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With fall clothes coming into stores, it’s time for one of Cat’s favorite rituals of the season: watching the Thomas Crown Affair. Rene Russo is just so damned hot in that movie; she’s electrifying to watch. Every year Cat rents the movie to remind herself of how she’d like to dress and carry herself. There’s nothing flashy or daring about Rene's wardrobe, but it just drips money withouth trying too hard or being obvious. The cuts are impeccable, the fabrics luxurious. Rene may only be wearing a turtleneck and slacks, but you know it is the very best turtleneck and slacks money could buy. (The movie promo shots don't do Rene or her clothes justice, so you'll have to trust Cat.)

Sadly, Cat hasn’t ever been able to put together that kind of wardrobe, this isn’t the movies after all, but each year she dreams of how it might feel to look like that.

Got a favorite movie for fashion drooling? Post a note for Cat, and she’ll go check it out. Devil Wears Prada doesn’t count; it’s too obvious.

Square 1 on Larimer Square knows all things denim. Dark denim, washed denim, wide legs, stove pipes. They've got it all. And now thorough August 4 take 30% to 70% off your tab.

They're open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mnday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Square 1
1441 Larimer Street
720-904-1122
www.square1shop.com

Michael Falco for The New York Times

This apartment cost $420,000.

Interesting piece in the New York Times about several couples and what they gave up in order to buy tiny one- and two-bedroom condos in the City. No shopping, no fashion, no cigarettes, no going out. It's an austere life that they describe, but one couple saved $90,000 in just a few years. That leads Cat to ask, just how much shopping where they doing?

Certainly prices are cheaper here in Denver than in New York, but it's still a struggle to come up with the down payment and mortgage for even a modestly priced house. When Cat bought, her place was the cheapest single-family home in the city. Something she could afford with just her salary, not Tom Cat's, too.

But the plight of Manhattan living is something Cat will now have to face. At the end of the month she is leaving Westword to become a senior editor at Fortune Small Business. And yes, move to New York.

Cat wonders how much shopping she'll have to give up.

And here's yet another reason to love the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center:

Styling the Modern: Fine Art Meets Fashion
May 10 - July 6, 2008

The CSFAC is such a cultural treasure that many people in Denver are not familiar with. During Colorado's real art heyday -- 30s, 40s and 50s -- most of the great work was coming out of the Springs in general and the CSFAC in particular. (Not, it wasn't always a conservative, religious hot bed.) And this Friday they're having a grand opening of the new David Owen Tryba-designed wing that looks stunning. They've also got the Frida Kahlo portraits up through the end of September, and in May they're hosting Syling the Modern: Fine Art Meets Fashion. Here's there description so you can mark your calender:

Many would be surprised to know that renowned artists such as Henri Matisse, Alexander Calder and Henry Moore not only created great paintings, drawings and sculpture, but also had a hand in modern fashion. In the 1940s these artists and others were invited to design grand-scale scarves by the famous Ascher family textile workshop. These stunning works of wearable art from the collection of Jill A. Wiltse and H. Kirk Brown III were created in limited editions, after which the templates were destroyed in the tradition of fine art printmaking. This exhibition features a series of approximately twenty of these vibrant scarves designed by various modern artists, as well as examples of the media for which these artists are most recognized.

No, this one is not a joke. The New York Times reported on Thursday that Louis Vuitton has added Mikhail S. Gorbachev to its spokesmodel roster. That's right, the last president of the Soviet Union -- as photographed by Annie Leibovitz -- is joining a very sexy Scarlett Johansson for the fall campaign. Certainly its a Herculean leap up after Gorby's Pizza Hut commercials.

Need a laugh on this Monday morning. Head over to Jezebel, where the editors have created a delightful prank for those of us who read both Harper's and Harper's Bazaar. The mash up includes J.Simp on the cover and a the Harper's Index, which includes this little dig: "Average price of item on Bazaar's eco-friendly, 'What's New In Green Design' page: $870.94."

Tres, tres amusant.

Wonder what the Sex and the City girls will look like when their new movie comes out? TVLand has the answer. Let's just say, it's a cruel, cruel world. One populated by Bea Arthur as Carrie. (via Flypaper)

Photos via V Magazine; Christy Turlington's before and after is above, while Doutzen Kroes's is below.

Ever wonder what models look like before hair and makeup? V Magazine has a great feature showing before shots -- when they came in the door -- and what they looked like after running the styling gauntlet.

The only downside: Some of the models looked better before they'd been "fixed."

Check all of the images out here.

