Paola Bay >> Neoclassicist: Milan.(Italy)

Byline: MARK HOLGATE editor: Sally Singer

Her time-honored elegance exists quietly in Italy's fashion capital.

From London to Los Angeles, Milan to Mumbai, VOGUE toured eight cities around the globe to find the freshest takes on evening glamour.

One chilly evening in Milan last December, Paola Bay, who designs shoes under the name Zoraide, headed over to Annamaria Sbisa's apartment on Corso Italia to have dinner. Sbisa, an art-and-fashion critic, is one of Bay's clique of old friends, a few of whom were also present that night: Monica Ascoli, an accessories designer; Tiziana Cardini, the fashion director of the department store La Rinascente; and Paola Manfrin, an art director for McCann Erickson and a frequent collaborator with artist Maurizio Cattelan. On the menu was spiced gamberi, insalate di zucchini, and crema caramella, but what these women, elegantly attired in their new Lanvin, vintage Yves Saint Laurent, and local favorite Stephan Janson, were chewing on was this: What exactly passes for glamour in Milan these days?

Unlike other locations around the world where glamour plays out publicly, in Milan everything tends to happen behind closed doors. They might open up to grand palatial courtyards and grander, more palatial apartments, but you'd never glimpse any of this unless you were invited inside. Making the city seem even more impenetrable is the dynamic of the social scene, founded on long-standing, complicated, interfamilial connections. "Our parents know each other," said Cardini. "And our grandparents knew each other, and in all likelihood our great-grandparents knew each other. . . ." Sbisa laughed, then added, "which is why Milan is not New York. This city can seem like it is closed, like it is a prison. And glamour is the opposite of that."

Which means that the world's image of Milanese fashion--sassy, glossy, extrovert--isn't for local consumption. "In Rome, you might see women in huge, extravagant jewels," Bay said, "while in Milan women will wear the same haute couture coat for 20 years. The real Milanese do not show their wealth." Here, then, in brief is what that dinner discussion group revealed about glamour Milan-style:

Low-key cocktail dresses are always perfect, preferably black, and preferably of an unidentifiable provenance, which is why they tend to be by the city's lesser-known dressmakers, such as Gaia Clerici or Patrizia Pera, and not by one of its internationally renowned dressmakers, like Miuccia Prada.