Milena says it straight

'Tell me what you actually want,' Milena says, usually within the first ten minutes, and she means it kindly. Directness is her signature, along with a look that belongs on a glossy cover: 175 cm, curves, jet black hair worn long, sleek and parted dead centre, brown eyes lined in a sharp flick. She dresses for impact, high-shine and editorial: a patent trench, a column of black satin, gold hoops the size of espresso saucers.

Behind the fierce first impression is a woman who is generous, funny and completely without pretence. Milena will tell you if your tie is wrong and then help you fix it. She plays tennis hard and loses gloriously, throws pots at a ceramics studio on Sunday mornings and treats espresso as a daily ceremony with firm rules: taken standing at the bar, never from a paper cup. In her mid twenties, she speaks fast, fluent English and has a laugh that surprises people with its warmth.

Her Mayfair stage is Sketch on Conduit Street, where every room is a different fantasy and the Gallery dining room feels like a jewellery box turned inside out. She likes a cocktail in the East Bar first, if only to visit the famous egg-shaped pods, then a late dinner beneath the art. It is theatrical, glamorous and fun, which is exactly her brief. She misses nothing, and by dessert she has an opinion on every chair in the building.

Milena's home district is South Kensington; the Park Lane hotels book her most often, for evenings and overnights alike. She confirms fast; check the rates page, choose your length and send Bella a line.