Italy brought the heat to Paris last night! I trotted off hier to the Carlos Miele and Vogue Italia Party at 380 rue Saint Honoré in the 1st arrondissement. The event was to celebrate a collaboration by Lapo Elkann and Bianca Brandolini. The fruit of the collaboration? A limited edition  t-shirt to benefit the Rainforest Foundation US. Conscientious fashion… love it!

In a packed swanky boutique, fashion people, bloggers, photographers, designers and models brushed shoulders, as a DJ spun tunes and Carlos Miele’s new SS2011 collection hung smartly on racks on the fringe of the crowd.

Oozing and schmoozing with air-kisses and hugs, the crowd bee-lined for the bar to grab a lime or strawberry caipirinha, servers passed around  other rum drinks and little hors d’oeuvres and fruit speared on plastic toothpicks. I was worried that those gowns might see a few strawberry stains by the end of the evening. Aie aie aie!

In between taking snapshots of the fashionable crowd as it kept pouring into the boutique I met blogger/writer Alice Pfeiffer who was lovely in roses, Blogger Peyton Sandler, and London based designer Ada Zanditon who was sporting her own label (click on photos for links). Not sure how they imagined they would fit all these people in, but it was a fabulous place to be while the rain drizzled down outside.

For more on the soirée go to Patrick McMullen’s site.