Behind the scenes photo diary: Backstage and beyond at Milan Fashion Week

MANILA, Philippines - It was warm.

Despite reports of mildly chilly weather, Milan was still in the throes of an Indian summer. As the cab from the airport weaved through afternoon traffic, which crawled so slowly I missed the Gucci show, I asked the driver, “Have you ferried a lot of people to the city for fashion week?”

“Plenty,” he said in accented English. “Plenty crazy people.”

I laughed.

The hordes had landed in Milan, which plays host to a prestigious number of shows, many of them from venerable houses of fashion.

Backstage, YStyle had an exclusive pass to the scene. At Moschino, there was the famed Tom Pecheux, who has a portfolio to rival God’s (or at least Pat McGrath, though Pecheux is far more senior). At MaxMara, there was Tom Pecheux again, suavely administering makeup to the world’s top models.

At Etro, models sipped delicately from fizzy agua minerale bottles while waiting for their walk-through.

At Moschino, one photographer backstage was sporting a brace that wrapped from neck to torso.

“What happened to you?” a makeup artist asked in concern.

“Oh, it was inspired by John Galliano fall/winter.”

Makeup artist Maud Laceppe pulls some contortionist moves at BluGirl.

The makeup artist’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

“No,” he said in a forgiving tone, “not really.”