Eighteen days. That’s how long we’ve been sweltering in 90-plus degree heat. As of tomorrow, that will be a new record for Denver – and there’s no end in sight. Temperatures are expected to hover in the high-90’s well into next week. At times such as this, we naturally turn our attention to – what else? – fashion.

Looking cool when the temperature is hot is a fine art. Those of us used to colder climes have a hard time staying stylish when all we want to do is strip down to our skivvies. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much what most of us actually do: tank tops, running shorts, flip-flops. Few of us look good in such an ensemble, but when the temperature hovers around 100, few of us give a damn.

We can find examples of stylish hot-temperature dressing if we look to other cultures, however. The climate in Italy, for example, is hotter than ours this time of year. Still, Italian men are dressing in sharp cotton suits. In India, where it never really cools down, women dress in comfortable and colorful saris.

Granted, saris may be tough for a blonde all-American type to pull off, and the men of Denver tend to own but one suit – a sorry navy blue or charcoal gray affair they bought from the Land’s End catalog ten years ago. So what’s a hot, sweaty Denverite to do? Stay inside. Get naked. Make the best of it. Which, depending on who’s naked with you, shouldn’t be that hard.