Monica Ferro is not your usual catwalk model. She jokes around with reporters backstage. She smiles constantly. And she's large and curvy. "There are so many impossibly thin models out there. We're pretty different, larger than them but also larger than life," she laughed before strutting down the runway at the first ever Milan fashion show to specialise in big sizes. Fashion label Elena Miro has a mission to make stylish Italian clothes for women no smaller than a size 46 (US size 12, UK size 14) and fought long and hard for a prized spot on the Milan fashion week calendar. "We're described as a niche player but we're talking about a segment that covers 35 percent of women here and 50 percent in the United States. It's hardly niche," Managing Director Giuseppe Miroglio told Reuters. The Miroglio group, which owns Elena Miro, has an annual turnover of about 150 million euros but hopes that more fashion-focused collections will help boost that by a third in the next three years. "Today's collection is about fashion, about sensuality, about exalting the body to say that if you're a few kilos heavier than the next person, it's not a problem but rather a virtue that should be celebrated," Miroglio said. Elena Miro's summer 2006 show was more staid than the big-name shows in Milan but many of next season's trends, like empire line dresses and trench coats, were there in abundance. The collection steered clear of being frumpy with fitted skirts cut at the knee with short splits up the side or back. Women are often teased for asking "Does my bum look big in this?" and for wearing jackets or jumpers to cover their curves. Elena Miro's answer was not to worry. The house provided plenty of flattering jackets that cut neatly across the hips but often sent models out in chiffon shirts tucked in to high waisted skirts that accentuated their bottoms. "The clothes are great. They fit really well and are super comfortable," said US model Amber Threadgill. "I just hope fashion is going to move more towards normal women, not emaciated girls," the 21-year-old said.
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