Musicians and bronco-busters aren’t the only ones who love the fancy Western shirts from Denver’s Rockmount Ranch Wear.
Plenty of regular folk do, too, as evidenced by the 350 who found their way to Golden this past Saturday night to chow down on jalapeño poppers and miniature tamales chased by shots of tequila or PeaceMaker whiskey, dance to the music of the Moderators and check out “Cowboys & Rock Stars,” an exhibition at Foothills Art Center that traces Rockmount’s 65 years as a world icon in the Western-wear business.
RockWest, chaired by PRima Donna Public Relations chief Donna Crafton Montgomery and her husband, police officer DJ Montgomery, was a fundraiser for Foothills and attracted a ready-to-party crowd that included stockbrokers, lawyers, accountants, artists, authors, Realtors and Your Friend in the Diamond Business, Tom Shane.
Many of the guests wore vintage Rockmount; some bought theirs especially for RockWest. Others added to their wardrobes after looking through the selections for sale in the art center lobby.
Reilly Sanborn, the executive director at Foothills, raided the Rockmount vault to find a hot pink number with black beading on the yoke. Shane rifled through his closet to retrieve a brown suede Rockmount that he’d bought 10 years ago for another dress-Western event.
Andy Bishop, husband of immediate past Fine Arts Foundation president Murri Bishop, works out at the same athletic club as Rockmount president Steve Weil and bought a new Rockmount shirt just for the party. Jeff Huseman, who had been Weil’s roommate at Tulane University, flew in from New Orleans for the occasion with his wife, Andrea. He’d packed a vintage Rockmount for the event.
Weil said he was very happy with both the exhibit, curated by Michael Chavez, and the response to RockWest.
“We do have a museum in the store, but it’s very small, so a lot of what you’re seeing in this exhibition has never been put on public display,” said Weil, whose grandfather, Jack A. Weil, started the company in 1946. “It’s also great to see so many of our shirts being worn tonight. What a nice tribute.”
RockWest also saluted four special friends of Foothills Art Center: Gov. John Hickenlooper; curator Rose Fredrick; artist Duke Beardsley; and MillerCoors.
Other guests included dentist John Raabe; author Corinne Joy Brown; Ann and Kevin Reidy; Denver Art Museum curator Ron Otsuka; Bea and Jack Wilhite; Rollie Jordan; and Cyndi and Steve Levey, who shared the news that their son, Andy, has become the director of social media for Cirque du Soleil.
“Cowboys & Rock Stars” is on view through Labor Day at Foothills Art Center, 809 15th St. in Golden.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@ ; also, davidson and GetItWrite on Twitter
Designer encore for Brass Ring show
The clothing by RozeMerie Cuevas was such a hit at the 2010 Brass Ring Fashion Luncheon & Fashion Show that the Vancouver-based designer has agreed to an encore presentation in 2011. Cuevas even flew in for the kickoff party that the Guild of the Children’s Diabetes Foundation hosted last week at Trice Jewelers. Joanne Davidson has more about the kickoff — and how to buy tickets for the Nov. 1 event — in her Seen First blog: .
Photos by Joanne Davidson, The Denver Post
