Q: The women on TV talk shows have such gorgeous bare legs; how can I get them, too?

A: Once, as a guest on a morning television show, I was seated on the couch, nervously chatting up the hosts pre-airtime, when suddenly there was a man crouched in front of me, vigorously rubbing something on my shins. (In my experience, all kinds of freakish things that never happen in real life are likely to happen 30 seconds before you go on live TV.) My legs did look better, but I never found out what that stuff was. So I e-mailed your question to makeup artist Emily Kate Warren, and she offered this terrific advice. After you shave your legs (which helps smooth them), if you're fair, apply self-tanner to cover small imperfections like spider veins. Warren likes St. Tropez Self Tan Bronzing Mousse ($40, sttropeztan.com) because it's easy to apply and delivers a good, golden color. Once your fake tan has completely developed, apply a bit of dry oil, which gives a natural-looking sheen but doesn't look greasy. Warren recommends Nuxe Golden Dry Oil Splash ($41, b-glowing.com). When you're feeling ambitious, you could also apply a bit of highlighter cream on your shins from below the knee to just above the ankle, which will make your legs look longer. If there's no time for a self-tanner, try Givenchy Mister Radiant Body ($49, sephora.com), a gel that gives you a hint of slightly pearly color and washes off in the shower.

So on a freezing February morning, runway legend Pat Cleveland made the two-hour trip from her southern New Jersey home to the 1920s mansion in New York City where we shot "The Bold and the Beautiful." Two of her fellow Versailles models—Alva Chinn and Bethann Hardison—arrived later that morning. They'd be sharing the pages of O with three "young-uns": Kinee Diouf, Shelby Coleman, and Jaunel McKenzie, who have walked the runway for designers like Vivienne Westwood, Tory Burch, and Michael Kors.

Together the six models made magic in dresses, skirts, and jackets in classic cream and white. During a pause in shooting, Hardison livened things up—with an African-inspired dance. "Bethann totally let go of her inhibitions out there," says photographer Lorenzo Agius. "It was hilarious!"

McKenzie's favorite part of the ten-hour day: "In this very caring way, Alva showed me how to turn my face while we were posing together—I loved it."

Chinn embraced that motherly role. "I liked being around the new kids on the block," she says. "That day I had three beautiful daughters, and I was proud of how comfortable they were in their own skin. They didn't compete with each other or vie for attention," she says.

Cleveland, too, saw the shoot as a bridge between fashion's past and future: "It felt like being in a garden with lovely flowers from every season."