Take a couple of seconds, close your eyes and think about a famous icon of Italian beauty.

Take a couple of seconds, close your eyes and think about a famous icon of Italian beauty.

Did you think about skinny size 40 (UK 8, USA 6, Australia 10) models or classic Italian beauties like Sofia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Monica Bellucci, Claudia Cardinale, Mariagrazia Cucinotta?

Well, we bet you thought about one of the actresses mentioned above and, if this is the case, you would agree with fashion designer Elena Miroglio, of the Elena Mirò group, that Italian fashion should also cater for Mediterranean-style fuller figured women.

On the contrary, Elena Mirò has been excluded from the official fashion shows at Milan Fashion Week because her plus size models, an Italian size 46 (UK 14, USA 12, Australia 16), do not conform to the general standards used by other designers. Just as stubborn as a real woman who knows to be right can be, Elena Miroglio went ahead presenting, outside the official programme of the fashion week, a wonderful Fall/Winter 2011 collection inspired by the beauty of Italian divas of the 1950s: Gina Lollobrigida, Sofia Loren, Lucia Bosé, Silva Coscina and Silvana Pampanini.

The Elena Mirò clothing presented on the catwalk in Milan are really beautiful, elegant and glamorous at the same time, an explosion of lace, satin and macrame fabrics, with the use of 1950s inspired accessorises like gloves and corsage.

As always with Elena Mirò, on the catwalk stunning models size 44/46 reflected the idea that you do not have to be skinny at all costs to be beautiful. You can be elegant and glamorous in your breathtaking curves without hiding the body under big shapes or dark colours. Brava Elena.