Contemporary fashion

The cheers for Salvatore Ferragamo designer Massimiliano Giornetti just kept coming following a runway show for the famed Italian fashion house at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Some 300 people attended the swanky soiree on Monday, which marked the ICA's first year in its new home on the South Boston waterfront.

The presidential suite at Dick Friedman's new Liberty Hotel officially earned its name over the last couple of days by hosting former President Bill Clinton, in town stumping for his wife's presidential bid. Among the 300 local Dems attending a $2,300-a-head event for Senator Hillary Clinton was former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev (who was staying at Friedman's other spot, the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square). While the party got rolling downstairs at the Liberty, a select group of VIPs - mostly bigtime Dem supporters, not surprisingly - got a little face time with the former president, including Mayor Tom Menino, Jim Apteker, Steve Grossman, Jack Manning, Bob Crowe, Elaine and Jerry Schuster, Stacey Lucchino, Barbara Lee, and Bryan Rafanelli. After Clinton and his buddy Menino worked the bigger gathering, Clinton went back upstairs for a late-night dinner with actors Morgan Freeman, Amanda Peet, William H. Macy, Ethan Hawke, and Mark Ruffalo, who are all in town filming movies.

Ageless wonder Neil Young is attracting all types to his three sold-out shows at the Orpheum this week. Monday's crowd included both Sox owner John Henry and Celts CEO Wyc Grousbeck. Henry brought along a pair of ear plugs, which he planned to put in before's Young's electric set. Told he'd need them if Young played the cacophonous "Cortez the Killer" - which he'd played Sunday - Henry smiled. Young told the crowd how much he enjoys the Orpheum, but that he wished someone would step up and restore it. "Who is the richest person in here?" the singer asked. Several in the audience shouted "John Henry!"

Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese was spotted having lunch yesterday at the Noon Hill Grill, Steve Slesar's Medfield restaurant. No official word on why "The Departed" director was in town, but crews have been scouting locations for his big-screen adaptation of Dennis Lehane's "Shutter Island." The film is slated to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo.

Susan Orlean, author of the bestseller "The Orchid Thief," and her husband, financial wiz John Gillespie, sold their 3,000-square-foot loft at Fort Point Place to Lev Glazman, cofounder of Fresh, the Boston-based beauty products company. The condo sold for $1.185 million, according to records. Orlean and Gillespie decamped to Los Angeles where she's working on a book about Rin Tin Tin. They put their posh pad on the market earlier this year for $1.5 million.

William H. Macy seems to be making himself quite at home in Boston. In town filming "The Lonely Maiden," the "Fargo" star - an avid woodworker - took advantage of a break in his schedule to stop by the North Bennett Street School to visit school director Miguel Gomez-Ibanez and some students. Macy later dropped in at the Union Oyster House, where he chatted with owner Joe Milano and signed the historic eatery's famed autograph book.

How does Izabel Goulart stay so svelte? By eating big piles of pasta, apparently. No sooner had the model arrived in town yesterday than she ordered a heaping plate of pasta. "It's so freezing, I needed something warm and something heavy," said Goulart, who was at The Estate last night to host a viewing of the "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show" on CBS. Discovered a few years ago while grocery shopping with her mother, Goulart said there is no shortage of beautiful women. "The world is so huge," she said. "Amazing models are hiding out there just waiting to be discovered."

OK, what's going on with all of the imports from Minnesota? It began, of course, with Big Papi, who'd toiled for the Minnesota Twins before signing with the Sox. The trend continued with receiver Randy Moss, whom the Patriots brought on board because they remembered when he was a thrill-a-minute with the Minnesota Vikings. The Celtics followed suit by trading virtually everyone on their roster for Kevin Garnett, the 6-foot-11 future Hall of Famer who had been banging the boards for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now, it's the Sox again who are casting their net in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, looking to land Twins ace Johan Santana. Why stop there? Here are a few other momentous Minnesotans we wish would move to Massachusetts.

Paul Westerberg: The Replacements’ frontman once wrote a song called "Nowhere is My Home," but he wouldn't need one here. The celebrated songwriter could crash with one of his many friends here, like David Minehan or Juliana Hatfield.

Vince Vaughn: With so many movies being made here now, Jennifer Aniston's ex would fit right in. But Boston bars beware: While making a movie in '01, the "Wedding Crashers" cad got into a bust-up with Steve Buscemi and was briefly jailed.

Prince: Berklee president Roger Brown would happily give the Purple One a lifetime appointment, and Prince could arrange with club owner Patrick Lyons to perform occasional, unannounced shows at the new and improved Avalon.

Al Franken: Stuart Smalley should abandon his bid for the Senate seat occupied by Minnesota's Norm Coleman and move to liberal-loving Cambridge, where he could hone his stump speech while waiting along with the rest of us for Ted Kennedy and John Kerry to retire.

Winona Ryder: The actress, who's named after the tiny Minnesota town where she was born, could come east and finally visit the boyhood home of her former flame Matt Damon.

The great Nina Garcia, fashion director for Elle magazine, was at Nordstrom at the Natick Collection yesterday to promote her book "Little Black Book of Style." But we were more interested in Garcia's "Project Runway" gig. (On the Bravo show, she, Michael Kors, and supermodel Heidi Klum judge the work of fledgling designers.) Garcia wouldn't name the finalists for us, but did say: "Just wait. There is a villain."

Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.