Flash Back Friday #57-Thomas Crown Affair

In 1999 the remake of the classic movie The Thomas Crown Affair (starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway) was released with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in the lead roles. On a recent evening I poured a class of wine and settled in to watch a movie that's become a favorite. Russo plays an insurance investigator who's searching for a 100 million dollar painting stolen from the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. She of course thinks it was stolen by a billionaire financier with an impressive art collection played by Pierce Brosnan. The chase in this film is half the fun...who is chasing who, Russo chasing Brosnan or Brosnan chasing Russo. The rest of the fun includes the gorgeous sets (autumn in NYC) and the actors, who are both at their best in their mid 40's.
I was in my late 20's when I first saw the film and I still enjoy it, the music, the story and the great style of Russo's character. Knee high boots, check. Perfect little black cocktail dresses (I lost count after 4), check. Classic pin-stripped suit, check. Topless wearing nothing but a sarong, check. Thigh high black stockings and a garter belt, check. Cable knit sweaters worn with leather gloves, check. Black velvet jacket, check. Camel colored wool coat, check. Double strand pearl necklace, check. Hermes Birkin purse, check. Really, 14 years later I still want everything she wears. Brosnan is also gorgeously styled, his suits fit him like a glove.
During the film Russo's character remarks how well Brosnan lives and anyone watching the film can't argue.
To view the trailer, watch below.

Comfortable Skin

After a flight delay Paul and I returned to Chicago from Colorado in the wee hours of Sunday morning and after a few hours of sleep I was off to the mall with my son to buy his back to school wardrobe. In just over a week his Dad and I will be driving him to Missouri and moving him into his dorm room.  Over the summer I've been organizing his baby pictures and school art work and in an old box of memories I found pictures of myself from 1990 when I was the same age my son is now.

In 1990 I was 20 years old and working a job from 7-9 in the morning, then I went to classes at a local college then it was back to work from 3-6 pm and then I went clubbing at dance clubs in Chicago with my friends until 2-3 am. It was a crazy life until I transferred to Ohio University in tiny Athens Ohio in the fall of 1990. I went from being a Chicago club kid to a small town sorority girl literally over night. My son will also be moving from Chicago to a small college town and I hope he has as much fun having dual lives as I did.

As I donate his old high school wardrobe and buy him new clothes more appropriate for college including dress clothes for rushing a fraternity and sportswear for playing college lacrosse, it reminded me of how much you can feel changed by just changing what you wear. During our shopping spree my son was more interested in quality clothing from Polo Ralph Lauren and Banana Republic than he was in t-shirts and shorts from the Gap. He's not interested in dressing like a high school student anymore. Similarly when I packed to move away to college I left my "city club clothes" at home and brought clothes more fitting for social events in college. It was the start of my adult life and I have a feeling my son is having that moment right now.

The pictures were both taken in 1990, one is me as a club kid in Chicago (I'm in the middle) and the other was taken a few months later when I joined a sorority at Ohio University. 23 years later I still prefer pearls over stomach baring tops.