables. "I could live here for a year," said one guest. We'd settle for a night or two.

— Dirk Standen