Photos by Taylor Sullivan

The Corner Office is so fucking cool. Like so cool you can’t call it cool, because that’s uncool. So when this week’s What to Wear Friday honoree, Kymberly Robertson, suggested that we meet at the martini bar at the new Curtis Hotel in Denver’s Theater District, Cat put on her cool glasses.

“We absolutely have to wear clothing every day of our lives because of the society that we live in,” says Kymberly Robertson, as she sipped her grapefruit martini. “So when I get dressed I want to put some purpose into it rather than just absolute necessity.”

And Kym puts that purposeful philosophy into her apparel company, Potential Fashions. She and her business partner, Tricia Hoke, use only recycled materials to create their chic lines; if they’re going to be making clothes, they’re going to be environmentally responsible about it. “That’s my biggest problem with Crocs,” Kym says of the one fashion phenomenon that she really hates. “Not just that they’re big and ugly, but just knowing that they’re not made in a conscious way or for the environment… Not that I have anything against easy footwear.”

Kym is on her way up to Boulder for a conference hosted by Elephant Magazine with some of Colorado's top green companies. For this more formal environment, she likes to stay comfortable and still look good, so she decided on one of Potential’s Layered T-Dresses that looks just delicious with that pink martini.

“You’re dressing up every single day with two things in mind, how you view yourself and how the world is going to view you,” Kim says after another sip. “And the best thing about fashion design is you get to start playing with how those two things work within each other.”

You can find Potential Fashions at many boutiques around town, including Fancy Tiger, 1 South Broadway, Rare Bird Vintage, 1215 East 13th Avenue, and The Fabric Lab, 3105 East Colfax.

More

FirstView

From 3.1 Phillip Lim's Fall 2007 collection.

Cat's a little behind, but here are the ten finalists for the CFDA / Vogue Fashion Fund. The winner scores $200,000, mentorship with some big designer, and a spread in Vogue. (via Fashionista)

Last year, the prize was taken home by Travota, the line helmed by the Southern California team Jeff Halmos, John Whitledge, Josia Lamberto-Egan and Sam Shipley. Wouldn't it be fantastic if D-town were represented in the line up someday. Cat thinks we have the talent emerging...

Anyway, here are this year's finalists:

Band of Outsiders

Erin Fetherston
Yes, the Erin Fetherson whose Target collection debuts September 15.

Michael Bastian
Former men's fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman.

Philip Crangi
Jewler who likes hammered metal.

3.1 Phillip Lim
Fashion insider darling.

Rogan
BFF of Bono, according to Fashionista

Three AsFour

Vena Cava

VPL by Victoria Bartlett
Initials stand for "visible panty line."

Guess whose celebrity feet belong to these Crocs.

Shouldn't these stars know better -- or at least have stylists who know better? Crocs? Seriously?

Sure, it may be a home-grown Colorado company, but that doesn't keep Crocs from being the fashion equivilent of e.Boli (or the imperius curse, if you prefer Harry Potter references), infecting everyone from Harvey Keitel to Adam Sandler. Sigh.

Check out a slide show of celebrities in desperate need of some new footwear, courtsey of Stylelist.com. Or, for the whole Croc, check out Alan Prendergast's Westword feature story from 2005.

With two of Denver's biggest fashion happenings falling late last week and over the weekend, Cat had her bowl full of spicy summer styles to see.

First Cat headed down to the Platte River Valley for the second installment in the Riverfront Park Fashion Series last Thursday, July 19. With styles from Neiman Marcus and endless mojitos, Cat was just giddy. Unfortunately she was the only one. Both the weather and the mood of the crowd were like a drunk on Sunday -- gloomy.

Fast forward three days and the event changed with the weather. Fashion Denver's summer market, Heatwave, was the happening on Sunday, July 22, and the title couldn't have told it better as temperatures hit 102.

Check out these slide shows to see the style that Denver was swimming in last week.

River Front Park Fashion Series

Fashion Denver's Heatwave

Your weekly snack on all things fashionable and/or interesting to Cat.

British Vogue: There's a new man at the helm of Halston? Will the Versace boy be the charm?

The skinny on models being too skinny and whether we should just feed them already and be done with it: Portfolio and Papierblog.

Forbes: The richest models in the world.

New York Magazine: The Fug Girls see the end times coming. Yipes!

New York Magazine: A very charming profile of Isabella Blow. A sad fashion tragedy this year.

Flypaper: Cat just doesn't get spats. Especially over gladiator sandals. Anyone else?

Fashionista: Inside Anya Hindmarch's "I'm Not a Plastic Bag" brain.

Harry Potter!